38
Social Studies Collection
No. 38
Growing Up in Spain:
The Integration of the
Children of Immigrants
Rosa Aparicio
Alejandro Portes
Welfare Projects. The spirit of ”la Caixa”.
Social Studies Collection No. 38
Growing Up in Spain:
The Integration of the Children
of Immigrants
Rosa Aparicio
Alejandro Portes
With the collaboration of
William Haller (Clemson University)
Aaron Purrman (University of Miami)
Andrés Tornos (Comillas Pontifical University) and
Jessica Yiu (Princeton University)
B O A R D O F T R U S T E E S O F T H E ” l a C a i x a ” F O U N D AT I O N
Chairman
Isidro Fainé Casas
Deputy Chairman
Alejandro García-Bragado Dalmau
Members
Francisco Javier Ventura Ferrero, Eugeni Gay Montalvo, Antoni Aguilera Rodríguez,
Javier Solana Madariaga, Jaime Lanaspa Gatnau, Salvador Alemany Mas, Josefina Castellví Piulachs,
Francesc Homs Ferret, César Alierta Izuel, Carlos Slim Helú, Maria Teresa Bassons Boncompte,
Javier Godó Muntanyola, Juan José López Burniol.
Secretary (non trustee)
Óscar Calderón de Oya
Managing Director
Jaume Giró Ribas
Published by
”la Caixa” Welfare Projects
Publication:
Growing Up in Spain: The Integration of the Children of Immigrants
Design and production
”la Caixa” Welfare Projects
Publication
Authors
Rosa Aparicio
Alejandro Portes
Design and layout
CEGE
Coordination of publication:
© the authors
The opinions expressed in the documents in this collection are
© ”la Caixa” Welfare Projects, 2014
the sole responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily
Av. Diagonal, 621 - 08028 Barcelona
reflect those of the ”la Caixa” Foundation.
ROSA APARICIO was Professor of Sociology at the University Pontificia Comillas,
where she founded and directed the University Institute of Migration Studies
and the journal, Migraciones. She is currently a researcher at the Ortega y Gasset
University Research Institute (IUIOG) and president of the Foro de Integración de
los Inmigrantes [Immigrant Integration Forum]. She is the author of more than 150
publications, including articles, chapters and books related to immigration policy,
the integration of immigrants, social networks and immigrant associationalism,
and the children of immigrants, among other issues. Recently she has focused her
research on the emigration of young Spanish adults to other countries, as well as on
university students. Her latest book is Las culturas de los jóvenes en las universidades
católicas. Un estudio mundial (París: FIUC, 2014).
Alejandro Portes is the Howard Harrison and Gabrielle Snyder Beck
Professor of Sociology at Princeton University where he founded the Center
for Migration and Development. Since 2012 he has also been a professor and
researcher at the University of Miami. He has published more than 230 articles
and book chapters and published or edited 38 books on international migrations,
national development, the informal economy, urbanisation in Latin America and
economic sociology. His latest book published in Spain is Sociología económica: una
aproximación sistemática (Madrid: CIS, 2014). The fourth edition of his book with
Ruben Rumbaut, Immigrant America: A Portrait (Berkeley: University of California
Press) will be published in July 2014.
We are grateful to the Board of Education of the Community of Madrid and the
Department of Education of Catalonia’s Generalitat for the assistance they provided
in obtaining the collaboration of the schools. We would also like to express our thanks
to all the principals of the public and private schools that opened their doors to us and
facilitated contact with their students.
We give special thanks to the President of the Spencer Foundation for its continued
support of this project. We would also like to thank the ex-director of the José Ortega
y Gasset Foundation, Jesús Sánchez Lambas, who had the confidence to provide the
means for the monitoring phase of the study.
We also want to express our thanks to the members of the fieldwork teams in the
different stages of the study, who brought the work to a very satisfactory conclusion
with their dedication, tenacity and ingenuity:
Yolanda Tomás, who coordinated the team during all the stages of work
Sileny Cabala
David Capretta
Jaime Góez
Mónica Monguí
Marc Sabadi
Samira Shaban
Maite Vidal
This longitudinal study on the second generation was financed by the Spencer
Foundation (US), the National Plan for R&D&i of the Spanish Ministry of Science and
Innovation (CSO2011-28479), the Directorate General for Immigrant Integration of the
Community of Madrid and the Social Welfare Projects of the ”la Caixa” Foundation.
Rosa Aparicio and Alejandro Portes
Table of contents
Presentation
9
Introduction
Longitudinal study on the second generation (ILSEG) in Spain
What’s new about the ILSEG The context of reception for the children of immigrants in Spain
Prior Spanish research on the children of immigrants
11
11
12
13
14
I.Theories on the integration of the second generation
1.1.Theories on the integration of the second generation
in the United States
1.2.A closer look at segmented assimilation theory
1.3.Predictors of the integration dynamics of second
generations and the results to be expected
20
II.Longitudinal study on the second generation in Spain
2.1.Longitudinal study on the second generation
2.2.Longitudinal research on the integration
of the second generation in Spain (ILSEG)
2.3.Sample attrition
50
50
III.In their own words: the situation and aspirations
of the first generation
3.1.Human capital and family structures of immigrant
mothers and fathers
3.2. Contexts of reception, human capital and modes
of incorporation
3.3. Factors influencing the occupational status and income
of parents 3.4. Aspirations, expectations and future plans parents
have for their children
IV.¿Who are we? Self identity, perceptions of
discrimination, integenerational relations and
self-esteem among children of immigrants
4.1. What do the surveys tell us about the psychosocial
integration of the children of immigrants? 4.2.The determining factors for the data presented
21
33
41
53
64
72
73
74
80
84
99
100
105
V.The educational achievements of children of immigrants
5.1. Schooling among the children of immigrants
5.2.Comparison of these findings with those for the children
of natives 5.3. The determinants of educational achievements
5.4. Parental influence on academic performance
5.5. A synthetic model of educational achievements
114
115
I.Occupations, income and downward assimilation
V
6.1. Family income
6.2.Integration in the labour market and the occupational
aspirations of adolescents 6.3.The determinants of labour market integration,
initial income and occupational aspirations
6.4.Downward assimilation
154
154
Conclusions
Main findings
Immigrant organizations in Spain and the future
of the children of immigrants
177
177
Bibliography
192
Index of tables and graphs
199
130
132
141
148
156
164
171
187
Presentation
One of the most significant transformations in Spain in the last quarter
of a century has been the arrival of millions of workers from other
countries, primarily from Latin America, Africa and Eastern Europe.
Spanish society is today much more multicultural than at any other time
its recent history, and the arrival of a large foreign population has
involved, in addition to multiple benefits, important challenges for the
labour market, the education system, social services and health care.
Success in the reception process can be seen in how well immigrants
integrate into the receiving society; in the case of Spain, we have not seen
serious conflicts or problems of coexistence up until now.
However, in recent years, with the deep economic crisis and decline of the
labour market, the arrival of migrants has decreased notably until
practically ceasing. While some immigrants have returned to their
countries of origin, the vast majority have remained in Spain, where they
have established, and in many cases, created or reunited their families. To
evaluate the level of integration of this population into Spanish society
we must not only look at the situation of the first generation, born
outside the country, but we must also look at the situation of subsequent
generations; in other words, we must analyse the situation of the children
of immigrants, both those who were born in Spain and those that arrived
when young children.
These second generations face very specific challenges. To grow up
sharing two cultures, that of their parents and that of the receiving
society, involves a potential source of richness and a capacity to adapt in
multicultural environments, representing an advantage with respect to
others who have grown up in a single culture. At the same time, sharing
9
cultures can at times create contradictions, conflicts of loyalty and a
sense of unease, the feeling of not totally belonging to either of the two
cultures. These issues are particularly critical in adolescence, when young
people are constructing their identities and beginning to develop life
projects and make decisions that will be important for their subsequent
insertion into adult society.
This book explores these issues based on the results of the ILSEG study,
a ground breaking study in Spain because of its ambition and breadth. It
analyses the educational and work trajectories of the children of
immigrants in Spain, as well as their cultural and national identifications,
experiences of discrimination, their aspirations and future goals. One of
the novelties of the findings from this study is that they have been
obtained using a longitudinal design. The same boys and girls were first
interviewed at the age of 13 and 14 in 2008, and then again four years
later in 2012, when they were 17 and 18, when compulsory education had
ended and many had left school and had begun to face the challenges of
adult life. The perspectives of the parents were also included in the study,
allowing us to compare generations, as well as integration paths, based
on the social origin, education level and culture of the parents. The
ILSEG data is also compared with data obtained in similar studies
carried out in the United States, which adds to its richness and value.
Our intention, with this study, is to understand the successes and failures
of the process of integration of the children of the immigrants that have
settled in Spain in recent decades. The results provide us with knowledge
about the benefits and difficulties experienced by these second generation
immigrants. In addition, this study contributes interesting evidence for
debates on the level of cohesion and equality of opportunity offered by
multicultural societies today and indicates how much further we must go
to continue making progress on this path.
Jaime Lanaspa Gatnau
Executive Director of ”la Caixa”
Welfare Projects and Chief
Executive Officer of the
”la Caixa” Foundation
Barcelona, July 2014
10 Introduction
Longitudinal study on the second generation (ILSEG) in Spain
In contrast to the transport of goods or movement of capital, migration
is the movement of persons, and ultimately cannot fail to have lasting
consequences, not the least of which is that immigrant families
reconstitute themselves, have children and form new generations.
These new generations will not be like their parents, who were born,
raised and educated in a different society from the one to which they
emigrated and are marked by their migratory experience. These
generations will be raised in the country that welcomed their parents, and
in one way or another they will become adult members of that society.
This may pose unexpected challenges, related above all to their
preparedness for becoming well-integrated adults capable of contributing
to the prosperity of their country of choice. Failure in this regard could
create pockets of resentment, which could lead to acts such as the metro
bombings in the United Kingdom or the murder of Theo van Gogh in
the Netherlands.
In light of this, the issue of the integration of the children of immigrants
has not only captured the attention of political and educational
authorities, but has also become a specialised field of research within the
social sciences, focused on developing well-grounded knowledge
regarding the lives of the children of immigrants and on finding the best
solutions to the difficulties they may face.
This is what the ILSEG study, which we will examine in detail here, has
sought to accomplish in Spain. The development of the ILSEG was
Introduction 11
inspired by an earlier study in the United States focused on the same issue.
Naturally, the context of the American study, known as the CILS (Children
of Immigrants Longitudinal Study) (Portes and Rumbaut, 2001), was the
major migratory flows to the United States, and its approach and
methodology were established based on these. Therefore, in the next
chapter we examine the American context in which this research on
children of immigrants was developed, before turning in detail in the third
chapter to the context in which the ILSEG study was carried out in Spain.
What previous research had been done in Spain on the children of
immigrants when the ILSEG project began? What was new about the
ILSEG? Only by answering these questions can we understand what this
study has to contribute.
What’s new about the ILSEG
The ILSEG began in the 2007-2008 school year and gathered data on all
school children of immigrant parents in the first three years of
compulsory secondary education (6,905 students) in a representative
sample of schools in Madrid and Barcelona (referred to as the “original
sample”). Two years later (2010), the parents of these students with
whom contact could be established were surveyed. We refer to the data
set obtained through this second survey as the “parents’ sample”. The
field work was completed in 2012 with the gathering of new data on the
same students (“follow up sample”) to be analysed in conjunction with
the prior samples. In addition, in that same year, a new sample of
children of immigrants was gathered (“replacement sample”), as well as
a sample of children of natives in the same schools as the original
sample. In chapter 3 we will explain how and why this was done. But we
would like to point out here that a study of this size on the children of
immigrants had never been carried out before in Spain nor anywhere in
Europe. This in itself was already something new.
But what is even more innovative about the ILSEG is that representative
data on the integration of the same subjects and their families was
gathered over a four year period. Thus, in the public presentation of the
ILSEG it has always been referred to as a longitudinal study. This is
12 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
based on the idea that the nature of the processes of integration of these
children can best be captured by looking at their evolution
longitudinally, instead of trying to diagnose their development through
the interpretation of data gathered at static moments in time. This
perspective will be further clarified below.
The context of reception for the children of immigrants in Spain
As we have just explained, the ILSEG study was designed and carried out
patterned after the CILS study in the United States. But to what extent
can the CILS serve as a model for a study on immigration in Spain? How
do the CILS, methods fit within the context of pre-existing studies on
this issue in Spain?
The Spanish immigration situation had to meet two conditions for the
CILS study to be useful in analysing the integration of the children of
immigrants: first, the number of immigrant children and the diversity of
their national origins had to be large enough to make use of the range of
data used by the CILS to differentiate integration pathways, as well as
their causal determinations; secondly, sufficient prior research on the
problem of the integration of the children of immigrants had to exist or
it would be difficult to find basic data related to their experiences and
achievements – for example, regarding family contexts, living conditions,
discrimination and education and work situations. Thus, to take
advantage of the path marked by the CILS, the ILSEG had to determine
if the number of children of immigrants, as well as the diversity of their
origins, would permit the gathering of sufficient suitable data to use
working hypotheses and methods similar to those of the CILS.
The data collected were clear and reliable in providing basic information,
although on questions of detail they may have been affected by the way
in which data is officially collected in Spain. In 2007, the first year of the
ILSEG, there were 4,519,554 immigrants residing in Spain according to
municipal population registries, constituting approximately 10% of the
total population. This proportion is not that far from that of the United
States (approximately 13%), despite the long tradition of immigration to
the US, a tradition that Spain has never had.
Introduction 13
In addition, these four and a half million immigrants came from many
different countries; this was of great importance for the ILSEG to
determine if there were different integration pathways for immigrants
from different countries of origin. Taking into account only the main
nationalities migrating to Spain, there were more than 100,000
immigrants from each of the following countries, in order of the size of
their immigrant populations: Romania, Morocco, Ecuador, Colombia,
Bolivia, Bulgaria, Argentina and Peru. In addition, there were almost
100,000 immigrants from China and Brazil.
This data refers only to immigrants. Regarding their children, the object
of this study, municipal population registries reveal that in 2007, at the
time the ILSEG study was initiated, the foreign population under 19
years of age – of interest for the purposes of the study – was made up
of 451,071 boys and 423,120 girls, not that far from one million, and
large enough to provide a range of integration pathways. It was not a
problem, for example, that these figures included the children of parents
from the UK, who are not commonly considered as immigrants. On the
contrary, the figures characterising their integration into Spanish
society serve as a reference for evaluating the figures regarding the
children of those who are normally referred to as immigrants because
of their characteristics, family income, availability of housing, access to
higher education, etc. Thus, regarding the existence of a large enough
population of children of immigrants, Spain is ideal for a study
patterned after the CILS. In addition, the ILSEG represents a major
advance, well-grounded sociologically, in understanding the problems
of young people from immigrant families. Let us summarise the
characteristics of this advance.
Prior Spanish research on the children of immigrants
Studies on the integration of the children of immigrants began in Spain
(and in Europe) much later than in the United States (approximately 30
years later). Thus, in the United States such research has had much more
time to take shape, be debated and advance in different directions, as will
be seen in the next chapter. Indeed, studies in the US on the integration
14 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
of immigrants began during the struggles for the rights of minorities that
began in the decade of the 1950s, when Europe had still not experienced
waves of migration. And yet when Europe had become a destination for
many migrants by the end of that decade, there continued to be a lack of
interest in their integration, as it was assumed they would not remain
once their work contracts ended.
Only after the “oil crisis” at the beginning of the 1970s, when immigrants
did not return to their countries of origin despite not having work, and
when attempts to close European borders to new arrivals failed, were
voices of alarm raised. This was expressed in a report prepared for the
Council of Europe, On Inter-community Relations, which John Salt
condensed into a memorable statement: “Without the integration of
immigrants, there will be no social peace or security in Europe”
(Fundación Encuentro, 1991).
Thus, integration only became a topic of debate in political forums in the
European Union at the end of the 1980s, when Spain had still not become
a recipient of migrants. But by the beginning of the following decade,
immigrants had begun to arrive and, as a result, interest in their
integration as well.(1)
In response, discussions took place in Europe over so-called “integration
models”. Different ways of understanding the migratory phenomena
predominant in different countries were examined and debated, such as
full assimilation to civic traditions (the French or republican model) or
differentiated inclusion for different cultural groups (the English model).
We will therefore examine, among other factors, these different
integration pathways, as understood in each country (Schanpper, 1992),
and the extent to which national modes of integration impact on the
success of integration, etc.(2)
Adopting these perspectives, Spanish research on integration then
proceeded to specialise in studies focused on specific areas and specific
immigrant groups, though this was not based on a prior broad theorisation,
(1) The first official plan for the integration of immigrants was established in 1994.
(2) Above all the “Effnatis Project”. A summary of the approach and results of the project can be found
in Aparicio, R. 2007.
Introduction 15
but instead on the hope of arriving at a theoretical understanding through
a comparison of results obtained from partial studies. For this reason,
special attention was initially focused on local surveys and objectives. What
was of interest was to compare different ways of understanding integration
and working to achieve it.(3) European and Spanish research has tended to
place a significant part of the responsibility for the success or failure of
integration on government integration policies and on their acceptance by
the population. As a result, a type of study on integration has emerged in
which immigrants and their children play less of a role than governments
and native populations.
From these characteristics, inspired by the predominant European
research on integration, we can better understand the significance and
contributions of the ILSEG study carried out in Spain. Above all because
in the theorisation that serves as the foundation of this study, immigrants
and their children play the major role, although we do take into account
the importance of government action and the behaviour of the native
population in the success or failure of integration processes.
What research was carried out in Spain on the integration of the children
of immigrants before the ILSEG study? What does a review of this
research reveal? We have found, first of all, that interest in and concern
for the social integration of immigrant children have been deeply present
from the moment immigration became visible in Spain.
The first studies on the issue date from 1991, the year in which the increase
in migratory flows first became significant. From that time on tensions
began to emerge in different places within the education sphere among
teaching staff and parents’ associations over the presence of immigrant
children of different national origins in the schools. Their presence was
said to reduce the quality of co-existence and learning. This reaction
revealed that in many places teachers and native families were not prepared
to accept the education of children of immigrants alongside native
children. This was the first sign the educational authorities had that they
were facing a situation that could have a significant impact on the
education system and the integration of the immigrant population. This
(3) As, for example, that planned and then much later carried out by the TIES project.
16 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
can be seen in the fact that a significant number of those initial studies
were financed by the Ministry of Education and Culture through the
Centro para la Investigación y la Documentación en la Educación [Centre for
Research and Documentation on Education] and were focused, with some
exceptions, on examining specific schools (CIDE, 1998).
In addition, the studies from this period were mainly focused on primary
schools, in other words, on analysing the school experience of children of
immigrants up until 12 years of age. Little interest was shown in what
could happen afterwards, as there were very few older immigrant children
when these studies were undertaken. In a second period, in the last half
of the 1990s, researchers concentrated on specific issues. The main ones
were:
a) Demographic: number, composition and distribution of the
children of immigrants in schools.
b) Response to the multicultural situation in schools and in the
classroom.
c) Integration of the children of immigrants.
d) Educational response to the needs of children of immigrants.
e) Response to diversity and specific measures aimed at the children of
immigrants.
