Open AccessLooking Down or Looking Up: Status and Subjective Well‐Being among Asian and Latino Immigrants in the United States
Author(s) -
Gelatt Julia
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
international migration review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.109
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1747-7379
pISSN - 0197-9183
DOI - 10.1111/imre.12013
Subject(s) - immigration , transnationalism , dual (grammatical number) , demographic economics , perspective (graphical) , country of origin , political science , sociology , gender studies , economics , law , mathematics , art , geometry , literature , politics
Foundational theories of international migration rest on the assumption that immigrants maintain reference groups in their country of origin even after settling in a new place, while the transnationalism perspective suggests that immigrants maintain a dual frame of reference. This article uses the nationally representative N ational L atino and A sian A merican S urvey to test the location of immigrants’ reference groups. I find that the relationship between various measures of subjective social standing and subjective well‐being suggests that immigrants maintain simultaneous reference groups in both the United States and the country of origin, supporting transnational theories, and refuting earlier theories.