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Title: The Generation 2.5 Curse? Comparing Educational Outcomes for Children of Immigrant Intermarriages in the United States

Citation Type: Conference Paper

Publication Year: 2019

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Abstract: Is having one native-born parent an advantage for the child of an immigrant? Much of the classical literature on immigrant assimilation would suggest that children with one native-born and one foreign-born parent (generation 2.5) should fare better than those whose parents are both foreign-born (generation 2.0) Generation 2.5 individuals should have greater access to native networks, face less discrimination, and better bicultural awareness. Despite these seeming advan- tages, recent studies suggest the opposite, with generation 2.5 having worse educational outcomes than their generation 2.0 counterparts. In this paper, we utilize propensity score matching to eval- uate differences in educational outcomes between these two groups. We estimate that on average, generation 2.5 have nearly half a year less education than their generation 2.0 counterparts despite having better-educated parents on average. A number of explanations for this are explored, with a higher degree of bilingualism for generation 2.0, foreign-born parents investing more in children's education, and access to highly skilled immigrant networks being the most promising explanations.

Url: http://meea.sites.luc.edu/volume21/PDFs/Foad_v6.pdf

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Authors: Blackford, Cheyenne; Foad, Hisham

Conference Name: Topics in Middle Eastern and African Economies

Publisher Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Education, Migration and Immigration

Countries: United States