Immigrant Generations - Second-generation Immigrant

The term "second-generation immigrant" extends the concept of first-generation by one generation. As such, the term exhibits the same type of ambiguity as "first-generation," as well as additional ones.

Like "first-generation immigrant," the term "second-generation immigrant" can refer to a member of either:

• the second generation of a family to inhabit, but the first to be naturally born in, a country, or
• the second generation to be naturally born in a country.

In the United States, among demographers and other social scientists, the term "second generation" is used to refer to the U.S.-born children of foreign-born parents.

The term second-generation immigrant has attracted criticism due to a perceived self-contradiction. Namely, critics say, a "second-generation immigrant" is not an immigrant, as being "second-generation" implies that the person's parents are the immigrants in question. Generation labeling of immigrants is further complicated by the fact that immigrant generations may not correspond to the genealogical generations of a family. For instance, if a family of two parents and their two adult children immigrate to a new country, members in both generations of this family may be considered "first generation" by the former definition, as both parents and children were foreign-born, adult, immigrants. Likewise, if the two parents had a third child later on, this child would be of a different immigrant generation from that of its siblings. For every generation, the factor of mixed-generation marriages further convolutes the issue, as a person may have immigrants at several different levels of his/her ancestry.

These ambiguities notwithstanding, generation labeling is frequently used in parlance, news articles, and reference articles without deliberate clarification of birthplace or naturalization. It may or may not be possible to determine, from context, which meaning is intended.