Table 24.
English Fluency Among Children Age 8–12 and Their Immigrant Parents: Logit Estimates, NIS-2003 Cohort
| Regressor | Parents | Children | |
|---|---|---|---|
| (1) | (2) | ||
| Sex (1 = female) | −0.699 (3.24)*** | 0.121 (0.74) | 0.0631 (0.38) |
| Age | 0.0174 (0.93) | 0.159 (2.69)** | 0.142 (2.36)* |
| Spouse of NB citizen | 1.158 | NA | NA |
| Biological child of U.S. citizen | NA | −.0860 | .0383 |
| Not biological child of U.S. citizen | NA | .937 | .956 |
| Spouse of FB citizen | .406 | −.211 | −.295 |
| Parent of U.S. citizen | −.0474 | 1.283 | 1.269 |
| Adult unmarried child of U.S. citizen | .608 | −.529 | −.495 |
| Married child of U.S. citizen | 1.345 | −.302 | −.443 |
| Spouse of adult child of U.S. citizen | .0544 | ||
| Sibling of U.S. citizen | −.633 | −.702 | −1.569 |
| Spouse of sibling of U.S. citizen | −.555 | ||
| Spouse of LPR | .162 | −.261 | −.238 |
| Child of LPR | .0108 | −.0437 | .0709 |
| Employment principal | 1.463 | .243 | −.0954 |
| Spouse of employment principal | 1.451 | ||
| Diversity principal | .280 | −.0511 | −.0553 |
| Spouse of diversity principal | −.345 | ||
| Refugee/asylee/parolee | .620 | −.761 | −.987 |
| Spouse of refugee/asylee/parolee principal | .659 | ||
| Joint test chi2 | 32.68** (16 df) | 21.56* (12 df) | 20.72 (12 df) |
| Adjustee | 1.001 | 1.625 | 1.518 |
| Previous illegal experience | −.633 | .203 | .429 |
| Joint test chi2 (2 df) | 6.78* | 25.77*** | 23.69*** |
| Childhood language Spanish | −3.261 | −1.664 | −1.500 |
| Childhood language English & Spanish | −2.442 | NA | NA |
| Childhood language English & other | −.969 | NA | NA |
| Childhood language Spanish & other | −2.269 | NA | NA |
| Childhood language other | −2.168 | 0.224 | .289 |
| Joint test chi2 | 23.01*** (5 df) | 24.16*** (2 df) | 25.75*** (2 df) |
| Ukraine | −2.032 | −1.338 | −1.000 |
| China | −1.407 | −1.766 | −1.674 |
| India | −0.903 | .742 | 1.087 |
| Korea | −3.290 | −1.485 | −.865 |
| Philippines | −0.840 | .742 | 1.057 |
| Vietnam | −2.287 | −1.361 | −1.071 |
| Cuba | −1.361 | −1.084 | −.743 |
| Dominican Republic | −1.419 | −0.878 | −0.672 |
| El Salvador | −0.462 | −0.983 | −0.639 |
| Guatemala | −0.647 | −1.094 | −0.775 |
| Mexico | −.997 | −0.971 | −0.573 |
| Joint test chi2 (11 df) | 32.61*** | 24.52* | 16.90 |
| English official language of parental origin country | 2.115 (3.23)*** | 1.661 (3.21)*** | .923 (1.71) |
| Child entered U.S. at age 4+ | NA | −.268 | −.0203 |
| Child entered U.S. under age 4 | NA | .804 | .970 |
| Child born in U.S. | NA | 1.005 | 1.108 |
| Joint test chi2 (3 df) | NA | 13.21** | 10.89* |
| Parent interviewed in English | NA | NA | 1.735 (5.05)*** |
| Constant | −.547 (.47) | −.887 (.97) | −1.504 1.69) |
| Log pseudolikelihood | −308.61 | −460.98 | −440.19 |
| Observations | 870 | 998 | 998 |
Notes: NA = not applicable. Standard errors in child regressions corrected for heteroskedasticity due to clustering within family. Absolute values of asymptotic t-ratio appear in parentheses under parameter estimates for numeric and binary variables. Joint tests reported for multiple-category categorical variables.
*
p < .05,
**
p < .01,
***
p < .001;
two-tailed tests for single coefficients, one-tailed for joint tests