Hill Kulu - Family dynamics among immigrants and their descendants in Europe
Channel: Understanding Society: UKHLS
Date: 20/08/2019

This presentation was delivered as a keynote address at the Understanding Society Scientific Conference 2019. It is based on three comparative studies, which investigate partnership and family patterns among immigrants and their descendants in selected European countries. We analyse partnership formation and dissolution, determinants of intermarriage between natives and immigrants, and childbearing patterns among immigrants and their descendants. Using data from seven European countries the studies show, first, significant diversity in partnership patterns and family forms among immigrants and their descendants within and between the countries. Second, the analyses reveal that partnership and childbearing patterns of the descendants of immigrants are in-between those of immigrants and natives, although they vary across groups and also by dimensions of family life. Third, the studies show that the country context also matters, i.e. institutional factors shape partnership and childbearing behaviour of ethnic minorities. We discuss the results of the three studies in the light of competing approaches to immigrant and ethnic minority integration.