Page 96 [96]
OCR
CHAPTER 5 BACKGROUND INFORMATION aged over 25 have BA or higher gualifications, slightly lower than the US average, 24.496 (US Census Bureau State and County Ouick Facts 2008), while in the Hungarian-American community, it is 64%. Therefore, taking into consideration the strikingly high qualifications of this group of HungarianAmericans, which is an important measure of the socio-economic status in the US, this group is a good example of a highly qualified, educationally prestigious immigrant community. It is also important to note that in comparison with the average in the state of North Carolina as well as with the US average, this community seems to be an aging one. 20% of the Hungarian-American community is aged over 61, while only 12.4% of North Carolinians are, and the corresponding national figure in the US is 12.8%. The youngest segment of the Hungarian-American community is the smallest one, the subjects aged between 9 and 20 make up only 13% of the sample, while in North Carolina, the proportion of those aged under 18 is 24.3% as high as the US national average. The most numerous segment of the Hungarian-American sample is made up by those aged between 21 and 40, 39%, followed by the age group of 41-60, 28%. Table 2: Ages Responses 61+ 41 - 60 21-40 8-20 N=78 (11 aA 13 (20%) 19 (28%) 26 (39%) 9 (13%) The aging structure of the community is also reflected by the proportion of first- and second-generation members. 78% of the subjects are first-generation Hungarian-Americans, while 22% belong to the second generation. This figure also shows that the vast majority of this community is made up by first-generation members. As the members of this community regularly attend the Hungarian-American events, because, for various reasons, they are interested in cherishing Hungarian traditions, it can be concluded that this interest among second-generation members considerably declines. Also, the majority of the second-generation members are young children or young adults, and they attend the Hungarian-American events mostly because their parents, the first-generation members, bring them with them. There are only few second-generation Hungarian-Americans who continue to attend the Hungarian-American community’s events even if their parents do not. Also, there is a striking difference between the ages of first- and second-generation subjects. The majority of second-generation subjects (47%) are younger than 20 years, while the majority of first-generation subjects (40%) are aged between 21-40, which well reflects the parent-child relationship between first- and second-generation members. + 94 +
