Immigrant Incorporation in the U.S. and Mexico: Well-being, Community Reception, and National Identity in Contexts of Reception and Return

This dissertation focuses on the incorporation of twenty first century mixed-status families, living in Phoenix, Arizona and Central Mexico. Using a combination of research methods, chapters illustrate patterns of immigrant incorporation by focusing on well-being, community reception, and national identity. First, results of mixed-method data collected in Phoenix, Arizona from 2009-2010 suggest that life satisfaction varies by integration scores, a holistic measure of how immigrants are integrating into their communities by accounting for individual, household, and contextual factors. Second, findings from qualitative data collected in Mexico during 2010, illustrate that communities receive parents and children differently. Third, a continued analysis of qualitative 2010 data from Mexico, exhibits that both parents and children identify more with the U.S. than with Mexico, regardless of where they were born. Together these chapters contribute to broad concepts of assimilation, well-being, community reception, and national identity.