Intergenerational Transmission of Culture among First- and Second-Generation Immigrants: The Case of Age at First Birth and Nonmarital Childbirth

Abstract

This paper uses immigration as a semi-natural experiment to investigate the intergenerational transmission of culture. The culture is proxied by rates of nonmarital birth-giving and age at the first birth in the immigrant's home country. Using the Current Population Survey, Decennial Censuses, and the American Community Survey covering the years 1980-2019, It finds that average outcomes in the home country can explain a statistically significant portion of immigrants' behavior. Conditional on the individual, family, and home-country economic and demographic controls, a 1% increase in average rates of nonmarital fertility in mother's country of birth is associated with a 0.32% increase in nonmarital birth rates among second-generation women. A one year increase in age at motherhood in mother's birthplace leads to 0.23 years increase in age at first birth among second generations. Cohort analysis for both generations confirms the robustness of the estimates. The results show that cultural factors associated with nonmarital birth-giving and age at the first birth can transmit from one generation to the next.