IPUMS Research Articles

Stem Families, Joint Families, and the European Pattern

[[family systemsliving arrangementsdemographic variationstem familyjoint familyelderly ]] This article makes a new contribution to the discussion of historical European family forms. Its starting points are two recent contributions by Steven Ruggles in which the author discussed the historical appearances of stem and joint families across the globe. Drawing on most recent developments in census microdata infrastructure from historical Eastern, Central, and Southeastern Europe, the authors pinpoint limitations pertaining to the usage of IPUMS (Integrated Public Use Microdata Series) and NAPP (North Atlantic Population Project) collections for the investigation of European family systems. Using newly acquired materials and refined conceptual tools, they enhance the knowledge about the spatiotemporal distribution of stem- and joint-family arrangements in a broader European context. As the frequency of joint families in the regions under study cannot be fully accounted for by referring to measures of economic conditions and demographic structures alone, the authors speculate about some additional factors which may explain the observed differences in joint-family coresidence across historic Eastern Europe.

Perinatal winter conditions affect later reproductive performance in romanian women: Intra and intergenerational effects

To compare epidemiological studies on Austrian and New Zealand women that report below average reproductive performance after birth in summer, with a similar study in Romanian women. We examined the association between birth month and offspring count analyzing census data from Romania obtained from IPUMS International (Population and Housing Census of Romania, year 2002), totaling 411,270 women aged older than 45 years. We investigated whether socio-economic status affected this association, and whether intergenerational effects exist for mother's birth month in relation to their daughter's offspring number. The time series of mean offspring count per birth month has a highly significant period of 12 months. Contrary to our expectations, average offspring count is highest in women born in June and lowest in those born in December, with a strong coincidence between negative peak values of residuals of mean offspring count per birth month and corresponding monthly means of ambient temperature in Romania. The association between winter birth and lower offspring number is significant in poorly educated women only. For mothers born in winter there is also an association with a lower daughters' offspring count. Conflicting results exist between Romania and Austria/New Zealand, and may be most easily explained by women's different exposure to winter conditions in these countries.

The Changing Roles of Disability, Veteran, and Socioeconomic Status in Elderly Interstate Migration

This research explores how interstate elderly migration behavior through the life course has changed over time by examining the role of individual characteristics in different types of moves. The authors focus on disability, veteran, and socioeconomic status, which research suggests are linked with differing motives for elderly migration. Using data from the 1970-2000 Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS), descriptive and multivariate analyses show that disability status has grown in importance while veteran and socioeconomic status have declined or remained stable. These changes are unique to the elderly. The growing role of disability in elderly migration is geographically universal, extending to both return (a proxy for assistance-related migration) and nonreturn migration. Possible explanations include a tendency for the “first” (amenity-based) elderly move to occur at younger ages and a decline in primarily milder disabilities that leads to relatively more severe disabilities—and need for assistance—of those remaining.

A Demographic Base for Ethnic Survival? Blending Across Four Generations of German-Americans

New data from the IPUMS (Integrated Public Use Microdata Series) project permit an exploration of the demographic basis for ethnic survival across successive generations. I first explore the degree of ethnic blending among the grandchildren of early- to mid-19th century German immigrants; second, these descendants’ own marital choices; and third, the likely composition of the fourth generation to which they would give birth. Fundamental questions include: How high is the rate of single versus mixed origins after so many generations in America? How large an absolute number of single-origin individuals remain (given the combined impact of out-marriage, on the one hand, and cumulative fertility, on the other)? How much less likely are single-origin individuals of the third generation to in-marry relative to those in the second generation? And how do all these patterns differ across 31,000 local geographic areas? I exploit the full-count 1880 Census dataset and the Linked Representative Sample, which captures males in 1880 as well as in one of the 1900–30 enumerations. Limiting attention to those who were adolescents in 1880, we have three generations’ worth of ethnic information on each sample member traced across time (birthplace as well as parents’ and grandparents’ birthplaces, from their parents’ responses) and ethnic information covering two generations for the women they eventually married.

