The results show the causes of the undercount to be more complex and daunting than many had supposed. For example, virtually all of these studies indicate that among minorities distrust of government is only one factor in their reluctance to fill in forms. Another powerful factor is distrust of one's neighbors. But among Korean immigrants another cause of underreporting the number of people in apartments is their reluctance to reveal overcrowded living conditions. Similarly, some Korean women are reluctant to admit having married outside their ethnic group and therefore neglect to report non-Korean partners to the census.
Households are frequently complicated, with individuals coming and going constantly.
In many immigrant enclaves, single men share cramped quarters with strangers, often sleeping in shifts. And even when men live with their families, the level of trust may not be high. One study of San Francisco's Mission District describes an apartment occupied by three Salvadoran families who, while sharing the kitchen and bath, each then retreated behind the locked door of their own bedrooms where they spent their time and stored their food. In suburban Long Island another group of Salvadorans sharing quarters avoided conversing with one another for fear of reigniting hostilities from their country's civil war. The high level of distrust in some neighborhoods was driven home to two researchers doing an alternative enumeration in a San Francisco public housing project.