Bangladeshi immigrants' adaptation in the United States

This quantitative study explores Bangladeshi immigrants' adaptation in the United States. Bangladeshi immigrants are one of the fastest-growing minority ethnic groups in the United States. Despite their tremendous growth, little is known about them, and no systematic study of their adaptation to American life has been published. This dissertation fills this void in the literature by thoroughly examining the cultural, socioeconomic, structural, and political adaptation of Bangladeshi immigrants in the United States. This study addresses two research questions: How well do Bangladeshi immigrants in the United States adapt culturally, socioeconomically, structurally, and politically into American life? What are the major determinants of the structural, cultural, socioeconomic, and political adaptation of Bangladeshi immigrants? To answer the research questions, this study is guided by several theoretical frameworks and proposes a set of hypotheses for testing. The data for this study come from the 2001-2019 American Community Surveys and the 2000-2021 Current Population Surveys conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. Major methods of analysis include chi-square test, ANOVA, ordinary least squares regression, and logistic regression. The findings reveal that overall Bangladeshi immigrants appear to have adapted well culturally, socioeconomically, structurally, and politically in the United States, but they have only partially assimilated and partly retained their ethnic cultures, especially their native tongue. Their average income is relatively low despite their relatively high educational attainment. Their adaptation experience is not linear but is bumpy and non-uniform. The results of regression analyses show that many demographic, familial, assimilational, and socioeconomic factors contribute significantly to the cultural and socioeconomic adaptation of Bangladeshi immigrants. On the other hand, many predictors of structural and political adaptation do not attain statistical significance at the 0.05 level because of the small sample sizes and call for further testing. This is the first comprehensive research on the adaptation experience of Bangladeshi immigrants in the United States. This research contributes to the literature by examining concurrently the patterns and determinants of Bangladeshi immigrants’ cultural, socioeconomic, structural, and political adaptation. It also assesses the applicability of competing theoretical approaches to Bangladeshi immigrants’ adaptation. The findings will also have practical and policy implications.