Demography
Volume 46, Issue 3, 2009, Pages 513-534

Parental characteristics and the schooling progress of the children of immigrant and U.S.-born blacks (Article)

Thomas K.J.A.
  • a Departments of African and African American Studies and Sociology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16801, United States

Abstract

In this study, I examine disparities in schooling progress among children born to immigrant and U.S.-born blacks. I find that in one- and two-parent families children born to black immigrants are less likely to fall behind in school than those born to U.S.-born blacks. In two-parent immigrant families, children born to two immigrant parents have a significant schooling advantage over children born to one immigrant parent. While children born to two immigrant parents in the wealthiest black immigrant families do better in the second generation than in the first, the reverse is observed among children in less wealthy families. These findings contribute in two ways to our understanding of the assimilation processes of children born to black immigrant parents. First, they show that there is a positive association between the number of immigrant parents in a family and children's schooling performance. Second, they suggest that disparities in the assimilation patterns of the children of black immigrants are a likely product of the interaction between their parental characteristics and the socioeconomic circumstances of their families.

Author Keywords

[No Keywords available]

Index Keywords

Parents educational status human African American family size Family Characteristics United States Humans Adolescent male Emigrants and Immigrants Acculturation Socioeconomic Factors female Multivariate Analysis socioeconomics cultural factor Article adult migration Likelihood Functions statistical model African Americans parent

Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-69549121717&doi=10.1353%2fdem.0.0068&partnerID=40&md5=5d95fa8f747eabf4e1dcc536236e945c

DOI: 10.1353/dem.0.0068
ISSN: 00703370
Cited by: 21
Original Language: English