A new study led by Daisy Verduzco Reyes, a sociology professor at UC Merced and researcher at the Latina Futures 2050 Lab at UCLA, finds that many first-generation Mexican American college graduates see success as providing for their parents. This includes paying bills or buying homes for their families.
The research followed 61 Latinx millennials who attended college in California and mostly still live in the state. According to Reyes, “As researchers, we do not have much documented data and analysis to help us see and understand the lives of this population.” The study confirmed earlier findings that millennials are more likely to pay for their own education. Among those surveyed, 85 percent were the first in their family to attend and graduate from college, and nearly all—96 percent—were of Mexican origin.
Published in the journal Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, the study will inform a follow-up book to Reyes’ earlier work on Latino student life. It found that young Latinos often define personal achievement differently than what sociologists call the five-stage Standard North American Adulthood: leaving home, finishing college, entering the workforce, getting married, and having children.
Responsibility toward family was highlighted as a key value among immigrant and later-generation Latinx individuals. Reyes explained that giving back is often seen as an expression of gratitude: “The cultural and socio-structural conditions in which Latino millennials live contribute to their need to fulfill financial, emotional, legal and cultural labor roles in their families of origin.” The study refers to this pattern as the “Latinx mobility bargain” or “immigrant bargain.”
Participants included 40 women and 21 men who answered questions about whether they had achieved mobility compared to their parents or provided financial support for anyone else. Some respondents reported high earnings that allowed them to buy homes for their parents; others described being unable to advance due to low-paying jobs.
Reyes noted a common theme across responses: “The one idea that none of the respondents questioned was the cultural imperative of the immigrant bargain, the idea of taking care of your parents. Some might expect this ‘burden’ to feed resentment, but none of my respondents expressed any such feelings.” She added: “For many Latinx millennials, providing for parents has constrained their mobility trajectories. Yet this constraint is perceived as an accomplishment.”
Economic challenges also shaped these experiences. During the Great Recession between 2007 and 2016, middle-income Latinx families lost about 55 percent of their wealth—a sharper decline than white middle-income families during that period (31 percent). Research shows that Latinx households faced significant setbacks after economic downturns.
“Millennials are worse off economically than previous generations in terms of income, wealth, homeownership and debt,” Reyes said.
Sandra Baltazar Martínez serves as senior communications manager at Latina Futures 2050 Lab.