Four concerns can be found in the orientation of these studies, which
determined their focus: first, the possible emergence of educational
ghettoes resulting from the concentration of children of immigrants in
schools in certain neighbourhoods; second, the inadequate preparation
of the schools and teachers to manage resulting from the diversity of
origins of immigrant families and students; third, the level of integration
achieved by students in specific schools; and lastly, the identification of
factors that influence the integration of the children of immigrants
(Aparicio, 2001; García Castaño et al., 2011).
Today it appears that the studies carried out during this period were
based on survey samples that were not representative. They also lacked
common theoretical approaches that would have made it possible to
compare studies, which could have led to greater advances. However, it
Introduction 17
could not have been otherwise in a context in which research on migration
was still in its infancy.
In addition, Spanish research on migration tended to be affected by an
undesirable characteristic clearly related to a lack of available resources:
that of being research that was in many ways dependent, dependent in its
focus on public opinion and the objectives chosen by the government for
possible financing, but also dependent on the orientation of the European
Union. It would have been difficult to do research on migration in a
different manner in a context in which no scientific community, as it is
referred to in the sociology of science, existed, in other words, a body of
specialists in contact with each other and aware of the critical demands
with which their work will be received by their colleagues. Such a
community of researchers would only develop near the end of the 1990s
with the first conferences on international migration organised by the
Ortega y Gasset Institute (in 1997) and the Instituto Universitario de
Estudios sobre las Migraciones de la Universidad de Comillas [Institute for
Studies on Migration of the University of Comillas] (in 1999).
As a result of this development, the requirements and dissemination of
studies on children of immigrants underwent a change, and various local
research groups were consolidated. In their reciprocal recognition of each
other they created new styles of working and greater scientific rigour. The
most important were four groups in Barcelona coordinated by the CER-M
[Centre for Studies and Research on Migration] under the presidency of
Carlota Solè (GEDIME, EMIGRA, MIGRACOM, GIPE-PTP), a group
in Granada, particularly interested in the cultural aspects of the relationship
between native and immigrant populations, under the inspiration of Garcia
Castaño, groups from the Autonomous University of Madrid, specialising
in immigration from Morocco and inter-cultural mediation, a group from
La Coruña, led by Antonio Izquierdo, focused more on demographic
issues, and groups from Almeria, Bilbao, Sevilla and Valencia.
Thus, in recent years Spanish research on migration has been able to
count on better data on, among other factors, the number of immigrants
in Spain, their countries of origin, their cultural characteristics, their
municipalities and neighbourhoods of residence, their integration into
the labour market and the discrimination they suffer. All if this is
18 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
essential knowledge for carrying out any study on the children of
immigrants. In addition, research has also been carried out on particular
aspects of the lives of children of immigrants: for example, regarding
their overall integration (Checa et al, 2003), their education levels (INE,
2008), their educational and social expectations (Garreta, 2008), the
discrimination they face in schools (Mata et al, 2007; Fernández Enguita,
2008), their integration in schools (Elosegui, 2010), the level of tolerance
in the communities in which live (Zapata-Barrero and Burchianti, 2011),
the evolution of their national identities (Terrén, 2007 and 2011), and
their friendships and leisure time (Giró, 2011).
In particular, as a result of the PISA reports (Program for international
Student Assessment), abundant literature has recently been dedicated to
studies on the academic performance of the children of immigrants. And
by the way, with a majority of researchers with the understanding that
when there is a large presence of these children in the schools, that it
contaminates their quality, although they maintain the opposite position
(Cebolla, 2009; Caravana, 2008 and 2012).
Specifically regarding the children of immigrants, we now find specialised
studies that cover the most diverse aspects of this issue. But the contribution
that the ILSEG can make in this context is somewhat different. Above all
because it is a comprehensive study that is not concerned with only one
particular aspect of what can affect the children being considered; rather,
based on its theoretical design, it aspires to address all the most important
factors in the current situation for the future integration of these children.
And it does this, as we have pointed out, based on two important formal
characteristics: it is a longitudinal study, in other words, it follows a group
of children over time, so that its hypotheses are being tested over time; and
secondly, it is based on a truly representative sample of these children,
overcoming the difficulties that often impede carrying out studies in Spain
that really cover the populations they are looking at.
In short, in this introductory chapter we have tried to present the ILSEG
study in the context of migrations to Spain and the research this has
engendered. Special attention was required to adapt the American CILS
study to the Spanish context and to test its hypotheses. Its transferability
to the Spanish context must therefore be examined.
Introduction 19
I.Theories on the integration
of the second generation
We ended the previous chapter revealing that the ILSEG study had part
the aim of verifying the validity of the theoretical conceptions and main
conclusions of the ground breaking Children of Immigrants Longitudinal
Study (CILS), carried out in the United States. Logically, this included the
goal of carrying out the ILSEG study with the same methodology, the
same basic questions, the same objectives and requirements as the CILS,
which, we might add, should be a great stimulus for further research in
Spain on the integration of second generations.
We also pointed out certain characteristics of the CILS that presented a
challenge due to the persistent limitations in the most common ways of
addressing this subject: for example, the insufficient effort made to use
truly representative population samples; not addressing the variety of
situations generated by the diversity of national origins among the second
generation,(1) in practice often identifying the level of integration of
adolescents with their performance and integration in school and not
always distinguishing between the children of immigrants born in Spain
and those born in their parents’ country of origin.
However, most of these limitations have been addressed since a sector of
Spanish scholars on migration adopted the proposals of the European
(1) Later we shall deal at length with national origins. In the United States the stereotype of a dualimmigration has carried great weight – Asian immigration (from India, China, the Philippines, South Korea,
etc.), oriented toward incorporation into service jobs, and Latin American immigration (Mexico, Central
America, the Caribbean and South America), overwhelmingly oriented toward manual or menial jobs. In
Spain the pathways to integration of immigrants of different nationalities, much more mixed, have resulted
in less favorable complicated mixes of stereotypes about immigrants, no matter where they come from.
20 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
TIES project(2) sponsored by the University of Amsterdam. However, due
to lack of funding, this ambitious project has been largely reduced in all
of Europe to partial studies carried out in various cities focused on the
integration of the children of Muslim immigrants – while the part
corresponding to Spain remains unpublished (Crul et al., 2012).
One of the characteristics of research in the United States is that it was
not limited to focusing on the level of integration attained by children of
immigrants at a given moment, but also addressed the evolution of their
integration; that is, it addressed the longitudinal development of their
interactions with the native society. Thus, first the CILS and then the
ILSEG were committed not only to gathering static data on the level of
integration attained by second generations, but also to analysing data on
the dynamics of their insertion.
The debates and discussion in the United States raised many other issues,
which, filtered by the ILSEG study in Spain, elicit our interest. In the first
section of this chapter we will summarize the broader theoretical basis of
the positions taken in these debates, after which we will review the state
of American studies regarding factors that can accelerate or slow down
the social integration and upward mobility of the children of immigrants.
These factors are of great interest if we are to capture the dynamics behind
integration.
1.1.Theories on the integration of the second generation
in the United States
The most relevant theories on the integration of second generation
immigrants can be differentiated into two dimensions: one regarding the
level of analysis in which they are situated, and the other, the pessimism or
optimism they conclude with regarding the accommodation of immigrants.
Regarding the level of analysis, we refer to as culturalist, those theories
that emphasize the importance of assimilation into the culture, language
and political identity of the native population for the integration of second
(2) “The Integration of the Second Generation in Europe”. History and aims of the project at
http://www.tiesproject.eu.
Theories on the integration of the second generatio 21
generations; while we call structuralist, those theories that emphasize
structural factors related to social relations (such as educational
achievements, labour market integration, income levels, early pregnancies
and imprisonment) in their integration. It must also be recognised that
cultural assimilation and structural accommodation can be separated, as
an individual, who is, for example, completely assimilated culturally,
linguistically and politically, may nevertheless have obtained poor results
in school and faced difficulties in entering the labour force. Or, on the
contrary, an individual may not be well assimilated into native culture, yet
despite this, may attain economic and career success (Portes and Rivas,
2011).
TABLE 1.1
A panorama of the theoretical approaches to integration
APPROACH
MAIN AUTHORS
VISION OF INTEGRATION (ASSIMILATION)
EMPIRICAL FOUNDATION
Culturalist approaches
Hispanic challenge
Samuel Huntington
Pessimistic, is not happening.
Theoretical
Neo-assimilationism
Richard Alba and
Victor Nee
Optimistic. Occurring as with past Review of historical and
generations and is transforming contemporary research on the
the receiving society.
integration of immigrants.
Second generation
advantage
Philip Kasinitz,
John Mollenkopf,
Mary C. Waters and
Jennifer Hoidaway
Optimistic. The second generation
Cross-sectional study of second
is situated in a social and cultural
generation young adults in the
space that provides them with
city of New York.
advantages.
Generations
of exclusion
Edward Telles
and Vilma Ortiz
Pessimistic. Mexican-Americans
stagnating in the working class
or integrating into a racial
underclass.
Segmented
assimilation
Mixed. Assimilation can help or
harm in social and economic
Alejandro Portes
achievements depending on
and Ruben Rumbaut parents’ human capital, family
structure and the contexts of
reception.
Structuralist approaches
Source: Portes and Rivas (2011).
22 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
Longitudinal study of more than
three generations of Mexican
Americans in Los Ángeles and
San Antonio.
Longitudinal study of second
generation young people in San
Diego and southern Florida from
adolescence to early adulthood.
1.1.1. Culturalist perspectives
Culturalist approaches focus on the cultural, linguistic and political
assimilation of the second generation, emphasizing the ability and
motivation of the second generation to integrate into mainstream society.
Such theories range from those that are pessimistic to those that are
optimistic. On the side of greater pessimism would be those that, in line
with the Harvard political scientist Samuel Huntington, believe that the
children of immigrants are not assimilating into “American” society
(Huntington, 2004). In Huntington’s opinion, certain groups – Hispanics
in particular – have arrived in such large numbers to certain parts of the
country that they are not interested in acculturation. These immigrants
and their children resist learning English, give greater priority to their
ethnic communities and countries of origin and reject the ideals and
norms of the receiving society. This vision is rooted in the belief that
“American identity” is intimately linked to the Anglo-Protestant culture
of the founders of the country and that the Catholics arriving from Latin
America, in their resistance to adopting Anglo-Protestant lifestyles, are
going to form their own enclaves of linguistic and cultural life (Alba et al.,
2002). Thus, the children of immigrants coming from societies considered
to be incompatible with American Anglo-Protestant culture are not likely
to become part of mainstream culture.
In Europe, similar perspectives have emerged regarding the growing presence
of non-Christian immigrants, particularly Muslims, and because of the
widespread conviction that these groups do not want to integrate into the
culture of the receiving society. This pessimistic vision is not only promoted
among conservative sectors but also in popular political movements, which
have managed to mobilise broad sectors of the electorate in many countries.
Thus, for example, the tolerant multicultural approach in the Netherlands
has been largely abandoned due to the influence of these currents, which has
led to pro-assimilationist policies. In Spain, approaches similar to
Huntington’s have been adopted with respect to Moroccans and SubSaharan Africans, who have occasionally been victims of violence. However,
the policies of Spain’s central and autonomous regional governments
have so far not been driven by these tendencies; on the contrary, they have
Theories on the integration of the second generatio 23
continued to promote ethnic tolerance and processes for the gradual
integration of immigrant populations (Cachon, 2009).
Huntington’s perspective is not based on empirical studies, but is, rather, a
response to what he believes to be forces that are preventing the integration
of immigrants today. As his writings on the subject have been entirely
theoretical, critics have not had any problem in refuting his conclusions,
providing evidence that immigrants are capable of assimilating
linguistically and culturally. For example, it has not been shown that the
children of immigrants refuse to learn to speak English or that other
languages endure in families beyond the second generation. Sociologists
have also found that levels of active participation in the American political
system increase generationally and that this is also true among the
descendants of Latin American immigrants (Alba et al., 2002). The rapid
and decisive growth of the Hispanic vote in the 2012 presidential elections
provides an additional demonstration of these trends.
In Western Europe, and in Spain in particular, the belief that Moroccans,
other Muslims and Sub-Saharan immigrants do not want to integrate is
primarily anecdotal and not based on serious scientific research. As we
will see, the available data on second generations tends to contradict such
beliefs (Aparicio and Tornos, 2006). However, even though they are not
based on coherent evidence, Huntington type perspectives are important
because they represent the views of significant sectors of public opinon
and can affect public policies.
On the optimistic side of the culturalist position are the authors who have
dusted off the traditional theory of the melting pot for the 21st century.(3)
Its argument is that cultural and political assimilation is continuing to
occur and that in this regard immigrants today are no different from those
of the past. Beyond this, they argue that immigrants do not integrate into
particular segments of society, but rather into a broad stream of
interaction, which is simultaneously being transformed by them. Alba and
Nee (2003), leading proponents of this position, describe cultural
assimilation as something that occurs among those who are working to
(3) The expression was first used by Israel Zangwill in 1908 to refer to what was, in his opinion, occurring
in the United States: that, with races of immigrants mixing in a pot, the country would tend to become a
multiethnic but homogeneous society.
24 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
achieve a specific goal, for example, economic prosperity. By making an
effort to achieve their goal, they enter into contact with the cultural setting
of mainstream society and assimilate linguistically and culturally. Thus,
the children of today’s immigrants, as well as the next generation, will be
assimilated into the social body, although this takes time, and does not
always imply upward social mobility. Alba and Nee’s concept of the
melting pot considers immersion and assimilation into the culture of the
receiving country as inevitable.
“Neo-assimilationism”, as this theory is called, is supported by the
historical evidence of the acculturation of the descendants of European
immigrants to the United States and other countries in the western
hemisphere that have been receivers of immigration. Through their
immersion in the mainstream of local social interaction, it is no longer
possible to distinguish between them and natives. The experience of
Italian, Portuguese and Spanish immigrants in France and the Netherlands
can also be cited in support of this approach, as their descendants ended
up being completely acculturated into the mainstream life of these
countries (Hirschman, 1983; Jacobson, 1999). Spain has only recently
become a country of immigration, so it is still too soon for it to be able to
contribute experiences in favour of or against neo-assimilationism. The
results of the ILSEG study will provide the first opportunity to evaluate if
children of immigrants are integrating into the majority culture in Spain.
1.1.2. Structuralist perspectives
Structuralist approaches, like culturalist approaches, can also be
differentiated by their level of optimism or pessimism about the future of
immigrants and their children. But rather than presenting a polarized
vision of the future, structuralist approaches offer a more nuanced
analysis, in which the experience of immigrants depends on the social
context they find in the receiving country.
The thesis of intergenerational exclusion offers a more pessimistic image of
the future for certain groups of immigrants and their children. This
perspective sees them as excluded from opportunities for upward mobility
in the receiving countries, not because of their personal choices and
individual capacities, but because of the way in which their surroundings
Theories on the integration of the second generatio 25
mark them as belonging to strongly disadvantaged ethnic or racial groups.
According to this perspective, Hispanic immigrants and their descendants
in the United States drift toward communities and segments of society
that tend to be racialized and as a result, marginalized. Former waves of
immigrants from Europe were able to assimilate culturally and economically
and gradually work their way into the more privileged white sectors of the
racial hierarchy. But today, despite the European roots of their predecessors,
Hispanic immigrants run the risk of becoming another race, with social
prospects visibly worse that those of whites and comparable to those
suffered by African-Americans (Telles and Ortiz, 2008).
Telles and Ortiz’s research on several generations of Mexican-American
communities in Los Angeles and San Antonio generated great expectations
among supporters of the idea of racialization. In the year 2000, Telles and
Ortiz re-interviewed Mexican-Americans that had been interviewed in
1965 for a study on the social conditions in their community. They were
able to create a longitudinal database that included data regarding the
integration of respondents from that initial study over a period of thirtyfive years, as well as their children, up to the third, fourth and even fifth
generation. They found that the majority of these later generations still
lived in predominantly Hispanic neighbourhoods, were married to
partners from co-ethnic groups and identified as Mexicans. Although
great progress was made between the first and second generation in regard
to their economic situation, this progress did not continue afterwards,
with poverty rates remaining consistently high in the third and fourth
generations and academic achievements declining. Telles and Ortiz
attributed the negative experience of Mexican-Americans to discrimination,
their lack of access to quality education, and to an economy in the area
based on ethnically defined, cheap labour.
In the case of other immigrant groups, the results of integration vary
according to the mix of resources and disadvantages linked to their
respective ethnic and cultural characterisitics. Glazer and Moynihan, for
example, found that the different groups of immigrants that settled in
New York had lost their native languages and cultures, but had maintained
separate identities. According to these authors, “the melting pot metaphor
didn’t hold water” (Glazer and Moynihan, 1970). Instead, ethnic groups,
26 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
although transformed, remained as socially separate bodies. Jews, Italians,
Puerto Ricans and others, not only organized around their ethnicity, but
also based on common political and economic resources. For some groups,
such as the Cubans in Miami, control over these economic and political
resources has given them great power and properity. Mexican-Americans
and Puerto Ricans, in contrast, have been racialized and trapped at the
bottom of the income and employment hierarchy (Telles and Ortiz, 2008;
Portes and Rumbaut, 2006).
In Western Europe, the experience of the racialization and marginalization
of the second and even third generation of Turkish immigrants in
Germany, and the children of Turkish and Moroccan immigrants in the
Netherlands, documented along with other data by the TIES Project,
seems to support the thesis of intergenerational exclusion. These younger
generations have come to speak the languages of the receiving countries
fluently and have adopted much of the culture without their acculturation
having led to greater educational and professional mobility (Crul and
Vermeulen, 2003). In this sense, their experiences are similar to those of
Mexican-Americans in the United States. Regarding Spain, again the
recent nature of the migratory experience prevents us from drawing any
firm conclusions regarding this thesis. The results from our study will
begin to clarify the extent to which the children of immigrants are
stagnating in specific ethnic niches or, on the other hand, using these
niches and the resources they provide for upward economic and social
mobility.
Based on the idea of intergenerational exclusion, we should expect the
children of immigrants in Spain to assimilate into the ethnic-racial
categories assigned to them by the native majority. As a result, their
educational and occupational achievements would hardly vary between
successive generations. In contrast to what Alba and Nee suggest, the
children of immigrants would have begun to integrate in Spain, but this
process will not necessarily lead them to become a part of the majority
native population; instead, they will find themselves integrated into
categories based on a racialized social structure.
However, other scholars believe that while immigrants may find themselves
incorporated into receiving societies as members of racially stratified
Theories on the integration of the second generatio 27
groups, their children can use the fact that they are members of two
societies and two cultures to their advantage. This thesis of second
generation advantage is based on the idea that unlike native minorities, the
children of immigrants have a special wealth of cultural resources and can
choose between a wide repertoire of alternatives when considering the
path they wish to follow in their lives. According to Rumbaut (1994), they
become “translation artists”.
The empirical basis for this idea of an existing second generation advantage
comes from a study on young adults in New York carried out by Kasinitz
and colleagues (2008). This study found that many of these young people
continued to live in the family home, even though they were past the age
to do so because their parents came from cultures in which this was the
norm. In their search for work, members of this second generation have
the additional resources of the social networks of their communities and
families. Rather than just looking for work through ads in newspapers,
these young people find out about job opportunities by word of mouth in
their community. And, of course, the majority of them, in addition to
counting on these social networks, can make use of the resources and
institutions established to help native ethnic minorities attain upward
mobility (Kasinitz et al., 2002).
