Volume 48 - Article 10 | Pages 271–320  

Union formation and fertility amongst immigrants from Pakistan and their descendants in the United Kingdom: A multichannel sequence analysis

By Joseph Harrison, Katherine Lisa Keenan, Frank Sullivan, Hill Kulu

Abstract

Background: Previous work identifies conservative family behaviour amongst Pakistanis in the United Kingdom relative to natives, including earlier marriages, fewer dissolutions, and higher fertility. However, few studies have investigated how fertility and partnership are intertwined and interdependent.

Objective: Our aims are, first, to identify differences between the family trajectories of Pakistanis and natives and, second, to determine if patterns are consistent across immigrant generations. Finally, we aim to identify how family trajectories vary across birth cohorts and education levels.

Methods: We apply multichannel sequence analysis (MCSA) to data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study. We first use clustering methods to group similar individuals and then apply multinomial logistic regression to calculate the probability of belonging to a cluster based on individual characteristics.

Results: The Pakistani population exhibits a higher likelihood of entering a direct marriage and having large families compared to natives. Cohabitation is rare amongst Pakistani population. These patterns have changed little between immigrant generations. Degree-level education is associated with a higher likelihood of adopting behaviours typical to ancestral natives; however, the effects are not large enough to indicate convergence.

Contribution: We demonstrate the need to investigate partnership and fertility trajectories simultaneously and show the value of MCSA for identifying differences between migrant groups. The results improve our understanding of family formation patterns of Pakistani immigrants and their descendants in the United Kingdom.

Author's Affiliation

Other articles by the same author/authors in Demographic Research

Educational trends in cohort fertility by birth order: A comparison of England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland
Volume 51 - Article 36

Family life transitions, residential relocations, and housing in the life course: Current research and opportunities for future work: Introduction to the Special Collection on “Separation, Divorce, and Residential Mobility in a Comparative Perspective”
Volume 43 - Article 2

Separation, divorce, and housing tenure: A cross-country comparison
Volume 41 - Article 39

Homeownership after separation: A longitudinal analysis of Finnish register data
Volume 41 - Article 29

Union dissolution and housing trajectories in Britain
Volume 41 - Article 7

A decade of life-course research on fertility of immigrants and their descendants in Europe
Volume 40 - Article 46

Co-ethnic marriage versus intermarriage among immigrants and their descendants: A comparison across seven European countries using event-history analysis
Volume 39 - Article 17

The increasing mortality advantage of the married: The role played by education
Volume 38 - Article 20

Social policies, separation, and second birth spacing in Western Europe
Volume 37 - Article 37

Why does fertility remain high among certain UK-born ethnic minority women?
Volume 35 - Article 49

Introduction to research on immigrant and ethnic minority families in Europe
Volume 35 - Article 2

Union formation and dissolution among immigrants and their descendants in the United Kingdom
Volume 33 - Article 10

Premarital cohabitation and divorce: Support for the "Trial Marriage" Theory?
Volume 23 - Article 31

High Suburban Fertility: Evidence from Four Northern European Countries
Volume 21 - Article 31

Migration and union dissolution in a changing socio-economic context: The case of Russia
Volume 17 - Article 27

Fertility differences by housing type: The effect of housing conditions or of selective moves?
Volume 17 - Article 26

Family change and migration in the life course: An introduction
Volume 17 - Article 19

Most recent similar articles in Demographic Research

Educational trends in cohort fertility by birth order: A comparison of England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland
Volume 51 - Article 36    | Keywords: birth order, cohort analysis, cross-national study, England, family size, fertility, Northern Ireland, parity, Scotland, Wales

Higher incomes are increasingly associated with higher fertility: Evidence from the Netherlands, 2008–2022
Volume 51 - Article 26    | Keywords: fertility, income, inequalities, Netherlands, parenthood

Tools for analysing fuzzy clusters of sequences data
Volume 51 - Article 16    | Keywords: fuzzy clustering, sequence analysis, silhouette coefficient, visualization, weighted gradient index plots

Transitions to adulthood in men and women in rural Malawi in the 21st century using sequence analysis: Some evidence of delay
Volume 51 - Article 14    | Keywords: Africa, Health and Demographic Surveillance System, longitudinal analysis, Malawi, sequence analysis, transition to adulthood

The short- and long-term determinants of fertility in Uruguay
Volume 51 - Article 10    | Keywords: fertility, panel data, stages of female reproductive life, time series, Uruguay