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Author: Cruz, Vanessa
Resulting in 2 citations.
1. Cruz, Vanessa
Educational Attainment of First and Second Generation Immigrant Youth New Findings from National Longitudinal Data
Research Brief No. 5, Urban Institute Class of 2008, March 2009.
Also: http://www.urban.org/uisa/upload/UISA-Brief-5.pdf
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: Urban Institute
Keyword(s): Educational Attainment; Immigrants; Intergenerational Patterns/Transmission; Parental Influences; Social Environment; Socioeconomic Background; Undergraduate Research

At the current pace, by the year 2040 one in three children will grow up in a household with at least one foreign-born parent (Suarez-Orozco et al., 2008). Due to growing disparities in educational achievement among first, second and third generation students, scholars have attempted to explain the success of those first and second generation immigrant students who excel. Perreira et al. (2006) found that first generation immigrant students are more likely to drop out of high school (at 13 percent) than their U.S.-born peers with foreign-born parents. This study focused on educational attainment of immigrant youth by generation using a sample of 4,384 twelve to fourteen year old participants from the National Longitudinal Survey of Immigrant youth 1997 (NLSY97), controlling for race, gender, family structure, parental citizenship, use of English in the home, and parenting style. This study specifically asks: how strongly associated is immigrant youth educational attainment with parental socioeconomic status, English spoken in the home, and parental classroom involvement. This study also asks whether educational attainment differs based on distance from the immigration experience. In particular, I challenge immigrant optimism-defeatist theories as potential explanations of the differences between first, second, and third generation immigrant youth's educational attainment.
Bibliography Citation
Cruz, Vanessa. "Educational Attainment of First and Second Generation Immigrant Youth New Findings from National Longitudinal Data." Research Brief No. 5, Urban Institute Class of 2008, March 2009.
2. Cruz, Vanessa
Educational Attainment: The Fence First and Second Generation Immigrant Youth Straddle
Presented: Los Angeles, CA, Association of Public Policy Management (APPAM) Research Conference, November 6-8, 2008
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM)
Keyword(s): Educational Attainment; Immigrants; Intergenerational Patterns/Transmission; Parental Influences; Social Environment; Socioeconomic Background; Undergraduate Research

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

One out of every five U.S. grow up in immigrant families (Green et al., 2008). By 2040, one in three children will grow up in a household with at least one foreign born parent (Suarez-Orozco et al., 2008). Perreira and colleagues found that first generation students are more likely to drop out of high school at thirteen percent than any of their U.S.-born peers (2006). A Pew Hispanic Report in 2002 found thirty-seven percent of Caucasian American high school graduates between the ages of 25-29 years old have received a bachelor's degree, and that holds for twenty-one percent of African American high school graduates. Among second generation Latinos, more than 10 percent have an associate's degree but only 16 percent have a bachelor's degree. Due to these growing disparities, scholars have established the immigrant optimism and defeatist theories to explain for the success of foreign-born youth in contrast to the lower educational attainment U.S.-born peers. However, this longitudinal study argues against these theories because there are more statistically significant variables that surpass immigrant attitude theories. Therefore, the author asks how strongly do poverty levels, English spoken in home and parental classroom involvement impact the youth's educational attainment? Based on a sample size of 4,384 from participants in the NLSY97 (1997-2005) the author more generally asks how does educational attainment differ based on generation status?
Bibliography Citation
Cruz, Vanessa. "Educational Attainment: The Fence First and Second Generation Immigrant Youth Straddle." Presented: Los Angeles, CA, Association of Public Policy Management (APPAM) Research Conference, November 6-8, 2008.