A key point in the idea of second generation advantage is the belief that
these young people occupy a position at the crossroads of various social
and cultural currents, which gives them access to information and support
that provides them with a particular aptitude for mobility. Thus, regarding
public policies, maximizing the ability of these young people to make use
of these resources that they already have should be a primary goal.
In Europe at the present time, there is no evidence that supports this thesis.
As has been said, what occurred in France and in other places with
migrants from the south of Europe, tends to support the neoassimilationism of Alba and Nee, while what has occurred with Turkish,
Moroccan and sub-Saharan immigrants fits more closely with the ideas of
Telles and Ortiz on intergenerational exclusion. If the thesis of second
generation advantage was supported by the facts, we would find that
young people of the second generation in Spain would be ahead of their
parents in the path toward integration, not precisely because of their
28 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
acculturation to the native mainstream culture, but rather because of their
use of the latent resources of the two cultures. They would have higher
levels of ambition and would attain higher educational and occupational
levels. Because of the emphasis this interpretation places on participation
in two cultures, this thesis is a bridge to the next and last structuralist
perspective.
1.1.3. Between pessimism and optimism: the new structuralist
approach of the CILS
What initially characterizes the CILS approach is that in terms of the
future of the integration of the children of immigrants, it does not predict
results, either positive or negative, but adopts a more nuanced perspective.
This approach is referred to as segmented assimilation theory because it
ultimately suggests that the children of immigrants can be integrated into
different segments of society; as in their integration, positive forces
underlying their biculturality come into play, but there is also the possibility
that some may encounter different obstacles than others in their attempt
to integrate and achieve upward mobility. The nature of different coethnic communities, government policies regarding immigrants of
different origins, as well as stereotypes about race and ethnicity, can
generate or reduce these barriers; thus, some members of second
generations will be on a path to assimilation with much greater difficulties
than others. These factors are not the only determinants of the path
followed by second generations, as the resources and strategies employed
by parents can also be vital when it comes to overcoming obstacles.
This approach, moreover, is not as focused on whether the children of
immigrants are in the process of assimilation but rather on which segment
of the receiving society they are assimilating into. The process of integration
of the children of immigrants is not seen as a path leading automatically
to their incorporation into the middle clases of the native environment,
but rather as potentially open to also heading in the opposite direction
(Portes and Zhou, 1993).
In addition, segmented assimilation theory argues that a great deal can be
learned about the life paths of the second generation by looking at the
ethnic, occupational and socioeconomic sectors of society in which their
Theories on the integration of the second generatio 29
parents have been incorporated. Each child faces certain advantages and
disadvantages resulting from the respective ethnic, occupational and
socioeconomic environment of their family. Racialization can severely
reduce the future possibilities of the second generation if the receiving
society identifies them as members of a disadvantaged minority. The
occupational sector that they have access to will also have important
lifelong consequences on their economic well-being, given that in the
advanced economies the labour market is divided into a segment of highly
technical and well-paid occupations and a sector of poorly paid,
subordinate occupations, with few opportunities in between. A young
person’s access to quality education will determine if he or she is able to
get a desirable and well-paid job in the higher level of this hour-glass
labour market (Portes et al., 2009; Portes and Rumbaut, 2001). And this
access will depend to a large extent on the resources the parents have to
help their children attain this quality education.
These parental resources can be divided into three categories: the human
capital brought by the parents; the contribution of the context of reception
as immigrants, and the family structure. The more human capital the
parents have, in the form of skills and formal education, the higher the
salaries they can obtain to use for the education of their children. Parents
with more education tend to have higher aspirations for their children,
which in turn influences their children’s aspirations and their school
performance.
The context of reception (or mode of incorporation) encountered by the
parents is conditioned by government policies toward their group of
national origin and the general attitude in the receiving society toward
them, as well as by the existence of resources in their co-ethnic community.
The combination of these three contextual factors can lead to a favourable,
neutral or hostile form of incorporation. Naturally, it is much more
difficult to obtain upward mobility if the parents or first generation
encountered a hostile reception. In such a context, their human capital is
devalued and they face discrimination from both government authorities
and the broader society. Finally, in comparison to single parent homes,
immigrant families headed by both biological parents have significant
advantages in stimulating their children regarding school performance
30 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
and in keeping them off the street. This is due to the greater control and
supervision stable couples can have over their children (Rumbaut, 2005).
Given the importance of parents’ human capital and the contexts of
reception they encounter, we can asume that the upward social mobility of
immigrants who begin their social incorporation into the receiving society
in families with few educational and economic resources and at the bottom
of the occupational ladder will be very limited. Segmented assimilation
theory, however, offers a path through which the children of immigrants
with few resources can improve their situation: selective acculturation.
Through this form of acculturation children can assimilate into the receiving
society, learning its language and culture while maintaining the language,
values and customs of their parents’ country of origin. Young people who
follow this path enjoy the advantages of knowing two languages and of
being able to firmly establish themselves in the receiving society while also
maintaining their connection to their parents’ culture (Rumbaut, 2005;
Portes and Zhou, 1993; Zhou and Bankston, 1996). This situation can be
useful, in turn, for overcoming the disadvantages resulting from the low
human capital of their parents and their negative mode of incorporation,
because it protects the children of immigrants from the negative effects of
outside discrimination and the attraction of gangs and street life.
Selective acculturation is not proposing the same thing as the theory of
second generation advantage, because selective acculturation is a strategy
employed by the parents and the co-ethnic community, rather than by the
young people themselves, and it does not extend to all members of the
second generation. In reality, rarely do isolated immigrant families manage
to guide their children along this path. To do this, it is usually necessary to
have the support of a cohesive co-ethnic community. Second generation
advantage theory attributes this advantage to the resources that lay
between the two cultures, while selective acculturation is only produced to
the degree that parents and co-ethnic communities can prevent their
children from assimilating into the disadvantaged sectors of the receiving
society and can encourage them to retain key aspects of their culture of
origin (Portes and Rivas, 2011). Selective acculturation can be measured
empirically by the quality of the relationships between parents and
children and by the retention of native languages; it leads, in turn, to
Theories on the integration of the second generatio 31
higher aspirations, better school performance and less perceived
discrimination. Graph 2.1 summarizes the model of segmented assimilation
and its main predictions.
Graph 1.1
Trajectories of intergenerational mobility: a model
Essential
determinants
Human capìtal
Family structure
Modes of
incorporation
}
First generation
Third generation
and after
Second generation
Trajectory 1. Attainment
of middle class status
based on high human
capital.
Professional and business
occupations and complete
acculturation.
Total integration in
mainstream social and
economic currents.
Trajectory 2. Parents
with working class occupations but strong coethnic communities.
Selective acculturationa;
attainment of middle class
status through educational
achievements.
Complete
acculturation
and integration into
the mainstream.
Trajectory 3. Parents
with working class
occupations and weak
co-ethnic communities.
Dissonant acculturationb
and low educational
achievements.
}
a. Stagnation in
subordinate manual
labour.
b. Downward
assimilation toward
deviant lifestyles.
a. Defined as the preservation of the parental language along with the acquisition of English and American customs.
b. Defined as the rejection of the culture of the parents and the breakdown of intergenerational communication.
Source: Portes and Rumbaut, 2001: fig. 3.1.
Elements of this theory have inspired several studies in Europe on children
of immigrants, in particular the TIES project. However, these European
studies do not provide a decisive test of the model, nor use it for its original
aims, as they are based on samples limited to a small number of nationalities
and use static sampling designs. Before the TIES, segmented assimilation
theory had been confirmed empirically using data obtained from a
representative sample of more than seventy nationalities present in
southern Florida and southern California (the CILS study) (Portes and
Rumbaut, 2001; Rumbaut and Portes, 2001). As we saw earlier, the ILSEG
study literally adheres to the guidelines of the CILS, following a broad
sample of children of immigrants in Spain of many nationalities over
time. It is, therefore, in a good position to provide confirmation of the
32 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
hypotheses derived from this theory, modifying it if necessary, based on
the empirical evidence.
To summarize, the contrast between the perspectives offered by these
different approaches already suggests that in the processes of integration
of second generations, different types of factors can be predominant, with
the result that integration, as visualized by segmented assimilation theory,
will not always occur in a comparable manner. Rather, what occurs in
reality is that these perspectives respond to the different modes of
incorporation of the children of immigrants into the receiving society, in
some cases accelerating upward mobility and social integration, but in
others leading in the opposite direction. For this reason, the difference
noted from the beginning between cuturalist and structuralist theories
should be taken into account in the following chapters as we review our
empirical findings. The different theoretical perspectives can only lead to
different outlooks regarding the integration of the children of immigrants
and, therefore, to different policies for intervening in these processes.
Having presented the most common perspectives that have been developed
in the United States regarding the integration of second generations, we will
now address certain specific and concrete issues around which the overall
vision of segmented assimilation theory has been constructed. In the
following section, we address the importance that projects and ambitions
have in the integration of second generations. In the sections that follow, we
consider the diverse circumstances and results linked to these ambitions.
1.2. A closer look at segmented assimilation theory
1.2.1. The role of amibition in the integration of second generations
A large part of the bibliography on the integration of the children of
immigrants in the US begins with a focus on their educational and
professional aspirations. There are good reasons for this, as sociological
and psychological research has consistently revealed a link between the
educational aspirations of the children of immigrants and their progress
in integration. The rationality of these findings is clear: on the one hand,
educational attainment determines the type of work these young people
Theories on the integration of the second generatio 33
will be able to get; on the other hand, without ambitions related to
educational attainment, young people will not go far in their education.
Indeed, we see, for example, that children and adolescents who aspire to
go to university may or may not end up doing so, but those who have no
such aspirations, will certainly never do so. In this sense, the aspirations of
adolescents function as a necessary condition for their later achievement.
The dominant theoretical framework for the study of adolescents’ ambitions
is the Wisconsin model of status attainment that was developed in the 1960s
and is shown in graph 1.2. According to this model, parental socioeconomic
status influences children through parents’ levels of amibition, but also
through teachers and classmates. These significant others directly affect
children’s level of aspirations. Intellectual abilities lead to better grades,
which in turn are reinforced directly and indirectly by these significant
others. According to this model, educational aspirations are the number one
determinant of success in school, while occupational aspirations play a
similar role in occupational achievement (Sewell et al., 1969). In this sense,
the model views adolescents’ ambition as the key factor mediating between
the influence of the family and school, on the one hand, and the final results
in these processes of attaining status, on the other.
Graph 1.2
Wisconsin model of status attainment
PARENTAL
SOCIOECONOMIC
STATUS
INFLUENCE
OF OTHER
SIGNIFICANT
PERSONS
ACADEMIC
PERFORMANCE
MENTAL ABILITY
OCCUPATIONAL
ASPIRATIONS
EDUCATIONAL
ACHIEVEMENT
EDUCATIONAL
ASPIRATIONS
Source: Adapted from Haller and Portes, 1973, diagram 2. Residual effects are ommitted.
34 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
OCCUPATIONAL
ACHIEVEMENT
These studies on children’s aspirations in the United States are primarily
based on secondary sources, such as the National Education Longitudinal
Study (NELS). Some studies are supported by publically accessible data
from the CILS, while many others use ad hoc samples (Aldous, 2006;
Menjivar, 2008). Studies carried out in Western Europe, Australia and
Canada have used a variety of sources, from statistics representative of
different national spheres to convenience sampling. Some studies
distinguish between aspirations, understood as ideal goals, and
expectations, understood as realistic aims. Others merge the two categories
as general indicators of ambitions. Some studies are focused primarily on
parental aspirations, while others are limited to analysing the aspirations
of adolescents. The samples can be subdivided based on generations
– from the first to the second and even a second and a half – or by
nationalities, races and pan-ethnic groups.
This abundant literature tends to generally converge around five points
that expand or complete the Wisconsin model:
•Child immigrants and children of immigrants tend to have higher
ambitions (aspirations or expectations) than their native peers and
to attain equal or better academic results. Studies support Kao and
Tienda’s concept of immigrant optimism (1998) and Portes and
Rumbaut’s concept of immigrant drive (2001), consistent with the
hypothesis of second generation advantage.
•There are significant differences between nationalities, both
regarding ambition as well as its results. Children from immigrant
groups in which parents have greater human capital tend to have
higher and more stable aspirations and to obtain better academic
results; the opposite occurs with children from minorities lacking
human capital. The differences between nationalities are reduced,
but do not disappear, when controlling for the status of parents. This
is due to differences in modes of incorporation faced by immigrants
coming from different countries. Studies confirm the hypothesis of
segmented assimilation and, in part, Telles and Ortiz’s concept of
intergenerational exclusion (Perreira et al., 2006; Hirschman, 2001).
Theories on the integration of the second generatio 35
•Parents and peers have significant influence on ambition. According
to the Wisconsin model, this is true for both the children of
immigrants and the children of natives. However, there are numerous
and significant differences between racial or ethnic categories and
the nationalities of immigrants. Differences have also been observed
within nationalities, which would indicate that the influence of
significant others is stronger in open education systems – such as in
the United States, Australia and Canada – than in the more
structured and hierarchical systems of continental Europe – such as
in Germany and the Netherlands (Glick and White, 2004;
Majoribanks, 2003).
•In all cases girls have higher ambitions and higher academic
performance than boys. In addition, children that are older than
their classmates tend to have lower aspirations and poorer academic
results (Feliciano and Rumbaut, 2005).
•Levels of aspiration and academic performance are closely
correlated, in line with the Wisconsin model. But the direction of
causality is ambiguous, and the most plausible interpretation is that
there is a causal loop in which one reinforces the other.
Specific studies have contributed new discoveries that point to other
significant trends. For example, Perreira et al. (2006), as well as
Fernández-Kelly (2008), focused on the importance of the cultural capital
brought from the country of origin. While the physical capital of natives
may be higher, cultural capital tends to be stronger among immigrants
and their children in the United States, which leads them to maintain a
sustained upward momentum. In support of the hypothesis of
intergenerational exclusion, Perreira and others have found that this key
resource disappears in the third generation.
1.2.2. A drive to succeed
Deserving of more attention is the observation that there is a strong drive
to succeed among first and second generation immigrants. The literature
is in agreement on the fact that immigrants who come on their own
initiative constitute a select group from their country in terms of their
36 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
determination and will to succeed. It is this way because these are
individuals who were willing to confront many challenges and uncertainties
in their migration. Those of modest origins and those who are going to
face a negative reception often focus their aspirations, not on what might
happen to them, but on the future of their children. For this reason, the
pertinent literature finds high aspirations and expectations for their
children among parents of all nationalities and socioeconomic levels, even
among those with low education levels (Kao and Tienda, 1998; Portes and
Rumbaut, 2001).
The sample of parents interviewed for the CILS offers broad evidence of
this. Of the 2,442 immigrant parents interviewed in the study, 70% expected
that their children would graduate from university, of these, 50% wanted
their children to obtain graduate degrees. Majorities from all immigrant
groups expressed similar goals, from well-educated professionals (many of
whom were Filipinos and Chinese) to manual workers (many of whom
were Mexicans, Salvadorans and Haitians). As expected, expectations about
university degees and graduate degrees increased with the level of education
attained by parents, but even among parents with average or low education
levels, two-thirds expected their children to attain university degrees (Portes
and Rumbaut, 2001).
These ambitions, transmitted from generation to generation, lead young
people to have higher aspirations. The OECD has carried out several large
studies with statistically representative samples of secondary students in
50 countries, including all of the nations receiving immigrants in Western
Europe, North America and the South Pacific. The results of these surveys,
known as the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA),
demonstrate consistently higher expectations among immigrant students
and children of immigrants than among native children. A more recent
analysis of PISA data referring to 15 countries indicates that this advantage
is even greater among those children who a speak a different language at
home than the language of the receiving country. Fluency in the language
of the parents facilitates communication between generations and, thus,
the transmission of parental ambitions to their children. This finding is
similar to the finding in the CILS that bilingualism among second
generation youth is associated with much higher academic and occupational
Theories on the integration of the second generatio 37
aspirations (ibid). These results show the positive influence of selective
acculturation on children’s future goals. By extension, positive
intergenerational relations in immigrant families would have the same
result.
However, this drive toward an improvement in social position is not
permanent. As we have seen, it is stronger among the children of
immigrants that maintain strong ties to the language and culture of their
parents. However, the acculturating forces of the receiving society can
prevail and lead the children of immigrants and their own children to a
gradual abandonment of their cultural roots and with this, to a weakening
of this original upward drive. All things being equal, the average social
position attained by different immigrant groups will depend on the shifting
equilibrium that occurs between their ambitions and the forces of
acculturation. Once the children of immigrants have completely assimilated
the culture of the receiving society, the advantages provided by the intial
drive to ascend cease and it can be expected that the group will remain,
with little change, at the average levels of education and occupation
already attained (ibid; Portes, 2012).
Studies on migration commonly asume that successive generations will
continue to attain increasingly higher status and income levels than those
attained by previous generations. But this is not necessarily true. A key
discovery of the classic study of Hirschman and Falcon on the differences
between socio-ethnic groups in the United States is that the immigrant
groups who attain high education levels in the first or second generation
maintain this advantage later. In contrast, the children of immigrant
parents who had not gone beyond secondary education, continute to
experience educational and occupational disadvantages (Hirschman and
Falcon, 1985; Telles and Ortiz, 2008).
The tension between the drive for success and the forces of acculturation
tends to be resolved in favour of the assimilative influence of the school,
as if their native classmates force the children of immigrants to leave their
cultures of origin behind and become like all the other kids (ibid; Portes,
2012). Logically, those who are better educated and better off economically
can delay this process in different ways, such as by taking periodic trips to
their country of origin; while those belonging to strong ethnic communities
38 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
can use their social capital for the same purpose. Those in the worst
situation are the immigrants with little human or social capital who must
move from one place to another in search of work. Lacking human or
social capital to slow down their acculturation, they are unable to help
their children when that acculturation inexorably begins to transform
them. And paradoxically, these children will be the ones with the greatest
need to conserve the original immigrant drive for upward mobility in
order to overcome the many obstacles they will encounter in their path.
This line of reasoning corresponds to the predictions of segmented
assimilation theory, to the extent that it maintains that selective
acculturation leads to more adaptive results than does complete
acculturation.
If we assume that the receiving society is only interested in assimilating
immigrants as fast as possible and that immigrants’ main interest is to
obtain the highest level of social mobility in the second generation, the
result of the tension between these two objectives can be expressed in
terms of game theory. The model is presented in graph 1.3. As immigrants’
original drive for success disappears, assimilation is facilitated, but at the
cost of the second generation stagnating or even heading toward a worse
position. The strong drive toward success can lead to educational and
occupational advancement, but this drive toward self-improvement will be
short-lived if it is met by strong pressure toward assimilation. As it is
dependent on the human and social capital of the different immigrant
groups, equibrium can be achieved in cells B or D in the graph. Both are
aceptable from the point of view of a society committed to rapid
assimilation. But both sacrifice, although to different degrees, the potential
upward mobility of the children of immigrants.
If we return to the main perspectives on integration in the US that were
previously discussed, what we now see is that culturalist perspectives have
relatively little to say on the aspirations of the children of immigrants.
Based on the model shown in graph 1.3, neo-assimilationism predicts a
gradual convergence over time in the goals of the children of immigrants
and those of natives, while structuralist perspectives are more differentiated.
The ideas sustained by intergenerational exclusion theory and second
generation advantage theory lead to opposite predictions: the former
Theories on the integration of the second generatio 39
would predict a decline in the aspirations of young people, especially
among those belonging to the most marginalized nationalities, and the
latter would predict that the aspirations of the children of immigrants
would be higher than those of the children of natives.
