Reassessing the Generational Disparity in Immigrant Offending: A Within-family Comparison of Involvement in Crime

• Published date: 01 November 2019
• DOI: 10.1177/0022427819850600
• Date: 01 November 2019
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Reassessing the

Generational

Disparity in

Immigrant Offending:

A Within-family Comparison

of Involvement in Crime

Bianca E. Bersani

1

and Adam W. Pittman

1

Abstract

Objective: This study reassesses the generational disparity in immigrant

offending. Patterns and predictors of offending are compared using tradi-

tional peer-based models and an alternative within-family (parent–child

dyad) model. Method: The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (1979;

NLSY79) and NLSY-Child and Young Adult (NLSY_CYA) data are merged

to create an intergenerational data set to compare generational disparities

in immigrant offending across peers and within families. Differences in self-

reported offending (prevalence and variety) by immigrant generation are

assessed using a combination of descr iptive analyses (w

2

and analysis of

variance) and regression models. Results: While NLSY_CYA children gen-

erally are at a greater risk of offending compared with the NLSY79 mothers,

the difference in offending is greatest between first-generation mom and

second-generation child dyads. Disparities in offending are driven in large

1

Department of Sociology, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA, USA

Corresponding Author:

Bianca E. Bersani, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Maryland,

College Park, MD, USA.

Email: bbersani@umd.edu

Journal of Research in Crime and

Delinquency

2019, Vol. 56(6) 851-887

ªThe Author(s) 2019

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/0022427819850600

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part by exceedingly low levels of offending among first-generation immi-

grants. Conclusion: Al though the factors dri ving an increase in offen ding

between parent–child generations are not unique to immigrants, they are

amplified in immigrant families. Whereas the second generation is remark-

ably similar to their U.S.-born counterparts in terms of their involvement in

crime, suggesting a high degree of swift integration, the greater involvement

in crime among the children of immigrants compared to their foreign-born

mothers suggests a decline in well-being across successive generations.

Keywords

immigrant generational disparity, offending, intergenerational, foreign-born,

second generation

The integration of immigrants into the American mainstream is a recurring

concern inthe United States. Questionsof if and how long it takes immigrants

and their successive generations to integrate into their host society are at the

forefront of conte mporary scholarly, politica l, and popular inquiry and debat e

(Waters and Pineau 2015). These concerns are particularly pronounced for

immigrant descendants where pathways to assimilationare varied and multi-

faceted. Today’s children and grandchildren of foreign-born immigrantsface

formidable obstacles to incorporation into mainstream society that, for some,

may halt and eve n recede their social adv ancement and heighten the ir risk for

deleterious outcomes (Gans 1992; Portes and Zhou 1993). Evidence from a

hearty body of research on the generational disparity in immigrant involve-

ment in crime appears to corroborate this concern; whereas foreign-born

individuals (the first generation) demonstrate consistently lower criminal

propensities than their native-born American peers, the second generation

(the children of immigrants) is involved in crime at levels that surpass those

of the first generation (see, e.g., Bersani 2014a; Bersani, Loughran, and

Piquero 2014; Estrada-Martı´nez et al. 2011; Iban

˜ez et al. 2017; Jennings

et al. 2013; Lee and Martinez 2009; Morenoff and Astor 2006; Rumbaut

et al. 2006; Sampson, Morenoff, andRaudenbush 2005; Vaughn et al. 2014).

An important feature of this body of research is its examination of patterns

offending for cross-sections of first-, second-, and third-plus-generation

peers. This means that prior research has identified generational differences

across immigrant peers whose migration histories have been shaped by dif-

ferent historical and social contexts. As a result, these peer groups (and their

family), distinguished by immigrant generation, likely differ in important

852 Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 56(6)

ways including their country of origin, reasons for migration, and their socio-

historical context of migration and reception into the United States (Rumbaut

2005). This methodological feature is consequential for our understanding of

the factors driving the generational differences documented in prior empiri-

cal work. Whereas the disparity is often interpreted as a “dark side of assim-

ilation” (Pew Research Center 2013; Portes, Fernandez-Kelly, and Haller

2009), peer-based models are limited in assessing other sources of variation

such as differences attributable to social and historical contexts or “vintages”

of migration flows (Borjas 1985; Kunz 1981; Rumbaut 2004) and/or factors

affecting the differential selection of immigrants to the United States. As a

consequence, the observed rise in involvement in crime among the second

generation compared with the first generation may be an artifact of data and

the confounding of sociohistorical cohort differences with assimilation pro-

cesses. This distinction holds import for theories of immigrant assimilation

and expectations of a second-generation decline. To advance understanding

of the mechanisms driving the generational disparity in immigrant offending

(i.e., what explains the increase in risky behavior among the second gener-

ation), research must grapple with this methodological nuance and examine

directly whether the children of immigrants have an increased risk of offend-

ing compared with their foreign-born parents.

The aim of the present study is to extend prior research on the immigrant

generational disparity in offending by examining criminal involvement

within-family dyads (mothers and children) using data from the National

Longitudinal Survey of Youth (1979; NLSY79) and supplemental Child and

Young Adult surveys. A unique feature of these data sets is that, when

merged together, they allow for an opportunity to compare both across-

peer (foreign-born and U.S.-born peers) and within-family (foreign-born

first-generation women and theirU.S.-born second-generationchildren) rela-

tionships. We leverage this feature of these data to reassess immigrant gen-

erational differences in offending. The core question driving this research is

as follows: Do the second-generation children of immigrants offend more

than their first-generation parents? If so, we assess whether the difference in

offending between mom–child dyads is unique to immigrant families.

Definitional Considerations: Immigrant Integration

and Generations

Before reviewing the literature on the immigrant–crime nexus, we begin

with a brief discussion of the dimensions of integration and characteristics

that distinguish immigrant generations used throughout this research.

1

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