IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sek/jijoss/v9y2020i2p70-86.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Influence of Migration, Education, and Parents on the Fertility of First-generation Japanese Women in the U.S

Author

Listed:
  • Akiko Nosaka

    (Pacific Lutheran University)

  • Donna Leonetti

    (University of Washington, Seattle)

Abstract

This study examines fertility of Japanese women who migrated to the United States (U.S.) in the early 1900s. It uses data originally collected from 98 first-generation Japanese immigrants, addressed as Issei, living in Seattle, Washington in the mid 1970s. Main questions are 1) how Issei women?s fertility differed based on their levels of educational attainment, and 2) how the natal family fertility influence differed according to their levels of education. The study findings indicate that highly educated women (more than high-school level) had significantly fewer children than other women with lower educational attainment. This finding may relate in part to the levels of education that they had their children obtain. Interestingly, there is no indication that the fertility of these Issei women was positively influenced by the number of children that their natal parents had regardless of their educational levels; on the contrary, the fertility of women who had a high-school level of education was negatively related to their natal family fertility. Several possible factors may be responsible for these patterns, including experience with child-death, reaction to the realities of their immigrant parents, assimilation into society in the U.S., and occupational and regional backgrounds of their natal family.

Suggested Citation

  • Akiko Nosaka & Donna Leonetti, 2020. "The Influence of Migration, Education, and Parents on the Fertility of First-generation Japanese Women in the U.S," International Journal of Social Sciences, International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences, vol. 9(2), pages 70-86, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:sek:jijoss:v:9:y:2020:i:2:p:70-86
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://iises.net/international-journal-of-social-sciences/publication-detail-116769
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://iises.net/international-journal-of-social-sciences/publication-detail-116769?download=5
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Otis Duncan & Ronald Freedman & J. Coble & Doris Slesinger, 1965. "Marital Fertility and Size of Family of Orientation," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 2(1), pages 508-515, March.
    2. David Lindstrom & Gebre-Egziabher Kiros, 2007. "The impact of infant and child death on subsequent fertility in Ethiopia," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 26(1), pages 31-49, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Akiko Nosaka & Donna Leonetti, 2020. "The Influence of Migration, Education, and Parents on the Fertility of First-generation Japanese Women in the U.S," International Journal of Social Sciences, International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences, vol. 9(2), pages 82-98, September.
    2. Johan Dahlberg, 2013. "Family influence in fertility: A longitudinal analysis of sibling correlations in first birth risk and completed fertility among Swedish men and women," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 29(9), pages 233-246.
    3. Ea Hoppe Blaabæk & Mads Meier Jæger & Joseph Molitoris, 2020. "Family Size and Educational Attainment: Cousins, Contexts, and Compensation," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 36(3), pages 575-600, July.
    4. Nicoletta Balbo & Francesco C. Billari & Melinda Mills, 2013. "Fertility in Advanced Societies: A Review of Research," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 29(1), pages 1-38, February.
    5. Frank Heiland & Alexia Prskawetz & Warren C. Sanderson, 2008. "Are Individuals’ Desired Family Sizes Stable? Evidence from West German Panel Data," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 24(2), pages 129-156, June.
    6. Michelle Riboud, 1988. "Altruisme au sein de la famille, croissance économique et démographie," Revue Économique, Programme National Persée, vol. 39(1), pages 127-154.
    7. Kathrin Morosow & Martin Kolk, 2020. "How Does Birth Order and Number of Siblings Affect Fertility? A Within-Family Comparison Using Swedish Register Data," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 36(2), pages 197-233, April.
    8. Kati Kraehnert & Tilman Brück & Michele Di Maio & Roberto Nisticò, 2019. "The Effects of Conflict on Fertility: Evidence From the Genocide in Rwanda," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(3), pages 935-968, June.
    9. Arindam Nandi & Sumit Mazumdar & Jere R. Behrman, 2018. "The effect of natural disaster on fertility, birth spacing, and child sex ratio: evidence from a major earthquake in India," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 31(1), pages 267-293, January.
    10. Ying Li & Quanbao Jiang, 2017. "The Intergenerational Effect and Second Childbirth: Survey Findings from the Shaanxi Province of China," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 133(2), pages 669-691, September.
    11. Yoram Porath, 1975. "First-generation effects on second-generation fertility," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 12(3), pages 397-405, August.
    12. Sara Yeatman & Christie Sennott & Steven Culpepper, 2013. "Young Women’s Dynamic Family Size Preferences in the Context of Transitioning Fertility," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 50(5), pages 1715-1737, October.
    13. Samuel Preston, 1976. "Family sizes of children and family sizes of women," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 13(1), pages 105-114, February.
    14. Margaret Mooney Marini, 1980. "Effects Of The Number And Spacing Of Children On Marital And Parental Satisfaction," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 17(3), pages 225-242, August.
    15. Martin Kolk, 2011. "Deliberate Birth Spacing in Nineteenth Century Northern Sweden [L’espacement volontaire des naissances au 19e siècle dans le Nord de la Suède]," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 27(3), pages 337-359, August.
    16. Nan Johnson & C. Stokes, 1976. "Family size in successive generations: The effects of birth order, intergenerational change in lifestyle, and familial satisfaction," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 13(2), pages 175-187, May.
    17. Jenna Nobles & Elizabeth Frankenberg & Duncan Thomas, 2014. "The Effects of Mortality on Fertility: Population Dynamics after a Natural Disaster," NBER Working Papers 20448, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Douglas Anderton & Noriko Tsuya & Lee Bean & Geraldine Mineau, 1987. "Intergenerational transmission of relative fertility and life course patterns," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 24(4), pages 467-480, November.
    19. Sellers, Samuel & Gray, Clark, 2019. "Climate shocks constrain human fertility in Indonesia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 357-369.
    20. Abigail Weitzman & Emily Smith-Greenaway, 2020. "The Marital Implications of Bereavement: Child Death and Intimate Partner Violence in West and Central Africa," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(1), pages 347-371, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Fertility; International Migration; Education; Family Structure; Sociodemographic; Japanese Immigrants; Family background; The U.S.; Early 20th century;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J11 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Demographic Trends, Macroeconomic Effects, and Forecasts
    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sek:jijoss:v:9:y:2020:i:2:p:70-86. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Klara Cermakova (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://ijoss.iises.net/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.