GrAPH 1.3
Socioeconomic mobility between immigrant generations.
Pressures to assimilate in the receiving society
Pressure to assimilatE
Weak
Immigrant drive
for success
Strong
Weak
Strong
A
B
Apathetic Multiculturalism
Intergenerational Stagnation
–/–
–/+
C
D
Rapid Upward Mobility
Restricted Upward Mobility
++ / –
+/+
The signs to the left of each dividing slash are hypothetical rewards for immigrants and their descendants; the signs to the right are
hypothetical rewards to a receiving society committed to total assimilation.
Segmented assimilation theory leads to more nuanced predictions. Parents
from national groups with higher levels of human capital and more
positive contexts of reception would have higher educational ambitions
for their children. However, even parents of lower status would have high
aspirations for their children. The transmission of these aspirations
between generations would occur thanks to selective acculturation;
positive intergenerational relations and family cohesiveness would
facilitate this transmission, just as the opposite situation would impede it.
Time of residence in the receiving society does not appear to have an
impact on the ambitions of children because greater knowledge about and
familiarity with the society, favourable for maintaining higher aspirations,
is offset as time passes by a decrease in the drive for success in situations
of rapid acculturation.
40 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
1.3.Predictors of the integration dynamics of second generations
and the results to be expected
In order to clarify issues related to the integration dynamics of second
generations brought to light by the ILSEG, in this section we address the
factors or variables we should prioritize as a result of the theoretical
perspectives described.
The choice of variables is determined by the situation of the participants
contacted in the ILSEG follow-up survey, who are described in the next
chapter. Participants in this survey had an average age of 18. At this age,
the achievements and experiences that we are inquiring about are, first,
those related to their presence and success in school, but also those related
to psycho-social variables such as self-identity, discrimination, downward
social mobility that they may have experienced due to unemployment
(related to early pregnancies or problems with the police) and, lastly, their
experiences in the labour market.
We turn, then, to the psycho-social dimension.
1.3.1. Psycho-social variables
a) Self-identities
Along with the level of their aspirations, as already discussed, also important
for the integration of the children of immigrants are the identities they
adopt and their self-esteem. The fascination of scholars with this subject is
all the more noteworthy as the same literature has demonstrated that
identities are very malleable and vary greatly based on time and social
context (Rumbaut, 1994; Portes and Rumbaut, 2001). The question that
arises is why such a mutable and soft variable arouses such interest.
Part of the answer is that changing identities are at the centre of the
challenges that these adolescents must face, caught between two different
cultural worlds and the conflicts that arise as a result. In most cases,
parents want to maintain at least some elements of their own identity and
culture, while the receiving society – in particular schools – push in the
opposite direction. As mentioned before, the children of immigrants have
been called “translation artists”, as they struggle – and eventually negotiate
– with these divergent expectations.
Theories on the integration of the second generatio 41
Another reason why identities are important is that, in certain circumstances,
they can trigger collective actions in opposition to the existing sociopolitical
order. The massive and violent protests in the suburbs of certain French
cities in 2005 were largely intiated by second generation youth who mobilized
against what they saw as their confinement in French society to a permanently
subordinate position. Despite having been born in France, these young
people strongly rejected being referred to as French. Instead, many of them
adopted the ethnic term beurs, used to differentiate themselves from the
native French (Schneider, 2008).
Similarly, in California in 1994, as a consequence of Proposition 187,(4)
young people of Mexican origin born in the United States mobilised in
large numbers against what they saw as a threat to their identity and that
of their parents. Proposition 187 (Save our state), a referendum voted on
by the electorate, did not explicity attack Mexican-Americans, as it was
mainly directed at illegal immigrants; however, young Mexican-Americans
understood it as anti-Mexican and anti-Hispanic and mobilised in protest.
One result was that many young people who had referred to themselves as
Mexican-American opted to abandon that mixed label and began to refer
to themselves as Mexican (Portes and Rumbaut, 2001).
The identity options of the second generation in the United States include
the possiblity of retaining the nationality of the parents, embracing that
of the receiving society (that is, being American), assuming mixed identities
(for example, Mexican-American), or adopting pan-ethnic labels applied
by natives to different groups of nationalities (Asians, Hispanics, etc.)
(Altschul et al., 2008; Feliciano, 2008; Jiménez, 2008).
In Spain, national self-identification options naturally differ between
those who choose to retain the national identity of their parents and those
who choose the national identity of the receiving country. In the culturalist
sphere, the pessimists, such as Huntington, would predict the second
generation maintaining parental identities, while the optimists would
expect a gradual, but continuous, adoption of the identity of the receiving
country. Among the structuralists, intergenerational exclusion theory
(4) The referendum was a vote on proposed legislation in California that would deny undocumented
immigrants social service benefits, medical services and public education.
42 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
would also lead to the retention of parents’ national identities or to the
adoption of pan-ethnic identities (Latino, for example), while second
generation advantage theory would lean toward a rapid transition through
pan-ethnic identities to the full assimilation of Spanish identity.
The model that is most consistent with segmented assimilation theory
would be that of adopting different identities depending on the different
integration paths of young people. Thus, the adoption of Spanish
nationality would fit those who are more rapidly advancing toward
integration with the native majority, supported by their parents’ high level
of human capital and a more favourable context of reception. Selective
acculturation would be more compatible with a gradual transition toward
Spanish identity. While in contrast, a reactive identity based on pan-ethnic
lables or on the return to parental identities would be more common
among those who are on a path toward downward assimilation.
The studies support some of these predictions and question others. As in
the case of ambition, with identity there is also a convergence toward a
limited group of theoretical expectations:
•Place of birth and time of residence in the receiving society are
powerful determinants of self-identities. It is significantly more likely
that the second generation, strictly defined (that is, those born in
Spain), will identify with their country of birth. In contrast, for the
1.5 generation and under equal conditions, length of residence in
Spain would be an important determinant.
•Parental influence on self-identification is complex. A high parental
status would facilitate identification with the receiving society to the
degree that it fosters rapid integration into the native mainstream.
Having a mother or father born in Spain would bring about the same
result, while having both parents born outside of Spain would lead
in the opposite direction. This would especially be the case if parents
were from cultures very different from that of Spain (Bailey, 2000;
Feliciano, 2008).
•Generally, experiencing discrimination will slow down the adoption
of Spanish identity, and if repeatedly faced, it will reduce the selfesteem of those who suffer it and generate a reactive ethnicity among
Theories on the integration of the second generatio 43
them. In the United States this process often leads to adopting a
non-mixed identity (for example, Mexican) or shifting from an
American self-identity (mixed or non-mixed) to a pan-ethnic
identity. In Western Europe the deliberate adoption of perjorative
names in self-identity (the case of the Beur in France, a pejorative
term to designate French-born people whose parents are immigrants
from North Africa) reflects this same process (Portes and Rumbaut,
2001; López and Stanton Salazar, 2001).
•Phenotypically identifiable young people, such as blacks, persons of
mixed racial background or Asians, are more likey to suffer
discrimination and may therefore develop strong reactive identities,
resistent to identifying with the receiving country and which become
very important to those that adopt them. In contrast, the children of
white immigrants that adopt the non-mixed identity of the country
they are in (American, Spanish, etc) tend to give little importance to
self-identification (Ream, 2004; Pahl and Way, 2006).
Generally, identity integration is complicated when there are strong ethnic
or racial boundaries in the receiving society. In the Netherlands, for
example, they distinguish between allochthonous and its opposite,
autochthonous. The allochthonous are sub-divided between westerners and
non-westerners, even in government publications. This strong separation
between us and them has an enormous impact on the self-identification of
second generations in the Netherlands (Entzinger, 2009).
As has already been pointed out, self-identification with the receiving
country is more common among immigrant families with higher education
levels, in which the parents as well as the children adopt an itinerary of
selective acculturation. Non-mixed foreign identities are found among
recent members of the 1.5 generation and also those affected by
experiences of discrimination, which lead to reactive identities. Once
adopted, for whatever reason, these ethnic identities become strong and
long-lasting.
In the United States, among the children of Latin American immigrants,
the pan-ethnic term, Hispanic or Latino, is often seen as a racial, rather
than an ethnic, category. The CILS data show that while parents rarely
44 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
confuse their ethnicity with their race, their children often do. For example,
while 93% of Cuban parents consider themselves white, only 41% of their
children do; most of the time this option is replaced with Hispanic as their
race. The same can also be seen in the second generation of Nicaraguans
and other Latin Americans.
When ethnicity metamorphoses into race, we can expect this to have an
impact on attitudes and behaviours. In Spain there have been few studies
on this and no longitudinal studies on the self-identification of the
children of immigrants. For this reason, one of the most important tasks
of the following analyses will be to examine to what extent the preceding
hypotheses are applicable to the Spanish context.
b) Perceptions of discimination and self-esteem
Perceptions of discrimination are an indicator of problematic integration.
Thus, the greater the number of immigrant children who say they have
been discriminated against, the worse the outlook for their integration
into Spanish society will be. And the opposite: a lower percentage who
say they have experienced discrimination would lead to a more optimistic
assessment of their processes of insertion.
In addition, intergenerational relations (between parents and children)
are also important factors in integration processes, as well as predictors
of other expected results in late adolescence. Indeed, positive
intergenerational relationships are indicators of selective acculturation
and, as such, should have a positive influence on the aspirations of young
people and protect them from the worst effects of discrimination.
Among the theoretical perspectives reviewed above, intergenerational
exclusion would predict higher levels of perceived discrimination and
poorer intergenerational relations, especially among adolescents from
poor families and non-white nationalities. Second generation advantage
theory would predict the opposite. Segmented assimilation theory would
predict that positive intergenerational relations would have positive
effects on other integration factors, but that relations between parents
and children would lose importance over time as pressures to assimilate
become stronger. In particular, they would decline in importance in the
second generation, strictly defined – that is, those born in the destination
Theories on the integration of the second generatio 45
country – because the cultural distance between parents and children is
greater.
Self-esteem, the object of many studies in sociology and social
psychology, has been studied primarily using the Rosenberg self-esteem
scale (Rosenberg, 1979).
•In the United States it has been demonstrated that repeated
incidences of discrimination by natives against immigrants, as well
as conflicts between parents and children stemming from dissonant
acculturation, lower the self-esteem of the children of immigrants.
This is true for the children of both Hispanic and Asian immigrants.
Self-esteem is positively related to high educational ambition and
high academic performance, although the causal direction of this
relationship has not been clearly demonstrated (Portes and
Rumbaut, 2001; Kao and Tienda, 1998).
•For now it is of interest to note that the level of self-esteem does not
vary much between adolescents who self-identify in one way or
another. This is perhaps because the choice of an identity is a way of
defending self-esteem, both among young people on paths of
selective acculturation (associated with mixed identities) and among
those who adopt a more critical reactive posture. Edwards and
Romero (2008) found, for example, that young people of Mexican
descent identified strongly with their own group to protect their selfesteem from outside discrimination. Involvement with the co-ethnic
group and the adoption of pan-ethnic or non-mixed national
identities are prominent aspects of these strategies.
Taking advantage of the longitudinal nature of the CILS, Portes and
Rumbaut (2006) developed a predictive model for self-esteem, selecting
its determinants at an average age of 14 and applying the Rosenberg scale
to the sample three years later. Sex was shown to have a significant
influence, as young girls had lower self-esteem than boys of the same age
despite having higher levels of ambition. Higher parental socioeconomic
status, as well as longer time residing in the receiving country, increased
self-esteem. Dissonant acculturation, reflected in serious conflicts
between parents and children during early adolescence, subsequently
46 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
lowered self-esteem in children; in contrast, selective acculturation,
indicated by bilingualism, increased it.
1.3.2. Education
Among the most important issues to be addressed regarding a second
generation at around the age of 18 – the situation of our sample – is to
know if they are still in school and if so, the level of education they have
attained. We have general information about this and about their
attitudes toward the schools that they have attended. Culturalist
perspectives have relatively little to say about educational attainment.
The negative assessments of Huntington and European critics of
migration lead to generic expectations of low academic performance
among the children of immigrants and assumptions that they hold
negative attitudes toward school, especially if we are referring to
non-white and/or non-Christian children (Muslims, for example).
Neoassimilationists, in contrast, would expect a convergence between
native children and children of immigrants over time.
Structuralist perspectives are again grouped in opposing positions: based
on intergenerational exclusion theory one would expect the children of
immigrants to attain poor results and to adopt a negative attitude toward
school – especially second generation children from poorer and more
marginalized groups; in contrast, second generation advantage theory
would suggest that the children of immigrants would obtain better
academic results than their native peers and would have a more optimistic
outlook toward school. Segmented assimilation theory is again in an
intermediate position, as it suggests that results in school will depend
largely on the socioeconomic situation of families, their children’s
expectations, family structures and intergenerational relations. The
emphasis of this theory on the modes of incorporation into the receiving
society would suggest the existence of consistent differences between
nationalities, even controlling for individual variables. In addition, it
would consider the length of time in the country to have little influence
on these questions due to the contradictory effects of time referred to
above.
Theories on the integration of the second generatio 47
Academic performance is crucial in this phase of life. If a high drop out
rate is detected among the children of immigrants or if they are confined
to the initial levels of vocational training, their successful integration into
Spanish society would be seriously in doubt. The result would be the
same if they systematically obtained poor grades and had uniformly
negative attitudes toward school.
1.3.3. Other important factors: language, occupation, downward
assimilation
Psychological issues such as ambition, national self-identification and
self-esteem represent a prelude to the objective results of adaptation.
These results, which begin to manifest in late adolescence and early adult
life, include educational attainment, occupational status and initial
earnings, but also negative factors that are indicators of downward
assimilation, such as early school leaving, adolescent pregnancy,
unemployment and conflicts with the police. The knowledge and use of
the langauge of the receiving society is also important, given that
language fluency has been shown to have an impact on the adoption of
different paths toward assimilation. Finally, the evolution over time of
aspirations, self-identification and self-esteem is also important, as they
reflect and correspond to diverse trajectories.
Late adolescence is a period of development suitable for examining how
the perspectives we have just described reflect the reality. Many of these
theories predict uniform results for the processes of integration of the
second generation (integration into the mainstream, exclusion, second
generation advantage, etc). The exception is segmented assimilation
theory which, as seen in graph 1.1, describes a number of trajectories,
some leading to a rapid ascent in education and employment, others
pointing to stagnation in working class occupations or downward
assimilation. The theory also identifies the initial determinants of the
whole process: the human capital of the parents, family structure and
modes of incorporation.
The first ILSEG survey, and the survey of parents, which will be analysed
in chapter 4, contain sufficient indicators on the level of education and
occupational skills of the first generation. They also contain indicators of
48 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
family composition. Modes of incorporation refer to the governmental,
political and community context in which immigrant parents are received.
In the case of Spain, these dimensions can be indicated by the legal
situation of the parents, their education and income levels by nationality
and their phenotypic characteristics. As numerous studies have shown, as
well as the facts in Spain, non-white immigrants are more likely to
experience higher levels of discrimination and a more negative mode of
incorporation (Yiu, 2014; Portes et al., 2012; Flores, 2012).
The presence of an important foreign component in Spain’s population
today has been celebrated by some, while others have despaired. Neither
of these two visions is justified by reliable information on what is
happening. The group of theories presented in table 1.1 provides us with
a framework of reference suitable for understanding what is actually
taking place. More than the first generation of immigrants, comprised of
persons who were socialized in other countries, it is their children who
count as the embodiment of the consequences of immigration in the
longterm. Born in Spain or having arrived here in early childhood, these
new Spaniards are called to carry out important social, cultural and
political roles in the future life of their country. Their current situation
– to be described in the following chapters – will shed light on what the
future promises.
Theories on the integration of the second generatio 49
II. Longitudinal study on the second
generation in Spain
2.1. Longitudinal study on the second generation
In Europe, as in the United States, studying the second generation presents a
series of challenges that differentiate it from studies of more stable adult
populations, including first generation immigrants. Acculturation, social
integration and the development of self-identities among second generation
adolescents and young adults are highly dynamic processes involving
substantial change. For this reason, research designs that seek to follow this
population over time are preferable to cross-sectional designs. Static surveys
of the children of immigrants in early adolescence may adequately represent
this universe at the time they are carried out, but the majority of the findings
– such as their aspirations, self-esteem and attitudes – are “soft” variables
that are easily modifiable over time (Rumbaut, 1994; Portes and Rivas, 2011).
Surveys of second generation adults, in contrast, can also capture “hard”
results, such as their education level, employment and occupational
status, income, marital status and parental status; however, they may
exclude a part of this population that has fallen by the wayside, whether
because of imprisonment, other forms of institutionalization, exclusion
or having left the country. These surveys take their samples from the
population of “survivors” of the traumas and challenges in their
adaptation as adolescents, and, for this reason they tend to produce
accounts of this process that are excessively optimistic.(1)
But, in addition, with static surveys of young adults it is not possible to
create credible causal models of the factors that lead to each “hard” result.
(1) See, for example, the conclusions of Kasinitz et al. (2008) regarding the base of a cross-sectional sample
of second generation adults in New York. For other comments regarding this study, see Haller et al., 2011.
50 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
This is because they depend on the recollections of respondents to build
indicators for the key predictors, such as the socioeconomic status of their
parents when they were adolescents, family composition at that time, the
characteristics of the schools they attended, and the attitudes and aspirations
they had at that time. A long methodological tradition reveals that the
validity of this retrospective information is doubtful, as it tends to be
coloured by present-day realities (Singleton et al., 2008). The combination
of biased samples and selective recall lead to questionable causal
explanations for the highly dynamic processes of acculturation and social
adaptation occurring during the transition from early to late adolescence
(Ibíd., Haller et.al., 2011).
Longitudinal designs for the study of second generations can take two
forms. On the one hand, there are panel studies in which a sample
population is followed over time and repeatedly interviewed in key
moments of transition during their lives. On the other hand, there are
cohort studies in which different samples of the same population are
interviewed in successive periods over time. The first method makes it
possible to follow individual changes over time and to identify their
determinants. The second method does not permit this, but it can identify
group changes that occur over time and highlight the collective factors
that have led to these group changes (Firebaugh, 2008). These factors can
be attributed to the process of maturation of the cohort being studied
and to historical events occurring between interview periods.
Another characteristic of longitudinal designs is their capacity to establish
a clear temporal order between potential determinants and results. This is
particularly important in the study of very dynamic processes, such as the
acculturation and social integration of immigrants. In the case of second
generation adolescents, for example, we find a correlation between their
aspirations and academic achievements. In contrast, with cross-sectional
data, it is impossible to separate cause from effect. Similarly, mastery of
two languages correlates positively with cognitive development, but again
the causal relationship between these two variables is ambiguous.
In addition, as we mentioned previously, another limitation of cross-sectional
studies of adolescent populations is that they depend on information
provided by respondents about their families and the characteristics of their
Longitudinal study on the second generation in Spain 51
parents. This information is often influenced by the nature of the parentchild relationship, as well as the composition of the family and its economic
situation. Separate interviews with at least a random sub-sample of parents
are necessary to determine the validity of the information gathered. Without
doing this, the analysis and causal models run the risk of the current situation
conditioning retrospective information on alleged causes (Singleton and
Straits, 2005; Portes et al., 2012).
