All in the Family: Generational Acculturation among Immigrant Parents and Children

David A. Cort, University of California, Los Angeles

Over the past decade, a burgeoning literature has sought to determine how the “new” immigrant second generation is adapting to their host society. Acculturation is an important intervening variable in this assimilation process. However, little research has paid serious attention to theory-driven measurement of acculturation. I argue that acculturation can be viewed as a process that happens to families, not just to children. With the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey, I measure familial acculturation and examine its determinants. Analyses first suggest that nationality status and variables measuring parental skills and resources combine to determine the likelihood that families will experience consonant acceptance, consonant rejection, and differences in the rate of acculturation. Second, there is little consistent evidence that the effects of parental resources on these measures of familial acculturation differ by nationality status or race of the child, a result that supports the expectations of straight-line assimilation theory.