"Going With the Flow"--A Comparison of Interstate Elderly Migration During 1970-2000 Using the (I)PUMS Versus Full Census Data

We investigate how much state-to-state elderly migration patterns have changed during 1970-2000 and compare the findings from 2 commonly used sources of data, the census flow tabulations and the integrated public use microdata series (IPUMS). We calculate descriptive statistics such as migration rates, the distribution of top destination and origin states, and a new migration Herfindahl-Hirschman Index that measures geographic concentration. Comparisons over time and between data sources are formalized using correlations and regression analyses that permit persistent flow patterns. After an increase between 1970 and 1980, elderly migration rates have been stable, with a slight decline. Elderly migration has become less geographically concentrated; the decline of California and Florida and ascension of Nevada and the Carolinas as top destinations are evident. Correlation and regression analyses reveal that migration patterns are overall very persistent over time, especially using census tabulations based on a larger sample. Elderly migration patterns have been quite stable since 1970. Using the IPUMS, as most migration studies do, exaggerates the changes in elderly migration over time in both descriptive and statistical analyses, a result that is likely due to its smaller sample size and the relative rarity of an interstate move.

Drawing statistical inferences from historical census data, 1850–1950

Virtually all quantitative microdata used by social scientists derive from samples that incorporate clustering, stratification, and weighting adjustments (Kish 1965, 1992). Such data can yield standard error estimates that differ dramatically from those derived from a simple random sample of the same size. Researchers using historical U.S. census microdata, however, usually apply methods designed for simple random samples. The resulting p values and confidence intervals could be inaccurate and could lead to erroneous research conclusions. Because U.S. census microdata samples are among the most widely used sources for social science and policy research, the need for reliable standard error estimation is critical. We evaluate the historical microdata samples of the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) project from 1850 to 1950 in order to determine (1) the impact of sample design on standard error estimates, and (2) how to apply modern standard error estimation software to historical census samples. We exploit a unique new data source from the 1880 census to validate our methods for standard error estimation, and then we apply this approach to the 1850-1870 and 1900-1950 decennial censuses. We conclude that Taylor series estimation can be used effectively with the historical decennial census microdata samples and should be applied in research analyses that have the potential for substantial clustering effects.

Housing Inequality in the United States: A Decomposition Analysis of Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Homeownership

In recent years, as the homeownership rate in the United States reached its highest level in history, homeownership itself remained unevenly distributed, particularly along racial and ethnic lines. By using data from the 2000 Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) and 2006 American Community Survey (ACS) to study the trajectory into homeownership of black, Asian, white, and Latino households, this paper explores the various socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, as well as the distinct immigration experiences and spatial patterns that shape racial and ethnic inequality in homeownership. The unique (merged) dataset enables the authors to distinguish assimilation (length of residence) from immigration cohort effects, and to control for various spatial characteristics at the PUMA (Public Use Microdata Area) level. The paper employs a decomposition technique that delineates the distinct effects that composition differentials have on the visible white-minority disparity in homeownership. The findings reveal substantial differences along racial-ethnic lines, highlight the importance of immigration and spatial context in determining Asian and Mexican homeownership rates, and emphasize the unique role that family structure and unobserved factors (e.g. prejudice and discrimination) continue to play in shaping the black-white homeownership gap.

The Decline of Intergenerational Coresidence in the United States, 1850 to 2000.

In the mid-nineteenth century, almost 70 percent of persons age 65 or older resided with their adult children; by the end of the twentieth century, fewer than 15 percent did so. Many scholars have argued that the simplification of the living arrangements of the aged resulted primarily from an increase in their resources, which enabled increasing numbers of elders to afford independent living. This article supports a different interpretation: the evidence suggests that the decline of coresidence between generations had less to do with the growing affluence of the aged than with the increasing opportunities of the younger generation. Using data from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS), I examine long-run trends in the characteristics of both the older and the younger generations to gain insight into changing motivations for coresidence. In particular, I investigate headship patterns, occupational status, income, and spatial coresidence patterns. I also reassess the potential impact of the Social Security program. I conclude that the decline of intergenerational coresidence resulted mainly from increasing opportunities for the young and declining parental control over their children.

Making History Count: The Guadalajara Census Project (1791–1930)

Making History Count: The Guadalajara Census Project (1791–1930)

The southern diaspora: how the great migrations of black and white southerners transformed America