Longitudinal studies designed to overcome these limitations are difficult and
costly to carry out. They run the risk of sample attrition in follow-up surveys,
which would totally negate the value of the exercise. The more time that
passes between the initial survey and follow-up surveys, the greater the
significance of the results, but the greater the risk of a significant loss of
cases as well. For example, a panel study among students with a period of
one year between the original sampling and the follow-up would probably
maintain a significant proportion of the original sample, but it is unlikely
that it would provide significant results, as little change would have taken
place in such a short period of time. In contrast, a space of three or more
years can reveal important changes over time in this population, although
with the risk of a significant decline in the size of the sample (Firebaugh,
2008).(2)
The CILS study (Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study), carried
out in the United States between 1991-2006, faced such difficulties and
adopted the following decisions to successfully carry out the study:
•They began with a survey of a broad sample of students, all of
whom had at least one parent of foreign origin, and were in 8th and
9th grade (with an average age of 14), and followed these students
for 3 or 4 years until the last year of secondary education.
•They carried out a second survey of those that had continued in
school and were about to graduate and those that had left school,
with the aim of determining their respective levels of adaptation at
this crucial time of transition from school to work or from school to
university, and to determine the factors intervening in their
adaptation and in their achievements and failures. Through surveys
(2) For a discussion of the pros and cons in the design of longitudinal studies of children of immigrants
see Portes and Rumbaut (2001), and Haller et al. (2011).
52 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
of these adolescents in two different periods of time, it was possible
to establish causal relationships with greater confidence and examine
how certain results (for example, aspirations) changed over time.
•They surveyed a relatively broad sample of the parents of the young
people interviewed in order to obtain first-hand information about
their families, given the importance of the social context provided by
the parents in the adaptation of their children.
The initial CILS survey was carried out in 1992 and had a total of 5,262
student participants with parents from 77 foreign countries. The students
came from 49 schools in the metropolitan areas of Miami/Fort
Lauderdale in Florida and San Diego in California.
The positive results obtained by applying these approaches was an
invitation to others to test their application in other contexts and with
two primary aims: First, of course, to provide an instrument that would
be useful for in-depth analysis of problems related to the integration of
adolescent children of immigrants and secondly, to verify, in a migratory
context different from that of the United States, the validity and
usefulness of the theory of segmented assimilation derived from the
CILS itself. The ILSEG project was initiated with these ends.
2.2. Longitudinal research on the integration of the second
generation in Spain (ILSEG)
2.2.1. The initial ILSEG survey
Just as with the CILS, this new study adopted a panel design to measure
both individual change and group change over time. The ILSEG is the result
of a collaborative effort between Princeton University’s Center for Migration
and Development and the Universidad de Comillas’ Institute for Migration
Studies. They were later joined by the Instituto Universitario de Investigación
Ortega y Gasset. Its explicit aim was to fill a gap in the research literature as
well as to produce data that can be compared with the results of the CILS.
To this end, the ILSEG sought the cooperation of the competent
authorities in the Autonomous Regions of Madrid and Catalonia, the
two main geographic areas with the greatest concentrations of
Longitudinal study on the second generation in Spain 53
immigrants in Spain. Once this cooperation was obtained, the extraction
of random samples from secondary schools in the metropolitan areas of
Madrid and Barcelona was carried out, stratified according to the type of
school (public or publicly-subsidised private schools) and the geographic
area within each city. The respective educational authorities in each
region provided a list of schools in order to carry this out. This design of
a stratified random sample maintained a constant fraction by type of
school and by geographic zone within each metropolitan area, ensuring a
statistically representative sample of these respective universes.
Within each school, all eligible students were included. The second
generation was defined as adolescents born in Spain or brought to Spain
before 12 years of age with at least one parent born outside the country. As
already mentioned, those born in the receiving country are defined as second
generation in the “proper” sense of the word, while those brought to Spain
at an early age are defined as the 1.5 generation (Rumbaut, 2004; Portes and
Rivas, 2011). The majority of children of immigrant origin in Spain attend
public schools, although a significant minority attend subsidised private
schools. One of the subsidiary questions for analysis is if the identities,
future plans and self-esteem of these young people vary based on the type of
school they attended. The sample was also stratified by geographic zones to
assure the inclusion of all the schools in the two metropolitan areas covered
in the study. Due to the concentration of schools in the central urban areas
of the cities, a simple random sample would have excluded those located in
many of the sub-urban areas of the cities. In total, 180 schools participated
in the study: 101 in Madrid and 79 in Barcelona. Of these, 111 were public
schools and the rest were publicly subsidised private schools.
Basic secondary education is compulsory in Spain, and the majority of
students at this level are at ages corresponding to early adolescence. Both
circumstances are methodologically useful as they guarantee that a
sample extracted from the schools will be representative of the respective
age cohort, given that almost all of its members are still in school. The
study was focused on the first three years of basic secondary education
(in Spain, ESO – Educación Secundaria Obligatoria), which corresponds
to a population with an average age between 13 and 14, which represents
the universe of interest. At these ages, almost all adolescents are enrolled
in school and are mature enough to fill out a simple questionnaire.
54 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
The field work for the initial survey was mainly carried out during 2008
and in the first quarter of 2009. The total size of the sample was 6,905
cases: 3,375 in Madrid and 3,530 in Barcelona. With a constant sampling
fraction, the sample is self-weighted in relation to the total universe and
each one of the sampling strata. Table 3.1 presents the basic demographic
characteristics broken down by metropolitan area.(3)
Table 2.1
Basic demographic characteristics of the original sample of children
of immigrants, 2008
Variable
Sex
Age
Country of birth
Years residing in Spain
(participants born outside of Spain)
Family composition
Year in ESO
Values
Barcelona
Madrid
Totals
Male %
54.13
48.54
51.38
Female %
45.87
51.46
48.62
Average
13.48
14.36
13.91
Median
13.00
14.00
14.00
Spain %
15.94
13.56
14.77
Foreign %
84.06
86.44
85.23
Average
6.14
6.78
6.45
Median
5.00
6.00
5.00
Lives with both
biological parents %
65.80
66.87
66.32
1st
33.59
8.77
21.67
2
nd
34.73
54.40
44.18
3rd
31.68
36.83
34.15
Little %
3.69
1.05
2.39
Some %
5.68
3.45
4.58
Well %
23.86
22.95
23.42
Perfectly %
66.77
72.55
69.61
Little %
3.03
0.78
1.93
Some %
3.50
2.37
2.95
Well %
18.09
19.46
18.76
Perfectly %
75.38
77.39
76.36
Knowledge of Spanish
Speaks:
Understands:
(3) The questionnaire used in the original survey can be found on the project web page of the Instituto José
Ortega y Gasset and that of the University of Princeton.
Longitudinal study on the second generation in Spain 55
2.2.2. Parents’ survey
Approximately one year after the initial survey of adolescents, the project
initiated a new study, this time dedicated to the parents and to supplement
the data obtained from the children. To do this, letters were sent to
the home addresses provided by the students, which contained a
questionnaire to be completed by their parents. The letter explained the
objectives of the project and promised an incentive in the form of a
monetary prize to be awarded through a random drawing among all the
parents who returned a completed questionnaire. Based on this method,
a total of approximately 700 valid questionnaires were obtained, a figure
that represented less than half of the target that had been set for the
parents’ survey: 1,750 cases or one fourth of the student sample. The
project research team then turned to the telephone numbers provided by
the students and during practically the whole summer and part of the
autumn of 2010, the parents were called. The project kept track of the
completed questionnaires to ensure that there was more or less a balance
between both cities and that all of the main nationalities in the survey of
students were represented.
In total, data were obtained from 1,843 parents, which represented 28%
of the original student survey. The same main nationalities were
represented in both surveys. In the parents’ survey the percentages for the
different nationalities were the following: Ecuadoran (28%), Moroccan
(10.5%), Colombian (7.8%), Peruvian (6.7%), Dominican (5.5%) and
Romanian (5.1%). Among the students, the figures were the following:
Ecuadoran (28.6%), Moroccan (7.1%), Colombian (8.4%), Peruvian
(6.1%), Dominican (5.2%) and Romanian (5%). No other nationalities in
either of the samples reached 5% of the total. This survey provided the
data necessary to evaluate parental effects on key aspects of the process
of adaptation, independently of the data obtained from the students.
Table 3.2 provides descriptive characteristics from the ILSEG survey of
the parents.
56 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
Table 2.2
Socio-demographic characteristics of the ILSEG sample of parents,
2009-2010
Characteristic
Barcelona
Madrid
Total
Avg. age
42.0
43.2
42.6
Sex (women) %
66.0
69.2
67.7
Have Spanish nationality %
34.3
41.0
37.9
Years in Spain, avg.
10.7
11.9
11.4
Spanish %
71.7
77.5
74.8
Catalan %
2.1
0.0
1.0
26.2
22.5
24.2
3.4
3.6
3.5
73.8
67.9
70.8
Less than secondary %
48.9
42.2
45.6
Secondary %
34.7
40.1
37.5
Some university %
9.6
8.8
9.2
University degree %
6.8
8.9
7.7
Employed
57.2
60.7
59.0
Unemployed
22.5
23.7
23.1
discapacity, other
20.3
15.6
17.9
Occupational status, avg
86.4
85.1
85.8
n
871
972
1,843
Language spoken at home:
Other %
Knowledge of Spanish, avg.a
Family structure:
Both biological parents present %
Education:
Employment status:
b
a. Knowledge of Spanish Index (KSI). Composite of the simple sum of the capacity to understand, speak, read and
write Spanish. Range: 1 (lowest) to 4 (highest).
b. PRESCA-2 SCALE on Occupational Prestige in Spain. Scores from 0 to 270.
2.2.3. Monitoring the ILSEG sample over time
Three years after the original survey of students in 2008-2009, a followup survey was launched. Its purpose was to obtain information regarding
integration in the strategic stage of transition from school to work or to
another stage of education. As already mentioned, surveys during early
adolescence can only capture contextual and psychological variables,
Longitudinal study on the second generation in Spain 57
such as aspirations and self-esteem, which point to alternative paths to
integration, but they cannot guarantee what the final result will be. At 17
and 18 years of age, these results have begun to crystallise. This is
particularly the case in Spain, where a significant number of young
people leave school after completing compulsory education to enter the
labour market (Aparicio and Tornos, 2006; Gibson and Carrasco, 2009).
The aim of the follow-up questionnaire(4) was to provide information on a
wide range of possible details – from achievements and objective
developments to attitudes and subjective opinions. These are the most
important factors:
•Educational attainment:
–Years of school completed
–Whether the student continues in school
–Type of school attended
–Highest grade and average for the last year of school
–Reasons for leaving school
–Plans to return to school
•Occupational achievements:
–Current occupation
–If working, occupational status
–If working, number of hours per week
–If working, type of employment (formal or informal)
–If working, place of work
•Income:
–Individual.
–Family.
(4) The questionnaire can be found on the project web page cited earlier.
58 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
•Family situation:
–Number of persons in household
–Type of persons with whom respondent lives
–Home ownership vs. renting, etc.
•Legal status in Spain (Spanish citizen, resident, undocumented):
–Of respondent
–Of parents
•Marital status:
–Of respondent
–Of parents
•Indicators of downward assimilation:
–Has left school
–Unemployed and looking for work
–Family income below the poverty threshold
–Has joined a gang in the last three years
–Has had one or more children in the last three years
•Self-identity:
–National self-identity (Spanish/foreign)
–Importance of self-identification
•Social relations:
–Relations with parents (discordant/harmonious/selective)
–Number of friends
–Ethnicity/nationality of friends
•Future goals:
–Educational and occupational aspirations (ideal)
–Educational and occupational expectations (realistic)
Longitudinal study on the second generation in Spain 59
2.2.3.1. Localisation and sample recovery
The follow-up survey began by soliciting the collaboration of the school
systems of the two metropolitan areas of Madrid and Barcelona. As with
the original survey, the respective regional authorities agreed to
collaborate with the study and sent letters to that effect to all the chosen
schools. These letters and subsequent communication were vital in
obtaining the collaboration of school principals, which made the work of
the research team much easier.
Once the letters were sent to selected schools, the following step was to
send teams composed of two interviewers to each school. The teams were
formed by experienced field workers that had participated in the first
phase of the project. Their objectives were:
•Identify and interview the participants from the first survey again.
•Obtain information about students who had left school.
•Identify and interview other students who were children of
immigrants attending the same school.
•Choose and interview a sample of native students (children of
parents born in Spain).
The questionnaires were self-administered in group sessions supervised
by a member of the field research team. Each team had a list of the
students originally interviewed which they used to contact them again. In
addition, they found out where absent students were through school
principals and teaching staff. The information gathered was incorporated
into a follow-up report for each case. Thus, the field work teams
completed the following tasks:
•Contacted and interviewed the participants from the original survey
who continued attending the same school.
•Gathered information about the original participants that had
changed schools or dropped out.
•Produced a replacement sample of students who were children of
immigrants.
•Made a new sample of students who were children of natives.
60 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
This stage of the project was carried out sequentially from October 2011 to
January 2012 in the metropolitan area of Madrid, and from February to
May 2012 in Barcelona. The survey in the schools had three simultaneous
objectives: first, create a panel of individuals followed over time; second,
create a cross-sectional sample of the same population; and third, create a
comparative sample of students whose parents were of Spanish origin
(born in Spain). While the effort undertaken in the schools was successful
in attaining the latter two objectives, it fell very short on the first. This was
because many students, as noted before, had abandoned school early to
enter the labour market, while others had changed schools or begun other
studies. Therefore, the project had to look for alternative ways to recover
the greatest number of cases from the original sample.
From the original student survey we had personal identifiers for 5,240 of
our participants. Therefore, their names and telephone numbers were
used to locate and recover the sample in the following stage. This second
stage began before the first stage ended in Madrid and simultaneously
with the first stage in Barcelona, extending both stages several months
after finishing the field work in the schools. It consisted of telephone calls
to locate other cases from the original sample and interviewing them one
by one. In the telephone interviews, the interviewers began by reading a
statement emphasising the voluntary nature of participation and the
incentive to do so: the opportunity to win one of three prizes of 1,500
euros each, awarded through a drawing among all the participants.
2.2.3.2. Use of social networks on the internet: Facebook and Tuenti
As we have said, while the replacement sample of children of immigrants
and that of natives was completed without difficulty during the visits to
the schools, this phase, along with the second one based on telephone
interviews, had limited success in locating the original sample. In Madrid,
for example, at the end of March 2012, only 793 cases had been recontacted in this way, 26% of the original sample (N=3002). Given these
results, the project had to turn to alternative methods of sample recovery.
Among these were using social networks on the internet, as adolescents
tend to use them frequently. In Spain, the most popular among this
generation is Facebook, as well as Tuenti in Madrid.
Longitudinal study on the second generation in Spain 61
Based on the names of those originally surveyed, we organised searches
on these two networks. Once we found a match, we sent a message
inviting the person to become a “friend”. If the invitation was accepted, a
follow-up message was sent explaining the objectives of the study and
incentive for participating. At this stage, one of the four following
situations could occur:
a) The person identified was one of the original participants and
agreed to complete the questionnaire online or by telephone.
b) The person identified was not one of the original participants.
c) The person identified was one of the original participants but had
objections or questions regarding the study.
d) The person identified did not respond to the invitation.
If situation (d) occurred, repeated invitations were sent until the person
became a “friend”, which happened in quite a number of cases. If
situation (c) occurred, an interactive process would be followed, which
included online chatting with a member of the research team and the
person would be sent to the project’s web page. In the majority of cases,
this process was successful. The interaction, however, did not end with
the completion of the questionnaire, but rather, the participant was
invited to join the fieldwork team and form part of the study. This process
of forming networks took various forms: first, the regular sending of
messages informing the participants of progress made and welcoming
new participants; second, the creation of a blog in which participants
were invited to post videos, photos and messages about themselves and
their projects; third, the search for clues to locate other students from
school that had participated in the original survey.
To encourage referrals, a process of emulation among the graduates of the
schools included in the first survey of the study was established. A list of
schools was included in the blog and participants were invited to support the
project team providing clues in such a way that the school could become one
of the winners by having completed the list of original participants. In the
same blog message, participants were encouraged to post their videos,
photographs and other material on the blog.
62 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
This effort to locate the initial participants through the Internet had several
important consequences. First, it greatly increased the number of prior
participants that were located. Secondly, it became a source of information
regarding the activities, opinions and plans of a considerable number of
these young people. Thirdly, it created an emerging social phenomenon, in
the form of a rapidly growing network of contacts between the project
team and the survey participants, as well as among the participants.
The last step in the process of sample recovery was visiting the original
schools again and asking for their collaboration in locating the original
participants that had still not been found. This resulted in a number of
additional clues that made it possible to locate and survey an additional
300 cases. The complexity of the process to recover the original sample is
illustrated in graph 2.1, which contains a flow chart developed by the field
work team that represents the successive steps taken in the search for the
original participants.
GRAPH 2.1
Flow chart of the steps taken in the tracking of the sample
VISIT TO SCHOOLS
DIFFICULTIES:
– No telephone or does not answer
– Refuses to respond
– Has left Spain
NEW VISITS TO SCHOOLS:
– Interviews with prinicipals
– Contact with students that know the
subjects that have not been located
NEW CLUES
DIFFICULTIES:
– Left school
– Changed school
– Principal refuses to cooperate
TELEPHONE CALLS
SEARCHES ON SOCIAL NETWORKS
Facebook Tuenti
CONSTRUCTION OF THE ILSEG BLOG
PROCEDURE:
– Search for name and request to become “friend”
– Once contacted, welcoming message sent, explaining
project and asking for response to questionnaire
– Interaction to stimulate the subject to respond
1. Assisted response “on line”
2. Telephone
Source: ILSEG Fieldwork team, 2012.
Longitudinal study on the second generation in Spain 63
TablE 2.3
Follow-up survey of the original sample identified and additional
samples, ILSEG, 2011-2012
In percentages
City
Interviewed Telephone
in schools interview
Clues from
Clues from Internet
other
school
social
participants
Total Replacementsb Nativesb
staff
networksa through social
networks
Total General
Madrid
28.9
69.7
63.5
55.1
54.3
50.2
60.2
46.4
54.4 3,977
Barcelona
71.1
30.3
36.5
44.9
45.7
49.8
39.8
50.6
45.6 3,333
Total
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0 100.0
n
1,182
669
342
904
714
3,811
1,534
1,965 7,310 7,310
a. Facebook and Tuenti.
b. The participants in the replacement sample and the children of native parents were interviewed in the schools.
By the end of November 2013, the ILSEG team had managed to recover
3,810 cases through its different strategies, which represents 73% of
participants located from the original sample. In comparison, the first
follow-up survey of the CILS in the United States managed to reach
81.5% of the original participants, and the second follow-up survey in
2002-2003, reached 68.7%. National panels in the United States routinely
recover between 60 and 70% of those originally surveyed.(5) Table 2.3
presents the final sample for the ILSEG follow-up survey broken down
by city and mode of recovery. In addition, and in this same phase, the
survey provided a replacement sample of 1,534 additional cases of
children of immigrants and 1,965 cases of children of natives (parents
born in Spain). Both groups have the same profile regarding age and sex
as the follow-up sample. In total, the database for the subsequent analyses
was 7,310 young people of both sexes.
2.3. Sample attrition
Based on the methodological model of the CILS study, we wanted to
examine the extent to which the ILSEG follow-up sample was biased in
comparison to the original sample or if it represented it relatively well.
