Immigrant Children's Adaptation and Assimilation in the Context of Family

Abstract

Family plays a notable role in shaping children's life trajectories. Focusing on second generation immigrants, this dissertation investigates how immigrant families structure their children's social environment and future prospects. My theoretical approach incorporates and brings together theories of capital and ideas from the immigration literature under the broad domain of family. Specifically, this dissertation addresses three research objectives and interests concerning immigrant children's adaptation and assimilation outcomes in the context of family. First, drawing from the immigrant family's ideational orientation and structural mechanisms, I assess the post-secondary educational attainment of young adult immigrant children. Second, focusing on the race and family argument, I explore four assimilation pathways relevant to their post-secondary educational and labor market participation. Third, I evaluate their assimilation outcomes by drawing on the family-centered ecological perspective. In sum, by presenting a systematic empirical analysis of immigrant children's assimilation outcomes, my study provides a theoretical consideration for working with immigrant families and children. Policy implication and directions for future research are discussed.