The immigrant experience: Houstonians’ family attitudes and behaviors

ABSTRACT

Although there is extensive scholarship that examines differences in family behaviors and attitudes between whites and blacks, there are very few studies that examine these differences across whites, blacks, Latinos, and Asians in the United States. In the current study, we do so by examining data from the 2011 Houston Area Survey. We explore Houstonians’ likelihood of engaging in interracial relationships, attitudes toward working mothers, and attitudes toward same-sex marriage. Houston was selected as the target of the study given its rise as the most racially and ethnically diverse metropolitan area in the nation. Non-white Houstonians are more likely to date members of other racial/ethnic groups. With regard to attitudes toward working mothers, only Latino and Asian immigrants hold less accepting views than whites. Finally, the results with regard to same-sex marriage equality suggest that increased migration and diversity within Houston could hasten social change and acceptance.

Acknowledgments

We thank the Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University for their support throughout the research process. In particular, we individually thank Michael Emerson for his thoughtful comments on previous drafts of this article and Jie Wu for her help with the Houston Area Survey Data. This article is a work product of the Fudan University–Rice University joint program known as Metropolises’ Response to Migration and Urban Growth.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Amy Lucas

Amy Lucas, PhD, is an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Houston–Clear Lake. Her research interests center on the family, in particular romantic relationships, romantic relationship quality, and family attitudes.

Stephen M. Cherry

Stephen M. Cherry, PhD, is an associate professor of sociology at the University of Houston–Clear Lake. His research interests include immigration, religion, Asian Americans, and civic life, with a particular focus on Filipino American Catholics post-1965. He is the author of Faith, Family, and Filipino American Community Life (Rutgers University Press) and the coeditor of Religious Movements Across Borders (Ashgate).