With this aim, we first compare the two samples on a series of objective
(5) Haller et al., 2011.
64 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
variables measured in both surveys. Table 2.4 shows the results. In a large
selection of variables, the differences between the two surveys are very
small, and although statistically significant in some cases, this is due to
the large size of the sample. Most revealing is Cramer’s V coefficient
regarding the intensity of association, which is insensitive to sample size.
With few exceptions, the coefficient does not exceed .10, which indicates a
very small bias in the follow-up survey in relation to the original survey.
TABLE 2.4
Distribution of frequencies from the original (2008) and follow-up (2012)
surveys of the ILSEG regarding objective variables
Original
SURVEY
Follow-up
SURVEY
Sex (male)
51.3
48.8
0.054
Age:12 or less
14.1
15.6
0.088
13
25.6
24.7
14
31.4
30.7
15
20.2
21.5
Variables
16 or more
Country of birth (Spain)
Cramer’s
V
8.7
7.5
14.8
17.2
0.076
0.017
Knowledge of Spanish
1
Little
9.3
8.7
Okay
33.5
34.9
Good
25.6
25.1
1.6
31.3
Excellent
Family composition:
Lives with both biological parents
66.4
67.6
Other family composition
33.6
32.4
90.1
90.6
9.9
9.4
Less than university
81.2
80.2
Some university or more
18.8
19.8
0.080
Employment status of father, 2008:
Employed
Unemployed/other
0.018
Father’s education level:
0.028
Employment status of mother, 2008:
Employed outside home
78.2
79.1
Housewife, other
21.8
20.9
0.022
Longitudinal study on the second generation in Spain 65
Variables
Original
SURVEY
Follow-up
SURVEY
Cramer’s
V
Mother’s education level:
Less than university
78.0
76.8
Some university or more
22.0
23.2
0.030
Country of residence of biological father, 2008:
Spain
87.9
88.3
Other
12.1
11.7
48.3
49.0
0.016
Spain
91.0
92.1
0.033
Other
9.0
7.9
49.1
49.5
0.009
Madrid
48.5
50.1
0.037
Barcelona
51.5
49.9
Father has Spanish nationality (yes)
0.013
Country of residence of mother, 2008:
Mother has Spanish nationality (yes)
City of residence. 2008:
Type of school attended, 2008:
Public
82.3
82.9
Subsidised private
17.7
17.7
0.017
1. Based on scores on the Knowledge of Spanish Index (KSI). See Table 3.2; < 2 = little; < 3 = okay; 3 a 3.5 = good
3.5 or more = excellent.
Another test for possible bias in the follow-up sample is to construct a
new variable, “missing”, in this survey and correlate it with a series of
objective and psychosocial variables from the original survey. The results
are shown in Table 2.5. As can be seen, the correlations are all low, which
indicates that no significant bias exists in the composition of the second
survey in comparison with the first.
The close similarity between both samples can also be seen through a
detailed breakdown by country of birth. As can be seen in Table 2.6, the
results indicate a clear parallelism between both series, with the only
difference greater than 1% being among the children of immigrants born in
Spain, the second generation in a strict sense. Cramer’s V coefficient for the
intensity of association is greater than .10 in this case (V = .13), but this is
due more to the large number of national categories than to significant
differences between them.
66 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
Table 2.5
Correlations of “Missing” in the following-up survey with variables
in the original survey, 2008-2012
Correlation1
Variable
Sex (woman)
–0.054
Age
–0.082
Country of birth (Spain)
–0.076
Knowledge of Spanish2
–0.004
Years residing in Spain
0.096
Lives with father and mother
0.080
Family socioeconomic status
0.037
3
Number of older siblings
–0.028
Number of younger siblings
–0.027
Employment status of father (employed)
0.018
Father’s occupational status
0.031
Father’s education level
0.028
Employment status of mother (employed outside the home)
0.022
Occupational status of mother4
0.016
4
Mother’s education level
0.030
Father’s country of residence (Spain)
–0.013
Years of residence in Spain of father
0.059
Father has Spanish nationality
–0.016
Mother’s country of residence (Spain)
–0.033
Years of residence in Spain of mother
0.067
Mother has Spanish nationality
0.052
Self-esteem
–0.036
Familism6
–0.029
5
1. Present in the follow-up survey = 1; missing = 0
2. Knowledge of Spanish Index (KSI) measuring the capacity to understand, speak, read and write Spanish. See table 3.2.
3. Composite index (ESEF) of the standardised scores on occupational status of the father and mother and the education level of
both. Scale standardised to the average = 0, standard deviation = 1.
4. Scores on the PRESCA-2 scale of occupational prestige in Spain. Sample limited to parents that are employed.
5. Scores on the Rosenberg self-esteem scale. Range: 1 to 4. See chapter 5.
6. Score on the Index of Familist Attitudes. Composed of four indicators of family cohesion. See chapter 6.
Longitudinal study on the second generation in Spain 67
Table 2.6
Country of birth of the participants in the original ILSEG survey and the
follow-up survey
In percentages
original sample
Follow-up
sample
14.8
17.2
Argentina
2.7
2.4
Bolivia
4.6
4.4
Bulgaria
1.3
1.4
Chile
1.2
1.4
China
3.5
2.1
Colombia
7.9
7.5
Cuba
0.5
0.3
Country of birth
Spain
Dominican Republic
26.3
27.3
Ecuador
1.6
1.8
Equatorial Guinea
0.8
1.0
Morocco
6.7
6.4
Peru
5.8
5.8
Philippines
0.6
0.6
Poland
4.9
4.5
Romania
4.7
4.7
Ukraine
0.9
0.9
Venezuela
1.2
1.2
Other, Eastern Europe
0.5
0.6
Other, Western Europe
2.1
2.1
Other, Asia
3.1
2.8
Other, Central America
3.9
3.5
Other
0.4
1.0
Total
100.0
100.0
n
6,872
3,767
A fortunate result is that the replacement sample, carried out with the
aim of compensating for the decrease in sample size of the follow-up
survey, is very similar to the latter for the majority of objective
variables. There were no reasons to anticipate this pattern as the
replacement sample came exclusively from the schools, and many
68 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
members of the original sample had left school by the time of the
survey. However, as can be seen in the results in table 2.7, the two
samples are similar on a series of important variables. This can be seen
in two different ways: as averages and percentages, and as correlations
of selected variables with a new variable, “survey type”, coded as 1 if it
corresponds to the follow-up sample, and as 2 if it corresponds to the
replacement sample.
Table 2.7
Averages and correlations for objective variables from the follow-up
and replacement samples, 2012
Variable
Sex (male)
Follow-up
sample
49.37
Replacement Correlation with
sample
“type of survey”
51.89
–0.002
Age, avg.
17.45
17.18
0.084
Born in Spain
18.92
24.51
–0.062
9.58
9.02
Presence of both biological parents
64.30
64.68
Only the mother
26.83
26.21
8.87
9.11
Spanish nationality
52.79
53.91
Legal resident
38.44
39.58
8.77
6.51
84.57
99.54
0.215
17.2
24.5
0.1142
Avg. years of residence in Spain, 20121
Family situation:
Other
–0.004
Legal status:
Other
Currently in school
–0.007
Country of birth:
Spain
Argentina
2.4
1.7
Bolivia
4.4
4.2
Chile
1.4
0.7
China
2.1
2.3
Colombia
7.5
5.9
Cuba
0.3
0.5
27.3
24.9
1.8
0.6
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
Longitudinal study on the second generation in Spain 69
Variable
Follow-up
sample
Replacement Correlation with
sample
“type of survey”
Equatorial Guinea
1.0
0.0
Morocco
6.4
5.8
Peru
5.8
7.1
Philippines
0.6
0.5
Poland
4.5
3.8
Romanía
4.7
4.8
Ukraine
0.9
0.3
Venezuela
1.2
1.1
Other, Eastern Europe
2.0
1.8
Other, Western Europe
2.1
1.6
Other, Asia
2.8
2.7
Other, Central America
3.5
2.8
Other
0.1
2.4
Education level of father:
Secondary or less
81.1
76.4
At least some university
18.9
23.6
–0.053
Employment status of father:
Does not work
37.6
33.5
Employed
62.4
66.5
Secondary or less
79.3
76.4
At least some university
20.7
23.6
–0.039
Education level of mother:
–0.031
Employment status of mother:
Does not work outside home
29.7
31.0
Employed outside home
70.3
69.0
Totals
100.0
100.0
n
3,805
1,528
0.013
1. Born outside of Spain only.
2. Cramer’s V.
As can be seen in table 2.7, these correlations are uniformly insignificant
with the predictable exception of being currently enrolled in school,
which is universal among the newly surveyed, but only partial among the
original participants. The similarity between both samples means that
70 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
their participants can be considered as part of the same universe of
children of immigrants in the population group 17 and 18 years of age.
The samples can, therefore, be joined together in the analyses that follow,
in this way increasing their statistical power and representativeness
considerably.
In short, the 2012 surveys were successful in producing an unbiased subsample of the original 2008 sample and in adding a new sample to this
that quite faithfully reproduces the majority of the characteristics of the
original participants. Based on these results, it will not be necessary to
introduce corrections for sample bias in the analysis of individual
changes if we use the follow-up sample, or for average group changes, if
we combine the follow-up and replacement samples. This fortunate
circumstance allows us to take full advantage of the longitudinal design
of the study.
Longitudinal study on the second generation in Spain 71
III. In their own words: the situation
and aspirations of the first generation
In the last chapter we saw how the school performance of the children of
immigrants and, as a consequence, their processes of integration, are
affected by their parents’ hopes and aspirations for them. But this is
obviously not the only contribution parents make toward the future of
their children. On the contrary, as was seen in chapter 2, the initial
determination of the itineraries that the second generation will follow
essentially depends on the resources their parents have brought with them
from their country of origin, as well as factors they face in the receiving
country (primarily their levels of human capital and ambition, their
family structures, their nationalities, the impact of the reception they
encounter in the country they have emigrated to, and their legal status).
However, most of the evidence that we have regarding this comes from
studies carried out in other countries, which leads us to ask if all of these
factors concerning parents will affect the children of immigrants in Spain
in the same way.
In this chapter we answer this question to the extent possible, using data
from the ILSEG survey of parents. The analysis will include objective
data on their socioeconomic situation, as well as data based on their
subjective assessments and attitudes collected in the 2010 survey. In some
cases we look at this data in parallel with the information gathered in the
surveys of the children.
We will look at:
• parents’ human capital and the family structures in which they are
bringing up their children;
72 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
•the contexts or modes of reception the parents have encountered
based on their nationalities, which continue to affect their social
assimilation as well as that of their children;
•the type of work they have, which determines their income and also
affects their aspirations for their children;
•all that this entails in shaping parents’ aspirations and future plans
for their children, as these plans may affect the accommodation of
their children to Spanish society.
3.1. Human capital and family structures of immigrant mothers
and fathers
The level of human capital brought by immigrants to Spain is generally
modest. As shown in table 3.1, less than 25% of the ILSEG parent
sample has some university education, and only around 10% holds a
university degree. Logically, approximately 90%, are employed in
subordinate occupations, both manual and non-manual. These figures
are consistent with those of the Spanish National Immigrant Survey of
2007, carried out with a representative sample of the immigrant
population of the country. According to this survey, only 22% of the
population born outside Spain had some university education, while
approximately 40% had only finished secondary school. Only 10% of this
sample were employed in higher level non-manual occupations.(1) Such
figures are very similar to those obtained in the ILSEG sample.
To the extent that two-parent families are a valuable asset for the
successful integration of the children of immigrants, it can be said, based
on our data, that the majority of these young immigrants start from a
favourable position. More than 70% of the parents are married, 7% are
unmarried but live with a partner, 13% are divorced, and 2% are widowed
or live alone. These figures are very similar to those obtained by the CILS
in the United States: 63.2% of children in that study lived with both
(1) INE, National Immigrant Survey 2007.
In their own words: the situation and aspirations of the first generation 73
biological parents and 13.2% with one parent and a step-mother or stepfather (Portes and Rumbaut, 2001).
Table 3.1
Education and occupations of immigrant mothers and fathers, ILSEG
2010a
In percentages
a) Education
Barcelona
Madrid
Total
Basic secondary or less
40.90
37.96
38.90
Completed secondary or vocational
35.40
39.06
37.71
Some university
13.26
11.49
12.34
Bachelor’s degree or more
9.22
11.49
10.40
Other
1.22
0.00
0.65
100.00
100.00
100.00
49.76
58.07
54.12
41.92
31.95
36.69
Total
b) Occupations
Manual labourb
Clerical workers
c
Middle management,
managers and professionals
Total
n
8.32
9.96
9.19
100.00
100.00
100.00
865
949
1,814
a. Based on the characteristics of parents (mothers and fathers) interviewed; those of the respective spouses
closely reproduces those expressed here.
b. Domestic services, construction workers, waiters/waitresses, informal workers, etc.
c. Administrative and other office workers, mechanics, technicians, etc. 3.2. Contexts of reception, human capital and modes
of incorporation
It is well recognised that there are two factors in particular that stand out
in the impact they have on the ways immigrants are received in all
countries: On the one hand, there are stereotypes regarding ethnic
groups, religions, cultures and nations that are usually present in broad
sectors of the population in all receiving societies and that lead them to
welcome certain immigrants and to discriminate against others, and on
the other hand, there is the existing legislation of the receiving countries,
which categorizes as intruders those who have entered the country
bypassing governmental regulations on immigration.
74 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
In the case of Spain, it was expected that due to such stereotypes,
discrimination could occur in the modes of reception of immigrants with
phenotypic traits different from the native population, or with religiocultural characteristics that could be an obstacle in normal interaction
with natives.(2) Later on we will examine how these national stereotypes
affect the accommodation of immigrants from different nationalities into
Spanish society, but for now, it is important to keep in mind two issues
addressed in chapter 1 because of their relevance to this subject: first, the
large number of nationalities making up the immigrant population in
Spain, and secondly, the great diversity in these immigrant populations in
regard to the characteristics that are usually considered as decisive in
either favouring or hindering integration. In our sample, we find
significant numbers of non-white immigrants (from Africa, Asia, the
Caribbean and the Andean region of South America), those who follow
non-Christian religions (Moroccans, Pakistanis, Chinese, etc.), and those
who speak languages other than Spanish (Romanian, Bulgarian, etc).(3)
Table 3.2 shows the distribution of the sample of parents by country of
origin.
The other indicator of the context of reception with which the ILSEG
has worked is the legal situation of immigrants in Spain. Of course, those
immigrants who are legally residing in Spain, especially those who have
obtained citizenship, have a much more solid position when it comes to
defending their rights and creating their own businesses. Obviously,
citizenship cannot be acquired upon arrival in Spain, such that the
possibility of acquiring it sooner can be considered an indicator of a
better context of reception and of better future perspectives. As can be
(2) Warner and Srole in their classic study on Yankee City argued that the closer an immigrant group
was to the phenotypic traits, religion and language of the native population, the greater would be their
acceptance and the faster their process of assimilation. Warner et al., 1945.
(3) According to the latest survey on attitudes toward immigration carried out by the CIS in 2011, two
thirds of respondents do not consider it positive that Spain is composed of various religions, and 60%, that
it is composed of various races. When asked about the groups they think deserve more sympathy, it stands
out that 47.6% spontaneously answered “none”. Specifically, those who receive more sympathy are Latin
Americans (11.6% spontaneously cited), followed by sub-Saharan Africans. In contrast, those looked at
with greater antipathy were Moroccans/North Africans (cited by 19.9%), followed by Romanians (16.5%),
probably because this group is usually associated with the Roma (Gypsies). These figures do not portend
a context of positive reception; however, when asked about what most influences them in way they treat
immigrants, only 11.5% said their skin colour, while 28.2% said their culture, and 24.2% their nationality.
In their own words: the situation and aspirations of the first generation 75
seen in table 3.3, only one-third of the parents of the adolescents
interviewed in the ILSEG study had Spanish citizenship, although on
average they had resided in Spain for ten years at the time of the
interview. The rest were in various temporary situations: ranging from
waiting for their residency permit to being undocumented. These figures
are consistent with those of the 2007 National Immigrant Survey, which
found that the average time of residency of the immigrant population in
Spain was also ten years, although the percentage of those who had
obtained citizenship was only 21%. This lower percentage could be due,
among other factors, to the inclusion of single persons in the national
survey, who were younger than the parents of families included in the
ILSEG, who were naturally more interested in regularizing their legal
situation in order to ensure family stability and well-being.
Table 3.2
National origins of the parents’ sample, ILSEG 2010
Madrid
Country of birth
Ecuador
Barcelona
Number
%
Number
%
305
31.4
212
23.8
Total
Number
%
517
27.7
Morocco
83
8.5
113
12.7
196
10.5
Colombia
94
9.7
51
5.7
145
7.8
Peru
61
6.3
64
7.2
125
6.7
Dominican Republic
39
4.0
64
7.2
103
5.5
Romania
80
8.2
15
1.7
95
5.1
Bolivia
41
4.2
51
5.7
92
4.9
China
30
3.1
55
6.2
85
4.6
7
0.7
31
3.5
38
2.0
Argentina
Philippines
13
1.3
30
3.4
43
2.3
Bulgaria
23
2.4
4
0.4
27
1.4
9
0.9
18
2.0
27
1.4
Chile
Ukraine
16
1.6
9
1.0
25
1.3
Others
171
17.7
175
19.5
346
18.8
Total
972
100
892
100
1,864
100
Nationalities with at least 25 cases in the sample.
76 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
Table 3.3
Parents’ year of arrival and legal situation, ILSEG 2010 (%)
Barcelona
Madrid
Total
1999
1998
1998
6.0
6.9
6.5
34.3
41.1
37.9
Has Spanish citizenship
32.6
42.2
37.4
n
865
949
1,814
Year of arrival:
Average
Standard deviation
Legal situation:
Parent interviewed
Has Spanish citizenship
Spouse
Having established the extent to which nationality of origin and the legal
situation of immigrant parents have an impact on the context of
reception, the ILSEG examined whether these variables are completely
independent of each other and independent of human capital, or whether
nationality is related to human capital and occupational status (which we
will examine next), and to legal situation, which has such an impact on
the reception encountered by immigrants. In short, is nationality the key
variable regarding reception, largely co-determining the characteristics of
all that is related to reception and integration?
To address this, we look at parents’ education levels, their types of
occupations and the occupational status they attained, by nationality.
This distribution is shown in table 3.4 and it is noteworthy that the
differences between the nationalities are all very significant. Regarding
education levels, the percentages of parents who attended university or
attained a university degree, range from less than 5% of the Chinese to
over 50% of Argentinians and Venezuelans. Diversity in the quality of
jobs is equally great. To measure this, we used the PRESCA-2
Occupational Prestige Scale of Carabaña and Gomez Bueno, and found
that occupational status ranges from 73 points among Ukrainian
immigrants to 130.4 points among Venezuelans.(4)
(4) Scores according to the Presca-2 Occupational Prestige Scale developed for Spain by Julio Carabaña
and Carmen Gómez Bueno. The scale runs from 0 to 350 points. See Carabaña et al., 1996.
