The Association Between Household and Community Characteristics and Children’s Acculturation

Sandy Dietrich , U.S. Census Bureau
Kurt J. Bauman, U.S. Census Bureau

Acculturation is a process experienced by U.S. immigrants, who leave their home country to come to a new country, finding themselves in a world that is completely new; new customs, new language, and new way of living, which they have to learn to live in. This can be especially stressful for children who are still developing (cognitively, emotionally, and physically), which can result in negative future consequences. Therefore, it is important to identify the factors in different contexts- family and community levels- that can facilitate acculturation and lead to positive outcomes for the child and family unit. This paper uses data from the American Community Survey to explore the associations of household and community characteristics with children’s linguistic acculturation. Logistic regression models demonstrated the contextual factors related to acculturation in children.

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 Presented in Session 4. Marriage, Family, Households, & Unions