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From Parent to Child? Transmission of Educational Attainment Within Immigrant Families: Methodological Considerations

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  • Renee Luthra
  • Thomas Soehl

Abstract

One in five U.S. residents under the age of 18 has at least one foreign-born parent. Given the large proportion of immigrants with very low levels of schooling, the strength of the intergenerational transmission of education between immigrant parent and child has important repercussions for the future of social stratification in the United States. We find that the educational transmission process between parent and child is much weaker in immigrant families than in native families and, among immigrants, differs significantly across national origins. We demonstrate how this variation causes a substantial overestimation of the importance of parental education in immigrant families in studies that use aggregate data. We also show that the common practice of “controlling” for family human capital using parental years of schooling is problematic when comparing families from different origin countries and especially when comparing native and immigrant families. We link these findings to analytical and empirical distinctions between group- and individual-level processes in intergenerational transmission. Copyright The Author(s) 2015

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  • Renee Luthra & Thomas Soehl, 2015. "From Parent to Child? Transmission of Educational Attainment Within Immigrant Families: Methodological Considerations," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 52(2), pages 543-567, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:demogr:v:52:y:2015:i:2:p:543-567
    DOI: 10.1007/s13524-015-0376-3
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    Cited by:

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    2. Duncan, Brian & Grogger, Jeffrey & Leon, Ana Sofia & Trejo, Stephen J., 2020. "New evidence of generational progress for Mexican Americans," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    3. driouchi, ahmed & Gamar, Alae, 2015. "Is there a Gatsby Curve for Educational Attainment in Arab Countries?," MPRA Paper 63869, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 22 Apr 2015.
    4. Russell, Helen & McGinnity, Frances & Darmody, Merike, 2022. "Children of migrants in Ireland: How are they faring?," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number RS134, June.
    5. Zwysen, Wouter & Longhi, Simonetta, 2016. "Labour market disadvantage of ethnic minority British graduates: university choice, parental background or neighbourhood?," ISER Working Paper Series 2016-02, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    6. Hull, Marie & Norris, Jonathan, 2020. "The skill development of children of immigrants," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    7. Luthra, Renee Reichl & Platt, Lucinda, 2023. "Do immigrants benefit from selection? Migrant educational selectivity and its association with social networks, skills and health," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 118629, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    8. Wouter Zwysen & Simonetta Longhi, 2016. "Employment and Earning Gaps in the Early Career of Ethnic Minority British Graduates: the Importance of University Choice, Parental Background and Area Characteristics," RF Berlin - CReAM Discussion Paper Series 1615, Rockwool Foundation Berlin (RF Berlin) - Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM).
    9. Alberto Ortega & Tyler Ludwig, 2023. "Immigrant English Proficiency, Children’s Educational Performance, and Parental Involvement," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 693-719, June.
    10. Borkowska, Magda & Luthra, Renee, 2022. "Socialization Disrupted: The Intergenerational Transmission of Political Engagement in Immigrant Families," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, issue OnlineFir, pages 1-28.
    11. Carol, Sarah & Schulz, Benjamin, 2018. "Religiosity as a bridge or barrier to immigrant children’s educational achievement?," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 55, pages 75-88.

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