This paper examines determinants of aspirations and expectations among children of immigrants based on a statistically representative sample of 3,375 second generation youths interviewed in 101 public and private secondary schools in metropolitan Madrid. We review the past literature on status attainment in general and aspirations and expectations, in particular, and draw from it a set of six hypotheses to guide the analysis. Most theoretical statements in this field have been developed on the basis of U.S. data; studies in other immigrant-receiving countries, especially outside the Anglophone world, have been scarce. The study thus provides an opportunity to test and refine existing hypotheses in a different national context. We present breakdowns of educational and occupational aspirations and expectations by gender, parental education and type of school attended. This is followed by multivariate regressions of all four dependent variables on these three plus other predictors suggested by the research literature. This analysis ends with structural equation models – recursive and non-recursive – that provide an integrated theoretical statement of the causal structure of ambition in the Spanish context. Implications of our findings for theory and policy are examined. Suggestions for future research in this field are discussed.
Este artículo analiza determinantes de las aspiraciones y expectativasentre los hijos de inmigrantes basándose en una muestra representativade jóvenes de la segunda generacion entrevistados en colegios desecundaria del área metropolitana de Madrid. Sobre la consecución deestatus en general y de las aspiraciones y expectativas en particular, seformula un conjunto de siete hipótesis. Presentamos desagregacionesde las aspiraciones y expectativas educacionales y ocupacionales porgénero, educación parental y escuela. El análisis fi naliza con modelosde ecuaciones estructurales que ofrecen una perspectiva teórica integradade la estructura causal de la ambición en el contexto español. Seexaminan las consecuencias de nuestras conclusiones para la teoría ylas políticas.
We examine determinants of educational and occupational aspirations and expectations among children of immigrants in Spain on the basis of a unique data set that includes statistically representative data for foreign-origin secondary students in Madrid and Barcelona plus a sample of one-fourth of their parents. Independently collected data for both generations allow us to establish effects of parental characteristics on children’s orientations without the confounding potential inherent in children’s reports about parents. We analyze first determinants of parental ambition and, through a series of step-wise regressions, the effects of these goals and other parental and family characteristics on children’s aspirations and expectations. A structural equations model synthesizes results of the analysis. The model confirms predictions from the research literature, especially those based on the Wisconsin status attainment model, but rejects others, including the predicted significance of private vs. public school attendance. Parental ambition, knowledge of Spanish by parents and children, gender, and children’s age are major determinants of youths’ educational and occupational goals. These results have direct implications for policy; these are discussed in the conclusion.
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