In their own words: the situation and aspirations of the first generation 77
TABLE 3.4
National differences in education, type of employment
and occupational status of immigrant parents, ILSEG 2010
Nationality
(country of origin)
Education
Occupations
SOME
SECONDARY
UNIVERSITY
OR VOCATIONAL OR MORE
%
%
NON-MANUAL
OCCUPATION:
SUPERVISORY
AND PROFESSIONAL
OCCUPATIONS
%
OCCUPATIONAL
STATUS
%
n
Average score
Ecuador
36.2
23.2
6.3
81.5
574
Morocco
22.0
11.8
6.1
78.5
195
Colombia
42.1
24.8
6.3
84.3
145
Peru
42.4
32.0
5.2
81.4
125
Dominican Republic
42.6
14.8
2.6
80.6
101
Romania
67.4
9.5
7.6
78.1
95
Bolivia
31.9
18.7
0.0
73.9
91
China
51.8
4.8
23.2
109.1
84
Pakistan
11.1
15.6
3.9
93.3
45
Philippines
25.6
53.5
0.0
77.1
43
Argentina
31.6
55.3
36.4
110.7
38
Bulgaria
55.6
29.6
5.6
75.5
27
Chile
48.2
32.0
27.8
101.4
27
Ukraine
58.3
37.5
0.0
73.2
25
Venezuela
20.0
56.0
47.6
130.4
25
34.7
29.5
97.7
173
Others
17.1
Chi-squared = 24.55
Chi-squared=130.83
F test = 14.52
Cramer’s V = 0.262
Cramer’s V= 0.353
R2 = 0.149
The figures only refer to mothers and fathers who have responded. Less than secondary is the reference category.
a. Average scores are given based on the PRESCA2 scale. the range on the original scale is from 0 to more than
350.
Time of residence in Spain and the acquisition of citizenship likewise
vary by nationality. The data on this are shown in table 4.5. While
Filipinos have, on average, resided in Spain for seventeen years, the
Bulgarians have only lived there, on average, for eight years. These
differences in time of residency are reflected in the acquisition of
citizenship, 63% of Filipinos have it, but only 4% of Bulgarians. Not one
78 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
Ukrainian in our sample of parents has citizenship, while among the
Dominicans, another group with long-term residency, 73% have
citizenship: the highest percentage on the list.(5)
TABLE 3.5
Differences in time of residence and Spanish citizenship of immigrant
parents, ILSEG 2010
Nationality (country
of origin)
Time of residence in Spain
Years
Has Spanish citizenship
n
%
Ecuador
10.5
44.3
574
Morocco
16.5
29.1
195
9.8
43.9
145
Peru
Colombia
10.5
55.2
125
Dominican Republic
12.8
72.6
101
Romania
7.8
5.4
95
Bolivia
7.7
18.0
91
China
10.6
6.2
84
45
Pakistan
10.2
17.8
Philippines
17.0
63.0
43
Argentina
9.9
43.2
38
Bulgaria
8.2
3.7
27
12.2
37.0
27
8.9
0.0
25
Venezuela
13.6
48.0
25
Others
12.6
26.6
173
Chile
Ukraine
F-test = 14.52
Chi-square = 13.83
p < 0.000
p < 0.000
R2 = 0.149
Cramer’s V = 0.353
These differences in contexts of reception, human capital and modes of
incorporation are important because the assumption is that they will be
reflected in differences in their children’s adaptation. In particular,
segmented assimilation theory predicts that the paths taken by children to
(5) However, time of residence does not explain everything because in Spain the acquisition of citizenship
depends on legislation that favours certain groups. Filipinos, Latin Americans and other groups historically
linked to Spain only require two years of legal residence in Spain to obtain Spanish citizenship, while
persons from other countries must wait ten years. Moreover, obtaining Spanish citizenship is probably not as
important for citizens of other EU countries, such as Romanians or Bulgarians.
In their own words: the situation and aspirations of the first generation 79
integrate will depend on the qualifications of their parents and the
context of reception. The determinants of parental achievements in the
Spanish labour market and their attitudes and goals regarding their own
future and that of their children remain to be examined.
3.3. Factors influencing the occupational status and income of parents
In the previous section we mentioned the enormous differences in the
quality of jobs obtained by immigrants of different nationalities. But the
factors influencing occupational status deserve more detailed
consideration because of their connection to income and therefore, the
integration itineraries parents will be able to afford for their children.
In order to measure the weight of these factors, the ILSEG constructed
two models in which occupational status and income could be related to
data regarding parents’ age, sex, marital status, time of residence in
Spain, knowledge of Spanish, education level, acquisition of citizenship
and country of origin. Following, through estimating regressions,(6) it was
found that sex, time of residence in Spain and education level attained
have a significant and positive impact on occupational status: men have a
15 point advantage in occupational prestige; each additional year of
residence in the country increases status by half a point; parents who
were able to attend university have a 12 point advantage, and those with
university degrees have a 23 point advantage. No other factor
demonstrated significant effects, except for those related to specific
nationalities.
Regarding nationality, after controlling for other variables, we found
that, compared with Western Europeans and North Americans in the
(6) For the occupational status of parents we used a least squares regression, deleting missing cases and
using robust standard errors to adjust for the inclusion of school aggregates from the original sample. The
predictors included age (linear and quadratic), sex, length of stay in Spain (in years), a binary indicator of
the possession of Spanish citizenship, another binary indicator of marital status (married / not married),
knowledge of Spanish and level of education, to which was added in the second model, the effects of
national origin. Occupational status was calculated according to the PRESCA2 scale. Income was given in
5 ordinal categories (less than 500 euros to 4,000 or more). Knowledge of Spanish was quantified according
to an index composed of the sum of the abilities of the respondents to understand, speak and write the
language, resulting in a very high alpha coefficient, 0.85 of internal consistency. Educational attainment was
an ordinal variable with four categories (primary, secondary, some university and university degree).
80 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
sample, there was a 20 point decline in status for immigrant parents of
Moroccan origin, which grew to a striking 24 points in the case of
Filipinos. This result deserves additional consideration because, as we
saw above, Filipinos are among the immigrant groups with the longest
time of residence in Spain and those who have acquired citizenship in the
greatest numbers. Only two nationalities, Chinese and Venezuelan, have a
significant occupational advantage. This is because the occupational
prestige scores of Chinese parents, despite their low education levels, are
high as they are owners or managers of businesses. Venezuelans, as
shown in table 3.4, have the highest percentage with at least some
university education, which is reflected in their occupational profiles,
even after controlling for educational level.
Graph 3.1 shows the differences in scores regarding occupational prestige
resulting from the calculated regressions. The distribution of the results
reflects, other then the exceptions that have been mentioned, the
subordinate place immigrants from less developed countries occupy in
the Spanish labour market.
Regarding income,(7) the regressions reveal, first of all, that a university
degree, in comparison with a secondary school diploma or a basic
education, increases the likelihood of earning a high income by 7 to 1:
this is the most striking effect in the model. Even those who have studied
in university without attaining a degree are three times as likely to earn a
high income.
Secondly they reveal that men have a significant advantage in salaries,
and married men are almost four times as likely to earn a high income as
single men or divorced fathers. This result is consistent with the
importance given to family structure in segmented assimilation theory, as
described in chapter 2.
(7) To predict high income, given that this is an ordinal variable, we used ordinal logistic regression and
odds ratios, which make interpretation easier. In the estimation of the models we used the same predictors
as for occupational status.
In their own words: the situation and aspirations of the first generation 81
sculino) ***
ña (10 años)
ocacional *
versidad ***
o o más ***
ruecos***
Colombia*
Perú***
minicana**
umania**
China*
lipinas***
ulgaria***
Ucrania***
nezuela*
Graph 3.1
Weight of the different determinants of occupational status, ILSEG
2010
GENDER (MALE)***
14.7
YEARS OF RESIDENCE IN SPAIN (10 YEARS)
4.7
SECONDARY OR VOCATIONAL*
4.3
SOME UNIVERSITY***
12.2
BACHELOR’S DEGREE OR MORE***
22.6
MOROCCO***
–20.4
COLOMBIA*
–9.5
PERU***
–16.2
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC**
–12.6
ROMANIA**
–11.9
CHINA*
PHILIPPINES***
BULGARIA***
UKRAINE***
15.1
–24.0
–19.6
–21.4
VENEZUELA*
26.6
ECUADOR***
–30
–13.4
–20
Predictors
–10
0.0
10
Education
a
20
30
Country of originb
The bars represent unstandardised regression coefficients. They indicate the net effect of each predictor controlling
for the rest on the PRESCA2 Occupational Prestige Scale. Only the significant effects have been included.
a. Secondary education or less is the reference category.
b. This model includes the nationalities with at least 25 cases, but only those that have presented significant effects.
“Other nationalities” (n = 47) is the reference category.
# p<.10 * p<.05 ** p<.01 *** p<.001
Third, they show that country of origin also determines large differences
in family income. Given that human capital (that is, age and education)
are statistically controlled for, these differences must be attributed to the
different modes of incorporation encountered by immigrants of different
nationalities in Spain. North Africans and many Latin Americans and
Asians, in comparison to those from Western Europe and North
America, are at a significant disadvantage economically, given that they
are less likely to have high economic status. Among Moroccans, this
likelihood is less than one-fifth of those from North America or Western
European countries. Similar results are found for immigrants from the
Dominican Republic, while the likelihood of higher incomes increases for
82 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
other groups from Latin America, such as Bolivians, Colombians and
Peruvians, although not reaching half the probability of the Western
Europeans and North Americans. Only Argentinians have a significant
economic advantage (of 147%) in the likelihood of attaining high
incomes. Thus, modes of incorporation, in relation to country of origin,
contribute significantly to explaining differences in economic status.
Graph 3.2 shows the most significant results from the estimation of
regressions regarding family income.
Graph 3.2
Determinants of Family Income in Spain, among Immigrant Parents,
ILSEG 2010
SEX (MALE)*
1.3
MARITAL STATUS (MARRIED)***
3.6
TIME IN SPAIN (10 YEARS)#
1.0
KNOWLEDGE OF SPANISH#
1.3
UPPER SECONDARY OR VOCATIONAL***
1.8
SOME UNIVERSITY***
2.4
BACHELOR’S DEGREE OR MORE***
5.6
MOROCCO***
COLOMBIA**
–0.1
–0.4
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC***
ROMANIA***
–0.2
–0.4
BOLIVIA***
–0.2
PHILIPPINES**
–0.3
ARGENTINA*
2.5
ECUADOR***
–0.4
PERU**
–0.4
–1.0
0.0
Predictors
1.0
2.0
3.0
Education
a
4.0
5.0
6.0
Country of originb
The bars represent odds ratios. They indicate the net effect of each predictor on the probability of attaining high
income in Spain (this being the income category of over 4,000 euros per month). Only significant effects have been
included. Effects above 1 indicate positive probability; below 1, negative.
a. The reference category is secondary education or less.
b. The model includes nationalities with at least 25 cases. Only significant effects are represented.
The reference category is other nationalities.
# p<.10 * p<.05 ** p<.01 *** p<.001
In their own words: the situation and aspirations of the first generation 83
All of these results are consistent with the predictions of human capital
theory on the effects of education on occupational status and income
(Sewell and Hauser, 1972). They also reproduce known gender differences
regarding both occupational status and income. Beyond this, the most
important results are the large and numerous differences between different
nationalities after controlling for human capital. These differences reveal
the importance of the contexts of reception encountered in Spain by
different groups of immigrants and their different experiences of success
and failure in the labour market. It remains to be seen how much this
impacts on their children’s adaptation, a question which we will also
examine.
3.4. Aspirations, expectations and future plans parents have for their
children
We just examined the extent to which immigrant parents are
disadvantaged in relation to the work they do and the salaries they
receive. We will now look at whether this leads to lower expectations of
success concerning their children’s education, lowering their ambitions
regarding the education level their children could attain, ambitions,
which, as indicated in chapter 2,(8) are highly important not only in the
school performance of their children, but also for their impact on the
integration itineraries adopted by their children (Portes, 2001) and on
their achievements as adults.
3.4.1. Parental ambitions regarding their children’s education and future
plans
In this analysis of parental ambitions, we look at two dimensions:
educational aspirations or ideal goals and expectations or realistic
objectives. Table 3.6 shows how ideal aspirations and realistic expectations
are distributed in the parents’ survey. But as a reference we also present
the related data from the survey with children carried out in 2008.
(8) As this deals with the role of ambition in the integration of adolescent children of immigrants, the
perspective of the Wisconsin model is adopted.
84 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
Table 3.6
Parents and children’s educational aspirations and expectations,
plus life plans. ILSEG 2010 and 2008
In percentages
Characteristics
Parents (2010)
Madrid
Barcelona
Children (2008)
Total
Madrid
Barcelona
Total
Educational aspirations
for children
Secondary or less
5.0
5.6
5.3
25.6
28.1
26.9
Vocational training
17.2
12.7
15.1
21.6
15.1
18.4
Some university
1.9
3.7
2.7
14.2
15.7
14.9
University degree
59.7
62.8
61.2
29.1
31.1
30.1
Graduate studies
16.2
15.2
15.7
9.4
10.0
9.7
Secondary or less
13.0
17.1
14.9
45.1
43.6
44.3
Vocational training
32.6
25.5
29.2
22.3
18.1
20.2
Some university
5.8
13.2
9.4
11.9
13.5
12.7
University degree
39.3
33.5
38.5
15.6
18.7
17.2
Graduate studies
9.3
10.8
10.0
5.1
6.1
5.6
Live in Spain
84.7
85.3
85.0
27.2
24.5
25.9
Move to another country
15.3
14.6
15.0
72.8
75.4
74.1
Educational expectations
for children
Future plan for children:
The data show that parents’ aspirations and expectations(9) are much
higher than their children’s. Seventy-seven per cent of parents aspire for
their children to graduate from university, although only 40% of the
children have such high aspirations. Expectations are much lower for
both generations; however, while 46% of parents believe that their
children will obtain an undergraduate or graduate degree, only 23% of
the children believe this. These results are found, without significant
differences, in both Madrid and Barcelona, and in immigrants of all
nationalities, independent of socioeconomic status and command of the
(9) To measure aspirations, we asked parents what was the highest education level they wanted their
children to attain. To measure expectations, we asked what was the highest education level they thought
their children would obtain. In both cases, they were given seven possible responses: finish ESO (compulsory
secondary education), finish the baccalaureate, finish basic training, finish advanced vocational training,
some university, obtain a university degree, do a masters or doctorate.
In their own words: the situation and aspirations of the first generation 85
Spanish language. In addition, these findings are consistent with the
hypothesis discussed in chapter 2 on the decline in the drive toward
success that immigrants arrive with as a consequence of integration.
Immigrant parents aim high, but their children, in the face of the
surrounding reality, have lower goals.
A significant final discrepancy between parents and children appears in
regard to future plans: a large majority of immigrant parents (85%) want
and expect their children to remain in Spain, but only one-fourth of the
children share this desire. The rest want to move to another country,
mainly to the United States (23%) or to other Western European
countries (15.8%). This difference suggests that although many
immigrants see Spain as a final destination in their migration, many of
their children, at least in adolescence, see Spain as a platform to another
destination. Again, this difference appears without exception in all of the
immigrant groups and at all socioeconomic levels.
We will leave the analysis of the aspirations of adolescents and how they
are influenced by the ambitions of their parents for chapter 6. In what
follows we focus on the determinants of parents’ ambitions for their
children. To do so, we examine in detail both types of ambitions: ideals
or aspirations, and realistic goals or expectations. We also take into
account an estimation of parental participation in their children’s
education, which we turn to now.
3.4.2. Parental involvement in their children’s education
Four indicators were used to measure parental involvement:
• Talking to their children about what they do in school every day
•Helping their children with homework
•Talking to their children about continuing there education after they
finish their compulsory schooling
•Attending parents’ meetings at school
Parents were asked how often they do these things; the possible answers
were never, rarely, sometimes or almost always. With the answers
obtained a synthetic measure was constructed, which we have called the
86 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
Index of Parental Involvement in Education, (IIEP in Spanish).(10) Taking
into account that 4 is the highest score and 1 is the lowest, the average
level of parental involvement was 3.29 in Madrid and the median, 3.5. In
Barcelona, parental involvement was somewhat lower: the average was
3.05 and the median, 3.25. In any case, these figures reveal a relatively
high level of involvement, contrary to what is frequently said about
immigrant parents.
The table that follows provides a detailed analysis of the four indicators
that compose the index.
TABLE 3.7
Parents’ involvement in their children’s education, ILSEG 2010
In percentage
Madrid
Barcelona
Father
Mother
Father
Mother
298
672
298
579
Never
1.0
0.7
3.6
4.2
Rarely
5.4
5.1
10.7
5.9
Sometimes
22.3
15.1
36.5
34.1
Almost always
71.3
79.1
49.2
55.8
Never
16.9
26.8
29.7
32.1
Rarely
23.3
23.9
15.7
19.4
Sometimes
38.9
33.5
38.6
33.1
Almost always
20.9
15.8
16.0
15.4
Never
3.7
1.3
7.8
5.9
Rarely
5.7
4.2
12.1
9.5
Sometimes
23.2
20.3
40.7
44.3
Almost always
67.3
74.2
39.4
40.3
n
Talk with their children about what happens
at school:
Help their children with their homework:
Talk with their children about what they will
study when they finish compulsory education:
(10) The scale is composed of ordinal measures. By adding them together and then dividing them by four
we obtain an interval measurement. There are more complex procedures to carry out this transformation
but, for our purposes, the IIEP is a variable with good metric characteristics.
In their own words: the situation and aspirations of the first generation 87
Madrid
Barcelona
Father
Mother
Father
Mother
Never
9.5
6.4
10.8
10.7
Rarely
11.1
8.7
7.2
6.2
Sometimes
22.3
21.2
29.1
20.1
Almost always
57.1
63.7
52.9
63.0
Attend parents’ meetings at their children’s
school:
According to the data, a high percentage of parents almost always talk to
their children about what goes on in school and what they will study after
finishing compulsory education. In both cases, however, there is a
surprisingly large difference between Madrid and Barcelona, with a much
higher percentage of parents doing so in Madrid. We do not currently
have an explanation for this difference.
In contrast, regular attendance at parents’ meetings in school is similar in
both cities and occurs more frequently than would be expected, given the
many complaints of school principals and teachers about parents’ lack of
involvement.(11)
However, we can see that parents helping their children with homework is
much less frequent. The findings show that 40% of fathers and 50% of
mothers say that they “never” or “almost never” help with homework.
The differences between Madrid and Barcelona are not significant.
In conclusion, based on their responses, a large majority of parents are
involved in their children’s current education and talk with them about
their future education. Where there is less involvement is in helping their
children with their homework, which can probably be explained by the
low education level of a significant proportion of the parents, differences
in the education systems between countries and the lack of time many
parents have. These findings are of interest because according to different
studies carried out in the United States, along with parents’ aspirations
for their children, parental involvement is another important influence on
(11) In the visits to schools to carry out the survey, this was one of the primary complaints made about
the families of immigrant students in interviews with principals and teachers. Furthermore, various studies
confirm our findings. See E. Terrén and C. Carrasco (2007); and J. Garreta (2008).
88 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
the school performance of their children. Of the various components of
involvement, the one with the least influence is parents’ help with
homework (Pérez Díaz, 2009). The high level of parental involvement we
find tells us a lot about immigrant parents’ efforts to provide their
children with a good future. But what does this effort depend on?
