Types and Composition of Household Extension: The Case of Asians in the United States

Veena S. Kulkarni, Arkansas State University

The recognition of supplementing the analyses of individual level labor market outcomes with that at the level of the household to better comprehend the socioeconomic experience of immigrants is increasing, yet research employing household as a unit of analysis in the case of Asians in the United States is very limited. Although the common perception about Asians is that they are economically successful and that rising proportions of them are entering (the U.S.) on the basis of the family reunification criteria, there is notable heterogeneity among the major Asian subgroups, namely Chinese, Filipinos, Indians, Japanese, Koreans, and Vietnamese. The focus of the inquiry is to examine whether the Asian and native born non-Hispanic white households a)vary in the kind of extension and b) are different in the composition of each type of extended household in terms of the relationship of the members (with the householder) who comprise the households.