Both the international and national literature have shown that social background is the most influential social factor in determining the consistently lower educational outcomes of children of immigrants compared to that of natives. However, less is known about the specific mechanisms that contribute to explain this relationship. Previous studies carried out in Spain lack an empirical distinction based on the ethnic origin of the children of immigrants. This study sheds light on this issue through a case study design. Using data from a survey conducted among students in the last two years of compulsory education in Marbella, this paper measures the inequalities in educational outcomes between immigrants and native students. This is done with the aim of clarifying to what extent such inequalities are explained by each of the two main social origin mechanisms found in the specialized literature: financial capital and cultural capital. The results of the regression analysis provide empirical support for both types of mechanisms, although the latter is found to have stronger explanatory power. Moreover, the way and the extent to which both mechanisms explain academic inequalities vary substantially from one ethnic origin to another due to compositional differences regarding the economic and sociocultural variables analyzed. © 2016, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona. All rights reserved.

Socioeconomic background Socio-educational integration Immigrant students Cultural capital Educational outcomes

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