Generational Status: First, Second and Third Generation Immigrants

Generational status describes how many generations a family has lived in a country since immigrating. The usual convention in demography and sociology (for example in U.S. Census usage) is:

Read the definition in the passage

Definitions are not uniform. Some sources count the first person born in the new country as the "first generation." A passage or question stem that defines the term overrides your memory. Check it before answering.

The 1.5 generation

Researchers use 1.5 generation for people who were born abroad but arrived as children. They often grow up bilingual in the new country's schools, so they sit between first and second generation in language and culture.

Why it matters

• Assimilation (adopting the dominant culture) and acculturation (change from contact between cultures) tend to increase with each generation.
• Language use typically shifts toward the dominant language by the second or third generation.
• Immigrant paradox: some first-generation groups show health outcomes as good as or better than later generations despite lower income.
• Generational status is one factor in studying social mobility.

Common traps

• Counting the immigrant as second generation. Under the usual convention the immigrant is first generation.
• Treating generation as age. It is about migration history, not birth year.
• Equating acculturation with assimilation. Acculturation is two-way contact; assimilation is adopting the majority culture.

One-minute recap

• First: born abroad. Second: born here to an immigrant parent. Third: both parents born here.
• Check the passage definition.
• Later generations generally assimilate more.