Do Sub-Cultural Norms Survive Immigration?—Cantonese and Mandarin Fertility in the United States

Abstract

This paper analyzes Public-Use Microdata Samples (PUMS) data from the 2000 US Census to ascertain whether evidence exists that subcultural norms survive immigration transitions to affect the fertility of the two largest Chinese immigrant subgroups, Cantonese and Mandarins, in the United States. The results indicate that the Cantonese, who are believed to be more pronatalistic and have higher fertility than the Mandarins in China, continue to exhibit these tendencies in the United States. A significant portion of the fertility disparity between the two groups can be explained by differences in migration experiences, demographic characteristics and socioeconomic status. Higher Cantonese fertility, however, persists even when all these factors are controlled, suggesting a lingering effect of pronatal subcultural norms. Furthermore, levels of education and the degree of assimilation, which play important roles in depressing fertility and also in explaining some of the groups’ difference in fertility, are also associated with these groups’ cultures as both cause and effect. Some possible causes of Cantonese pronatal norms and their persistence in the United States are explored as well.