The Southern Diaspora: How the of Black and White Southerners Transformed America. By James N. Gregory. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2005. Pp. xiv, 446. Preface, illustrations, graphs, maps, tables, appendices, notes, index. $59.95, cloth; $19.95, paper.) James N. Gregory returns to familiar territory with his ambitious The Southern Diaspora: How the of Black and White Southerners Transformed America. Almost two decades after examining Okie migration and culture in California, Gregory attempts the first comprehensive study of migrations from the South to the North and West during the twentieth century. While the interpretations found in The Southern Diaspora are not quite as earthshaking as the introduction would suggest, this is a valuable book that covers a lot of important ground in its 300-plus pages. Gregory concedes the challenge of packaging two migration streams that have traditionally been treated separately, and his use of the plural Great Migrations in the subtitle suggests that he has no plans to ignore that paradigm. In fact, the experience of black and white migrants differed significantly, as African Americans discovered in the North and West a de facto segregation that generally confined them to black neighborhoods that became dominated, at least numerically, by southerners and that bred a level of cross-class association and political activism not achieved by whites. White migrants, on the other hand, found no racial barriers to assimilation and generally spent a brief time, if any at all, living in southern white ghettos. They also remained minorities within the larger white community and thus in many ways exercised less of a transformative influence than fellow migrants who were black. But, Gregory writes, [black and white migrations] were also related, and he addresses this potential conundrum by making use of what he calls a stereoscopic view of the diaspora-side-by-side examinations of black and white migrations and migrants that when viewed together present the southern diaspora in a new and fuller dimension (p. 5). Following the recent historiographical trend of finding or granting agency among those traditionally viewed as dispossessed or downtrodden, Gregory argues that southern migrants in the North and West by and large did not succumb to cultural barriers and devolve into an underclass, that they fared better in their new homes than the writings of mid-twentieth-century media and some recent scholars would suggest. To prove his point, the author makes use of an impressive and comparatively new statistical source, the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS), a resource he first trumpeted a decade ago in an article in the Journal of American History. …

HURRICANE KATRINA AND NEW ORLEANIANS' SENSE OF PLACE: Return and Reconstitution or “Gone with the Wind”?

This paper explores some implications of Hurricane Katrina, especially as it affected, and will continue to affect, African Americans. Our observations stem largely from our ongoing examination of the demography of African Americans, including motivations to leave the South historically, and recent changes generating a significant “return migration” of African Americans to the South. The specific case of Katrina-related migration requires examining issues of race and class—including the destinations to which Katrina's victims were displaced and key features of the place to which they might return. We leave for others the evaluation of ongoing political debates concerning responsibility for who did what, and why. Our focus is on New Orleans as a place, and what prospects exist for reconstituting that place in light of past, present, and prospective demographic trends. We first review recent work on place and identity, and describe the general features of past migration patterns of African Americans—both from the South and back to the South. We then identify important features of New Orleans as a distinctive place on the U.S. landscape, in part by comparing New Orleans with other southern cities using the 1% Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) sample of 2000 U.S. Census data. Finally, we assess the prospects of the reconstitution of New Orleans as a place resembling what it was prior to Katrina, by examining the intersecting factors of race, class, and ethnicity in shaping how, and by whom, the city may be resettled. We project that the city will be smaller, more White and Hispanic, more affluent, and more tourism/ entertainment-oriented than its pre-Katrina reality. Given the difficulty of making such projections, we conclude with an analysis of various demographic portraits of what the racial composition of New Orleans may become, depending on (1) its future size, and (2) relative rates of return migration by White and Black New Orleanians.

Ethnic group size, linguistic isolation, and immigrant entrepreneurship in the USA

Using a sample of immigrant men in US census data from the early and late 1900s and available in the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS), this study explores: (1) whether immigrant entrepreneurship is positively affected by ethnic group size and linguistic isolation; (2) how sensitive these relationships are to English-language proficiency; and (3) if these relationships have remained stable over time. The empirical results indicate that the size of the local ethnic population does not enhance immigrant self-employment for either English-proficient or limited-English-proficient (LEP) men in the USA. In addition, while linguistic isolation in the local labour pool seems to promote entrepreneurship among English-fluent immigrants in certain cases, it appears to hinder business formation among the LEP. Finally, comparing the results across time-periods is consistent with the premise that rising xenophobia pushes a disproportionate share of the LEP into self-employment.

Women in the Great Migration

Using data from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS), this analysis examines the economic activity of black and white southern-born female migrants participating in the Great Migration. Labor force participation and occupational SEI scores are investigated with specific focus on racial differences within and between migrant groups. Black migrants had a higher probability of participating in the labor force, yet their employment was concentrated among the lower SEI occupations throughout the period. Racial differences also were observed among the influence of personal, household, and location characteristics on economic activity such that the positive associations were less pronounced, while the negative impacts were differentially felt among black migrant women; education was less beneficial, and the deterring effects of marital status were less pronounced for black migrants. Racial differences narrowed at the end of the Great Migration for the southern migrants, reflecting a pattern most similar to nonmigrant northerners and more advantageous than that observed for nonmigrant southern women.

