Children of Immigrants and Their Achievement: The Roles of Family, Acculturation, Social Class, Gender, Ethnicity, and School Context

ADDRESSING THE ACHIEVEMENT GAP: THEORY INFORMING PRACTICE, pp. 23-59, Ronald D. Taylor, ed., Information Age Publishing, Inc., 2005

38 Pages Posted: 6 Jul 2011

See all articles by Rubén G. Rumbaut

Rubén G. Rumbaut

University of California, Irvine - Department of Sociology

Date Written: 2005

Abstract

Intergenerational relations in immigrant families are managed and shaped within divergent contexts of reception and incorporation, and with divergent sets of resources and vulnerabilities. Still, after taking into account the objective circumstances within which children of immigrants are coming of age – such as their parents’ socioeconomic status, family structure, peer networks and school contexts – there remains substantial and unexpected variance in the children’s interpersonal and intrapersonal responses. This paper explores these dimensions of their adaptation process: the ways they perceive their relationships with their parents and families, their school experiences and work discipline, their sense of self-worth, and the way they imagine and project their educational and occupational adult futures. That mix of psychosocial factors, in turn – especially experiences, attitudes, beliefs and expectations about education – can mold motivation and achievement, an analysis of which then follows. The data for that analysis come from the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study (CILS), the largest study of its kind to date in the United States. The study has followed the progress of a large sample of teenage youths representing 77 nationalities in two main areas of immigrant settlement in the United States: Southern California and South Florida.

Keywords: immigrant families, intergenerational relations, family cohesion and conflict, school contexts and peer groups, educational achievement, aspirations and expectations, school engagement and dropouts

Suggested Citation

Rumbaut, Rubén G., Children of Immigrants and Their Achievement: The Roles of Family, Acculturation, Social Class, Gender, Ethnicity, and School Context (2005). ADDRESSING THE ACHIEVEMENT GAP: THEORY INFORMING PRACTICE, pp. 23-59, Ronald D. Taylor, ed., Information Age Publishing, Inc., 2005, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1878129

Rubén G. Rumbaut (Contact Author)

University of California, Irvine - Department of Sociology ( email )

3151 Social Sciences Plaza A
Irvine, CA 92697-5100
United States

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