Growing Up American: The Challenge Confronting Immigrant Children and Children of Immigrants

Abstract

Since the 1980s, immigrant children and children of immigrant parentage have become the fastest growing and the most extraordinarily diverse segment of America's child population. Until the recent past, however, scholarly attention has focused on adult immigrants to the neglect of their offspring, creating a profound gap between the strategic importance of the new second generation and the knowledge about its socioeconomic circumstances. The purpose of this article is to pull together existing studies that bear directly or indirectly on children's immigrant experiences and adaptational outcomes and to place these studies into a general framework that can facilitate a better understanding of the new second generation. The article first describes the changing trends in the contexts of the reception the new second generation has encountered. The article then discusses the ways in which conventional theoretical perspectives about immigrant adaptation are being challenged and alternative frameworks are being developed. Thirdly, it examines empirical findings from recent research and evaluates their contribution to the sociology of immigration. Finally, it highlights the main conclusions from prior research and their theoretical and practical implications for future studies.

Behind the scenes: family involvement and educational achievements of second-generation Turks in Austria, France and Sweden

“…The education level of the parents in particular is one of the most important characteristics in the family context. This finding is in line with most of the international research on immigrant youth and schooling outcomes (Heath & Brinbaum, 2007;Zhou, 1997). However, parental socio-economic status is not all that counts.…”

Is assimilation theory dead? The effect of assimilation on adolescent well-being

“…In terms of group composition, some scholars emphasize that the new immigrants are primarily from Asia and Latin America and therefore nonwhite, and their minority status may hinder their full integration into the white middle class (e.g., Gans 1992;Rumbaut 1996, 2001;Portes and Zhou 1993). In addition, many scholars (e.g., Alba and Nee 2003;Bean and Stevens 2003;Zhou 1997b) have noted that contemporary immigrants come from a much wider variety of socioeconomic backgrounds than those in the previous wave, suggesting that different groups will start out on different "rungs" of the American class system. This makes any single, uniform model of immigrant incorporation into the United States inherently less appropriate than it may have been for earlier, relatively more homogeneous groups.…”

Immigrants, their children, and theories of assimilation: Family structure in the United States, 1880–1970

“…Based on these unexpected trends, segmented assimilation theory posits two distinct assimilation trajectories for the descendants of recent immigrants (Portes & Rumbaut, 1996;Zhou, 1997). One, upward assimilation, leads towards the socioeconomic status, family structure, fertility and marital features common to the majority of native-born persons in the US.…”

“…Although the loss of employment opportunities has potent effects, ethnic and racial characteristics also shape assimilatory paths in the segmented model (Portes, 1995;Zhou, 1997). Here, segmented assimilation postulates two cultural explanations for divergent assimilation paths.…”

“…Seeking a historical foundation, social scientists often take the immigration era between 1890 and 1920 as the 'classic' case. Most scholars view the absorption of the great waves of eastern and southern Europeans of that period as relatively straightforward (Alba, 1990;Waters, 1990;Portes & Zhou, 1993;Fernández-Kelly & Schauffler, 1994;Zhou, 1997). Portes states: 'With exceptions, that course featured an orderly progression from the poverty and discrimination endured by the first generation to the rapid acculturation of the second generation …' (Portes, 1997, p. 814).…”