Delayed Spatial Assimilation: Multigenerational Incorporation of the Mexican–Origin Population in Los Angeles

Abstract

This article examines the nature and degree of spatial integration across generations among young adults of Mexican origin in metropolitan Los Angeles. Drawing on a new, unique data set that covers more than four generations of persons of Mexican origin, the research tests the extent to which residential settlement patterns follow two potential trajectories: one specified by a model of traditional spatial assimilation, which views economic and ethnic integration as increasing steadily across generations, or a new model of delayed spatial assimilation, which depicts residential mobility as stalling for a generation or more, in part because of intergenerational family obligations up through the second generation. While individual–level socioeconomic characteristics tend to rise uniformly in support of the classic assimilation model, neighborhood–level evidence shows that substantial spatial integration does not emerge until the third generation—a finding supporting the delayed assimilation model. Also, generational differences in the proportion Anglo of respondents’ neighborhoods outpace differences in median income. These results are consistent with the idea that delayed spatial assimilation involves an additional early phase of incorporation for those of Mexican origin.