What Stays, What Changes: Family and Fertility Among Immigrant Descendants

Immigrant descendants shape their family life and fertility by drawing from two cultures: their parents' country of origin and the society where they were raised. While demographers have studied the fertility of immigrant descendants, focusing on "how many" children they have and "when" they have them, little is known about "why" they hold specific intentions and behaviors and "how" these develop. Against this backdrop, our study aims to deepen understanding of immigrant descendants' family life and fertility by addressing two interrelated questions: 1) Why do immigrant descendants adopt certain family and fertility patterns from their "origin" society and others from their "destination" society? and 2) How do different socialization agents influence immigrant descendants' family and fertility behaviors?

To answer these questions, we conducted 16 in-depth interviews with descendants of immigrants from the Maghreb and Latin America living in Spain who at the moment of the interview were young adults. Spain’s context is of special interest due to its persistently low and late fertility regime. Topics discussed included their parents' family culture, ideal family structure, number of children, age at parenthood, cultural identity, life goals, and relationships with socialization agents.

Key findings are: 1) The family and fertility behaviors of immigrant descendants must be understood within the broader context of their cultural and identity formation. 2) Socialization agents influence individuals toward either the parents' origin culture or the destination culture, or a combination of both. For instance, parents may encourage their children to retain some cultural traits while adopting new ones. 3) The social context in which immigrant descendants are raised plays a critical role. Specifically, the presence of an immigrant community from the same country or region as the parents provides additional exposure to their culture beyond the family setting.