Sources for the Study of Brazilian Economic and Social History on the Internet

Sources for the Study of Brazilian Economic and Social History on the Internet

The Living Arrangements of African American and Immigrant Children, 1880-2000

Using data from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS), the author compares the living arrangements of African American and immigrant children from 1880 through 2000. African American children were less likely than foreign-born white children to live with two parents throughout this protracted period, with the gap widening sharply after 1960. African Americans and the small group of nonwhite immigrants exhibited roughly similar family patterns before 1960. That difference also increased during later decades as both foreign-born Asian and foreign-born black children were more likely than African Americans to reside with two parents. Immigrant children from virtually all nationalities were more likely than black children to live with two parents. Over time, widowhood declined as a cause of paternal absence for all groups, and the influence of marital disruption increased. Nonmarital motherhood increased markedly as a cause of mother-only families for blacks after 1960.

Hidden in Plain Sight: Global Labor Force Exchange in the Chinese American Population, 1880–1940

Despite a once‐conspicuous presence in the Western United States, little is known demo‐graphically about the Chinese in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century in the United States. The widely accepted model of a declining male “sojourner society,” beset by draconian restrictions on immigration and the impossibility of family formation, is seemingly contradicted by the continuous economic vitality of urban Chinatowns in the United States. This article tests the largely unexamined demographic structure of the Chinese population in the United States through the application of cohort‐component projection on census data from 1880 through 1940, including data recently made available as part of the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS). The results fail to support the model of passive population decline, suggesting instead that the Chinese actively engaged in a collective strategy of long‐distance labor exchange to maximize economic productivity among Chinese workers in the United States.

Coresidence of Adult Children with Parents from 1960 to 1990: is the Propensity to Live at Home Really Increasing?

This article uses the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) to examine how shifts in marital status have influenced the likelihood of parental/adult-child coresidence from 1960 to 1990. Results indicate that the propensity to live with parents would have decreased between 1960 and 1990 if there had not been a change in the marital status of these young adults. While it is true that more people aged nineteen to thirty were living with their parents in 1990 compared to 1960, this was because more were formerly married or never married, and these groups are much more likely to live with their parents than married individuals. The results indicate that among the formerly married and never married, the propensity to live with parents actually declined.

IPUMS Redesign

This new project will create two large parallel series of historical U.S. census microdata. The first is a redesigned Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) incorporating Census 2000 and the American Community Survey. The IPUMS is a compatible series of large census microdata samples spanning the period from 1850 to 2000. The second is a restricted-use micro-data archive containing 1.4 billion records from the censuses of 1940 to 2000. The new restricted-use archive is the product of a Census Bureau initiative to harmonize all of the bureau's decennial microdata and make them accessible through the Census Bureau Research Data Centers. The project will collaborate with the Census Bureau to create coding schemes to be used in both series that incorporate all detail in the restricted files. The two series will be developed simultaneously using the same software, methodology, and documentation.

IPUMS-CPS: An Integrated Version of the March Current Population Survey, 1962–2002

The Minnesota Population Center (MPC) is creating an integrated version of the March U.S. Current Population Survey (CPS) covering the years 1962–2002. The CPS is one of the few comprehensive data sources available for researching social and economic trends between decennial censuses. The survey also includes useful information—such as employment patterns and participation in social welfare programs—that is not available in the census. The new database will be compatible with the decennial census data available in the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS). For variables found in both sources, the integrated CPS will use IPUMS codes, and the documentation and data access system for the CPS data will be based on IPUMS principles and infrastructure.

Marital Timing and Marital Assimilation Variation and Change among European Americans between 1910 and 1980

Most studies of the intersection of marriage and ethnic assimilation focus on partner choice rather than marital timing as an indicator of immigrant adaptation. Yet whether or when immigrant groups assumed an “American” marriage pattern can shed light on the nature of immigrant adaptation, its pace, and completeness. The authors examine ethnic differences for European Americans in the marriage timing of select birth cohorts from 1850 through 1950, using data from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) for 1910 and 1980. Event-history analysis is used to predict timing of marriage by birth cohort, ethnicity, and nativity. The results indicate much greater ethnic dispersion in marriage timing among the cohorts born between 1851 and 1880 than for those born between 1921 and 1950, for both women and men. The sharp decline in ethnic variation in marriage timing suggests that with increasing duration in the United States a particularly American pattern of marriage evolved. Nonetheless, despite considerable compression among European ethnics in the timing of marriage, as of 1980 ethnicity continued to distinguish age at marriage.