We investigate whether a three-generation model of linguistic assimilation, known from previous waves of immigration, can be applied to the descendants of contemporary immigrant groups. Using the 5% Integrated Public Use Microdata Sample 1990 file, we examine the home languages of second- and third-generation children and compare the degree of their language shift against that among the descendants of European immigrants, as evidenced in the 1940 and 1970 censuses. Overall, the rates of speaking only English for a number of contemporary groups suggest that Anglicization is occurring at roughly the same pace for Asians as it did for Europeans, but is slower among the descendants of Spanish speakers. Multivariate models for three critical groups--Chinese, Cubans, and Mexicans--indicate that the home languages of third-generation children are most affected by factors, such as intermarriage, that determine the languages spoken by adults and by the communal context.
Previous research has shown that although a smaller proportion of black high school graduates than white high school graduates attend college, black high school graduates are more likely than white high school graduates to attend college net of differences in socioeconomic family background and academic performance. Yet, the overrepresentation of black immigrants in selective colleges and theoretical work on immigrant incorporation raises the question of whether this net black advantage is very African American. Using data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988, logistic regression, and propensity score analysis, the authors investigated whether the net black advantage reflects the educational trajectories of immigrant rather than native blacks. They found dual, yet distinct, cases of the net black advantage, such that native blacks are more likely than are comparable whites to attend all types of colleges, whereas immigrant blacks are only more likely than similar whites to attend selective colleges. The theoretical and social stratification implications of the findings are explored.
Longitudinal data from 1,128 respondents in the National Survey of Children are used to examine factors that help explain the higher rates of school dropout and lower rates of high school graduation in socioeconomically distressed communities. The authors find that approximately one third of the observed positive effect of community socioeconomic disadvantage on high school discontinuation can be explained by the educational behaviors of peers, a result broadly consistent with epidemic models of neighborhood effects. A smaller proportion of the impact of neighborhood socioeconomic status on youth educational attainment can be attributed to youth's lower educational aspirations and higher rates of residential mobility in poor neighborhoods. Despite their centrality to theories of neighborhood effects, adolescents' delinquent behavior, attachment to school and parents, and parental control over adolescent behavior do little to mediate the impact of community disadvantage on high school dropout and graduation.
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