This article applies the tenets of Massey's (1999) cumulative causation theory of migration to explain variation in aggregate patterns of Mexican migration to U.S. metropolitan destinations during the late 1990s. Analogous to sending contexts, results suggest that the dynamics of migration vary substantially with the maturity of the Mexican…

International migration yields pervasive cross-border social engagements, yet homeland political involvements are modest to minimal. This contrast reflects the ways in which the distinctive characteristics of expatriate political life impede participation in the polity that emigrants have left behind. As polities are bounded, moving to the…

Using terms like free spaces and havens, conventional wisdom views social ties by subordinate groups to dominant group members as hindering protest participation. In contrast, we draw on ethnic resiliency and social capital perspectives and argue that there are mobilization benefits to having dominant group members as friends. We offer a unique…

This study uses the Survey of Income and Program Participation to infer the legal status of Mexican and Central American immigrant youth and to investigate its relationship with educational attainment. We assess differences by legal status in high school graduation and college enrollment, decompose differences in college enrollment into the…

This article employs a unique method of inferring the legal status of Mexican immigrants in the Survey of Income and Program Participation to offer new evidence of the role of legal authorization in the United States on workers' wages. We estimate wage trajectories for four groups: documented Mexican immigrants, undocumented Mexican immigrants,…

We extend research on black-white gaps in the subjective quality of life by exploring recent General Social Survey data, focusing attention on Latinos, and probing the value of partial proportional odds models for ordinal quality-of-life measures. Results indicate a declining but discernable black-white gap for four measures--marital happiness,…

Analyzing three waves of data from the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey, this article explores the process of language assimilation among second-generation Latinos. Although previous studies have focused on the shift from mother tongue to English across immigrant generations, few have examined change in language proficiency over time…

Describes Latino settlement in Chicago, 1910-90. Latino immigration (frequently "importation" of low-skill, low-wage workers) reflects U.S. domination of Latin America; consequent Latino vulnerability and low status allow real estate speculation exploiting their quasi-racial status through exclusion and market manipulation. Questions…

Cohort analysis was used to compare changes in the prevalence of marital instability among Mexican American women with those observed among Black and Anglo women in the southwestern United States. Recent (1960-70) trends were found to be toward increased divergence in levels of marital instability among these three groups. (Author/GC)

Recently arrived Cuban and Mexican immigrants were interviewed concerning their perceptions of discrimination against them in U.S. society. Results were consistent with a conflict theory of social relations. (GC)

Classical assimilation theory postulates that over time, members of immigrant groups will develop more primary ties with native members of the host society. However, lack of data has led most research to rely on the study of either spatial mobility or other secondary variables as proxies of primary ties. Using data from the Multi-City Study of…

Data from 1129 Mexican American women interviewed in Los Angeles in 1973 were used to analyze the effects of religious norms on fertility. Findings indicate that adherence to Roman Catholic norms has a net impact on the fertility of Chicanas reared in the United States, but not those reared in Mexico. (Author/GC)

Analysis of National Longitudinal Survey of Youth data indicate that the correlation of education level with marital disruption among U.S.-born Mexican Americans is negative and similar to that among non-Hispanic Whites, while the correlation among Mexican immigrants is positive and weaker. Discusses cultural and socioeconomic influences on…

Children of Mexican American women, especially immigrants, have unexpectedly good birth weights. A study of 3,710 Mexican American, Black, and White children aged 3-4, who completed the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised, found birth weight was not a powerful predictor of child cognitive development, nor did it explain pronounced racial and…

Among 1980-82 Florida birth cohorts, infant mortality rates were higher for Puerto Ricans and Mexicans than for Cubans and other Hispanics. Controlling for birth weight and prenatal care had little impact on differentials, but interactions were found among marital status, maternal age, and Hispanic group identity. Contains 47 references. (SV)