Break Every Rule: Does Behavioral Disengagement Explain Ethnic Composition Effects on Higher Education Enrollment?

Abstract

This study investigates whether ethnic school composition has long-term effects on higher education enrollment and institutional choice. Using theoretical insights of cultural-ecology theory, we investigate whether behavioral disengagement mediates ethnic school composition effects on higher education attendance. Lastly, we investigate whether cultural-ecology theory holds in different educational systems with different migration histories, but with similar sociodemographic characteristics within the respective national contexts. Multilevel logistic analyses are carried out on data gathered in Ghent, Belgium (with 1,253 students across 30 schools) and Washington State in the U.S (with 1,150 students across 45 schools). For Ghent, results showed that behaviorally disengaged students attended higher education and universities less. Additionally, attending ethnic concentration schools increases behavioral engagement, yet no mediation effects are found.