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Title: Downward Assimilation in the New Destinations? School Non-Enrollment Among Mexican Origin Adolescents in New and Traditional Destinations of Immigrant Settlement

Citation Type: Conference Paper

Publication Year: 2011

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Abstract: Historically, the Mexican origin population in the United States was highly geographically concentrated in a small number of states. In the 1990s, a significant proportion of the total Mexican origin population began migrating outside of these states, to new destinations of immigrant settlement. This research examines how different types of immigrant destinations influence the school non-enrollment outcomes of Mexican origin adolescents. I use the 2005-2007 American Community Survey to compare the rates of school non-enrollment of Mexican origin 15-17 year-olds in new and traditional destination states with those of non-Hispanic whites. I evaluate whether differences in non-enrollment between Mexican origin adolescents in these destinationsand non-Hispanic whites can be attributed to variation in individual and household characteristics related to destination selection and the process of assimilation. I show that Mexican origin adolescents in new destinations have higher rates of school nonenrollment than both their peers in traditional destinations and non-Hispanic whites.However, there is no evidence of a net new destination effect on Mexican origin nonenrollment after immigrant generation and parental educational attainment are controlled. Contrary to the predictions of the segmented assimilation theory, the native-born Mexican origin population in traditional destinations does not exhibit higher than average rates of school non-enrollment. In fact, native-born Mexican origin adolescents in traditional destinations experience an enrollment advantage over non-Hispanic whites at comparable levels of parental education. Mexican origin adolescents with the leastamount of exposure to the United States, the 1.25 generation, is the most at risk of nonenrollmentrelative to non-Hispanic whites, regardless of the destination where they reside. Many of these adolescents, however, are likely teenage labor migrants who never enroll in schools in the United States.

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Authors: Ackert, Elizabeth S.

Conference Name: Population Association of America

Publisher Location: Washington, D.C.

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Education, Migration and Immigration, Race and Ethnicity

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