3.4.3. The determinants of parental ambitions
When we look at parental aspirations, expectations and involvement in
relation to age, sex, years of residence in Spain, marital status, acquisition
of citizenship and family socioeconomic status (FSES), we find that the
results regarding the factors influencing these three variables are very
similar.(12)
As can be seen in table 4.8, family socioeconomic status and knowledge
of Spanish are the main determinants of involvement.(13) Having less
influence, although still positive, are parents’ marital status and time of
residence in Spain. After controlling for all of the variables, the majority
of nationalities are shown to have no influence on parental involvement
in their children’s educations, with the significant exception of the
Chinese, as Chinese parents tend not to be involved in their children’s
schooling.(14)
Regarding parents’ educational aspirations for their children, family
socioeconomic status and knowledge of Spanish are again primary
determinants, both being associated with very high levels of ambition.
However, various significant effects are associated with certain
nationalities, all of them reducing the aspirations or expectations of
parents in comparison with nationalities in the category “others”,
composed primarily of Western Europeans and North Americans. The
(12) The index of family socioeconomic status is constructed as the sum of standardized measurements
of the education and occupational status of the responding parent, the education and family status of the
spouse, if there is one, and family income. FSES was re-standardised as an average of 0 with a standard
deviation of 1 (Portes et al., 2013).
(13) To analyse the determinants of parental ambitions, we have used ordinal logistic regressions of
parental aspirations and expectations and ordinary least squares results for the continuous scale of the
levels of parental involvement. All of the regressions delete missing cases and use robust standard errors.
As predictors we used parent’s age, sex, years of residence in Spain, marital status, acquisition of Spanish
citizenship, socioeconomic status of the family and knowledge of Spanish. See Table 4B in the web pages
cited in footnote 3 in Chapter 2.
(14) They have a negative likelihood ratio 10 times higher than the standard deviation.
In their own words: the situation and aspirations of the first generation 89
strongest and most consistent effect is associated with being Chinese.
The levels of educational aspiration of Chinese parents are much lower
than those of other nationalities in the sample.
TABLE 3.8
Determinants of parents’ involvement in school and their educational
ambitions and expectations for their children, ILSEG 2010
INVOLVEMENT
IN SCHOOLING
EDUCATIONAL
ASPIRATIONS
Age
Negative
—
Years in Spain
Positive
—
Civil status (married)
Positive
—
PREDICTOR
EDUCATIONAL
EXPECTATIONS
—
Positive
—
Family socioeconomic
status
Very positive
Very positive
Very positive
Knowledge of Spanish
Very positive
Very positive
Very positive
China
Very negative
Very negative
Very negative
Colombia
Positive
National origins:a
Argentina
Negative
Morocco
Negative
Romania
Negative
Negative
Ecuador
Negative
Dominican Republic
Negative
N = 1,705
a. Although all nationalities with more than 25 cases are included in the models, we only present those that had
significant statistical effects on at least one of the variables. The rest of the sample represents the reference
category.
The divergence between these findings and the high levels of educational
ambition found in the United States among Chinese parents is significant
(Yiu, 2013). As we have controlled for family socioeconomic status and
parents’ knowledge of Spanish, this result cannot be attributed to greater
poverty or lack of linguistic fluency. A unique characteristic of Chinese
immigrants to Spain, as we saw before, is their extraordinary penchant
for opening family businesses. In our sample, one-fourth of Chinese
parents are self-employed, a proportion five times higher than that found
90 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
for the nationality with the next highest level of self-employment. This
orientation accounts for the positive effect of Chinese nationality on
occupational status, as the Chinese are often managers or owners of small
businesses. Separate analysis of these data indicates that Chinese parents
transmit this entrepreneurial orientation to their children, in substitution
of aspirations for higher educational attainment.
This can also be seen by the fact that one-third of the Chinese adolescents
in our 2008 survey stated they would like to leave school early in order to
learn how to run a business, a much higher proportion than for any other
nationality in the sample. Only 39% of Chinese students in our survey
said it is very important to get good grades in school, a much lower
percentage than that found among other nationalities. Despite coming
from modest socioeconomic backgrounds, Chinese immigrants in Spain
have managed to create a viable and profitable economic niche. Given
that upward social mobility through education is blocked in Spain for
diverse reasons, among them ethnic discrimination, these immigrants
have opted for expanding their businesses, seeing this as a more viable
path for them and their children.
Other than this notable exception, the results of the analysis indicate high
levels of parental ambition among immigrants regarding their children’s
education. This supports the hypothesis of the existence of a strong drive
for success in the first generation. Their ambition, as well as their
involvement in their children’s school work, is determined primarily by
their own education and knowledge of Spanish, a result that once again
reflects the expected influence of the human capital they arrived with
from their countries of origin. In addition, married couples demonstrate
higher levels of ambition, illustrating the importance of family structures
and reinforcing segmented assimilation theory. Many parents also exhibit
a positive attitude toward Spain, reflected in the fact that the majority
would like their children to remain in Spain. On the other hand, their
children’s lower levels of ambition can be interpreted as the result of an
advance in their acculturation, as explained in chapter 2.
In their own words: the situation and aspirations of the first generation 91
3.4.4. Are parents concerned about discrimination when they think
about their children’s future?
In this section, we begin an analysis of how parents feel about
discrimination, looking at the differences in parents’ perceptions of
discrimination by nationality of origin, as well as other factors that have
an impact on these differences. In the following section, we continue this
analysis, examining whether parents think about the future of their
children assuming a context of discrimination or one of equal
opportunity.
Three-quarters of immigrant parents say that they have never or rarely
suffered discrimination; however, as with other variables, significant
differences exist between nationalities. As can be seen in table 3.9, only
12% of Ukrainians and 16% of Venezuelans said they have suffered
discrimination, but the figure rises to 35% among Filipinos and to a high
of 75% among the Chinese. Cramer’s V coefficient shows a strong
association between national origin and these perceptions.
The reverse of this image is offered in the second column of the table,
which indicates how much those of the same nationality support each
other in Spain. Sixty-one per cent of the sample has experienced great
support from their co-nationals, but the figure rises to 83% among
Filipinos and 84% among the Chinese, the two groups who feel the most
affected by discrimination. It is likely that immigrant groups that feel
they suffer greater discrimination would tend to adopt a more defensive
attitude and seek more support in family and community resources.
We can explore the implications of these experiences in greater depth by
relating their frequency to the individual characteristics of the parents
surveyed (age, sex, marital status, command of Spanish, possession of
Spanish citizenship and family socioeconomic status), and then to their
national origins.
92 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
TABLE 3.9
Perception of discrimination by immigrant parents in Spain and support
of co-nationals, ILSEG 2010
In percentage
Have experienced discrimination
(OCCASIONALLY or many times)
Co-nationals in Spain
help each other a lot
Ecuador
25.22
58.60
Morocco
22.56
64.92
Colombia
36.55
59.03
Peru
24.00
58.06
Dominican Republic
18.63
81.37
Romania
24.21
52.69
Bolivia
30.43
61.96
China
75.00
84.15
Pakistan
11.11
68.89
Philippines
34.88
82.93
Argentina
26.32
52.63
Bulgaria
14.81
40.74
Chile
14.81
24.00
Ukraine
12.00
70.83
Venezuela
16.00
60.01
Other
17.92
52.07
26.21
61.06
Country of origina
Total
Pearson’s Chi-square
141.23***
78.73***
Cramer’s V
0.276
0.208
n
1,858
1,818
Lost cases have been excluded.
a. Countries of origin with less than 25 cases have been excluded and are grouped under the category “other”.
*** p<0.001
Thus, having estimated the appropriate regressions to identify the
different relations that mediate between experiences of discrimination
and our selected variables, we found, as shown in graph 3.3, that among
all the parental characteristics only socioeconomic status has a strong
In their own words: the situation and aspirations of the first generation 93
effect on perceptions of discrimination.(15) Contrary to what might be
expected, this influence is positive because it reveals greater perceptions
of discrimination among more educated and wealthier parents. And
although this is initially surprising, similar effects have been found in the
United States, where they have been interpreted as an indicator of a
greater sensitivity to hostile attitudes among more educated immigrants.
It has been found that immigrant parents with higher status have more
contact with the receiving society and therefore, greater likelihood of
having negative experiences (Rumbaut and Komaie, 2010). Knowledge of
Spanish and greater time of residence in the country slightly reduce
perceptions of discrimination, but their effect cannot be equated with
that of socioeconomic status.
Graph 3.3
Determinants of experiences of discrimination mentioned by parents,
ILSEG 2010
FAMILY SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS***
TIME IN SPAIN#
1.43
–0.01
ECUADOR*
1.72
CHINA**
19.52
COLOMBIA*
BULGARIA*
–5
1.96
–0.26
0
5
10
Predictors
15
20
25
National origin
a
The bars represent odds ratios. Coefficients less than 1 indicate low discrimination, while those above 1 represent
high discrimination. Only significant effects have been included.
a. The model includes nationalities with at least 25 cases. Only those with significant effects are represented. The
reference category is “Other nationalities”.
# p<0.10 * p<0.05 ** p<0.01 *** p<0.001
(15) For the analysis of parental perceptions of discrimination, binary logistic regression coefficients were
estimated; positives indicate greater perception of discrimination. We have included the corresponding odds
ratios for the significant effects. We have used the same predictors as for the analysis of the determinants
of parental ambition. See Table 4C on the web page cited in footnote 3 in chapter 2. The first model shows
the effects of parental characteristics and the second adds the effects of national origin. The introduction of
national origin increases the pseudo- R2 coefficient by six.
94 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
Regarding experiences of discrimination, when they are related to
national origin, we find that Colombian, Ecuadorian and Chinese
parents tend to mention significantly more experiences of discrimination.
Again, the Chinese are in a different category, as they are approximately
20 times more likely to mention experiencing discrimination than parents
grouped in the category “other”, primarily immigrants from Western
Europe and North America. No other nationality is near to that. The
introduction of national origin in the model does not affect the previous
results, with the positive and significant effect of family socioeconomic
status on frequency of experiences of discrimination remaining. A higher
family socioeconomic status seems to increase, therefore, the awareness
of outside hostility and discrimination, an awareness that reaches
extreme levels among the Chinese.
3.4.5. What do parents think about the future of their children?
In the context of these perceptions of discrimination, how do parents feel
about the future of their children and how much effort do they put into
getting involved in their education?
This is directly answered by three questions they were asked:
• Do they believe that when their children become adults they will
have the same opportunities as the children of natives?
•Are they satisfied with the education their children are getting in
Spanish schools?
•Do they accept their children adopting Spanish culture?
Table 3.10 shows the distribution of the responses, and it is noteworthy
that, with the exception of Chinese parents, the vast majority of parents
(over 90%) believe that their children have the same opportunities in
Spain as the children of natives. Even among the sceptical Chinese, over
60% hold this opinion.
In their own words: the situation and aspirations of the first generation 95
Table 3.10
Attitudes toward Spain among immigrant parents, 20101
In percentage
COUNTRY OF ORIGINa
UNTIL NOW SATISFIED
WITH THE EDUCATION
OF MY CHILDREN
MY CHILDREN
MY CHILDREN WILL HAVE
SHOULD BE EDUCATED
THE SAME OPPORTUNITIES
ACCORDING TO THE
IN SPAIN AS NATIVE CHILDREN
SPANISH SYSTEM
Ecuador
86.89
90.37
85.49
Morocco
92.51
91.58
74.09
Colombia
89.58
91.61
88.97
Peru
82.11
91.94
82.40
Dominican Republic
97.03
95.05
88.00
Romania
93.68
93.65
85.11
Bolivia
92.39
95.60
86.96
China
60.98
63.86
65.48
Pakistan
82.22
88.89
71.11
Philippines
92.68
100.00
92.68
Argentina
83.78
97.30
86.84
Bulgaria
92.59
100.00
100.00
Chile
62.96
80.77
92.59
Ukraine
70.83
87.50
84.00
Venezuela
Others
Total
100.00
92.00
95.83
90.06
93.49
81.07
87.4
90.85
83.56
Chi squared
103.20***
93.13***
58.64***
Cramer’s V
0.237
0.226
0.179
n
1,834
1,815
1,837
Missing data is excluded.
a. The list of nationalities is based on the number of cases in the sample of parents; nationalities with less than 25
cases are included in the category “others”.
*** p<0.001
The strong positive attitude of parents toward the receiving society is
also reflected in the satisfaction expressed regarding the education their
children are receiving in Spain and the desire for them to be educated
according to Spanish customs. More than four-fifths of the sample
expressed satisfaction with Spanish schools, as well as a positive
appreciation of acculturation.
96 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
This does not mean that they reject their own cultures or see them as
inferior. Ninety-five per cent of the sample agreed that it is important for
their children to know about their country of origin, and no national
group was below 75% in endorsing this position. This reflects the almost
unanimous preference of adult immigrants for selective acculturation, as
defined in chapter 2. As we have seen and as reflected in the previous
table, this preference does not imply a rejection of Spanish society, but
rather the desire to combine acquiring its culture and language with
maintaining the most valuable elements of the culture of their countries
of origin. Contrary to what many natives believe, immigrants do not see
this combination as a zero-sum product, but instead, as an addition that
will increase the possibilities of social and economic success for their
children (Portes and Rumbaut, 2001).
It might be argued that these findings could be a result of respondents
providing the answers they believed were socially desirable. However,
there are three significant factors that lead us to reject this possibility.
First, the interviews with the parents were done by telephone, a
methodology that significantly reduces the capacity or possibility of
interviewers to influence respondents. Secondly, the interviews were
conducted independently of each other, and with parents of different
cultural backgrounds. It is doubtful that adult immigrants of such
different nationalities would all be affected by the same interviewer
effects. Third, the notable case of the Chinese parents indicates that the
respondents could have adopted a much bleaker vision of the receiving
country. Receiving country: reflecting a stance oriented toward their
community, the Chinese gave significantly fewer positive responses to
these three questions.
Overall, and with this partial exception, we can conclude that the general
perspectives of immigrant parents are positive and optimistic, at least
during the period in which the survey was carried out. This is reflected in
the high educational ambitions they have for their children, their desire
for them to remain in Spain and in the limited weight of experiences of
discrimination.
In their own words: the situation and aspirations of the first generation 97
TABLe 3.11
Attitude of parents regarding their children knowing their country
of origin, ILSEG 2010
In percentage
Country of origina
It is important our children know
the country we come from
Ecuador
97.19
Morocco
95.29
Colombia
95.83
Peru
96.00
Dominican Republic
99.02
Romania
95.74
Bolivia
98.91
China
91.46
Pakistan
75.56
Philippines
95.12
Argentina
81.58
Bulgaria
96.30
Chile
Ukraine
81.48
100.00
Venezuela
80.00
Others
97.65
Total
95.30
Pearson's chi squared
96.47***
Cramer's V
0.230
n
1,829
Missing cases excluded.
a. Nationalities with less then 25 cases have been excluded and grouped under the category “others”.
*** p<0.001
The majority of parents value selective acculturation – a combination of
their own culture and that of the receiving society – as the best resource for
the economic progress and successful social insertion of their children. It
remains to be seen to what degree these optimistic perspectives have been
affected or even reversed by the strong and prolonged economic recession
in Spain in recent years. We will examine this possibility in later chapters,
but now we turn to an examination of the attitudes and achievements of
our sample of adolescent children of immigrants.
98 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
IV. Who are we? Self identity, perceptions
of discrimination, intergenerational
relations and self-esteem among
children of immigrants(1)
In the previous chapter we looked at immigrant parents’ interest and
involvement in their children’s education: What aspirations do they have
for them? What do they do to help them? What kind of future do they
believe education will provide them? In this chapter we now turn to how
their children see things: Do they think of Spain as their country, or do
they feel that they belong to their parents’ country? Do they feel different
from their native peers in school and discriminated against as a result, or
do they believe they are just like other young people within the world in
which they move? How do they see themselves? Toward what type of
social integration are their experiences leading them?
As we saw in chapter 2, the psychosocial adaptation of the children of
immigrants is of great importance because of its impact on their
achievements and integration in different spheres. Among the factors
related to this, in this chapter we will look closely at those connected to
the national self-identification of the children of immigrants, their
experiences of discrimination, the quality of their intergenerational
relations and their self-esteem.
As in the previous chapter, we begin by summarising the descriptive data
obtained regarding these issues in the ILSEG surveys. In the second part
of the chapter we will analyse the determining factors found in the initial
survey.
(1) Written in collaboration with Aaron Purman.
Who are we? 99
4.1. What do the surveys tell us about the psychosocial integration
of the children of immigrants?
4.1.1. National self-identification
The national self-identity of immigrants and their children has been the
object of much attention in the literature on immigration. As we saw in
chapter 1, self-identities are generally considered soft variables; in other
words, they can change over time and depending on contexts, particularly
during adolescence. However, they can be important subjectively and in
certain conditions lead to political mobilisation and even public unrest.
The explosion of dissatisfaction in the poor suburbs of French cities over
the past decade, primarily among young people of foreign origin, were
triggered mainly by issues of national identity tied to experiences of
discrimination.
In the case of the children of immigrants, much can be learned
regarding their progress toward integration – or their lack of progress –
by looking at whether they identify with their receiving society – and to
what extent – or, on the contrary, if they identify with and feel pride in
their foreign origins. Reactive ethnic identities – that is, those linked to
an active rejection of the national identity of the receiving country –
are often associated with the perception of being treated as secondclass citizens by the native population, of being deprived of
opportunities for educational and occupational advancement because
of race or national origin.
As can be seen in table 4.1, section A, the sample of children of
immigrants from the 2012 ILSEG survey (which includes the follow-up
and replacement samples) is divided equally between those who consider
themselves Spanish and those who do not. There are no significant
differences by sex, type of school attended and city of residence. The
proportion of children of immigrants that identify as Spanish in
Barcelona is only slightly lower than in Madrid.
100 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
Table 4.1
National self-identification of the children of immigrants
A. National self-identification in the ILSEG 2012
Do you consider yourself Spanish?
Yes
No
n
Girls
47.1
52.9
2,663
Boys
49.4
50.6
2,626
49.5
50.5
2,809
46.9
53.1
2,485
Public
47.4
52.6
1,765
Private
52.4
47.6
1,997
18.6
1,032
59.8
4,249
Sex:
a
Chi squared:
2.90 (n.s.)
City of residencea
Madrid
Barcelona
Chi squared:
3.37 (n.s.)
Schoolb
Chi squared:
9.61**
V= 0.053
c
Country of birth
a
Spain
81.5
Foreign
Chi squared:
40.2
569.69***
V= 0.35
Total, unified sample
48.3
51.7
5,294
Total, follow-up sample
50.1
49.9
3,784
Do you consider yourself Spanish?
Yes
No
N
Born in Spain, 2008
77.7
22.3
963
National self-identification over time,
ILSEG 2008 and 2012
Born in Spain, 2012
81.4
18.6
657
Born in other country, 2008
22.1
77.9
5,498
Born in other country, 2012b
43.6
56.4
3,127
b
1. Follow-up and replacement samples together.
2. Only follow-up sample.
3. Cramer’s V coefficient of the strength of association. Only calculated for statistically significant associations.
n.s.: No statistically significant difference.
**p<0.01 ***p<0.001
Who are we? 101
As expected, self-identification as Spanish is more common among those
born in Spain – the properly referred to second generation, over 80%
identifying with the receiving country. However, even among those born
outside the country this orientation is growing.
Again, the longitudinal character of the ILSEG data allows us to
examine changes over time in section B of the table. While only 22.1%
of those born outside of Spain identified as Spanish in the 2008 survey,
in 2012 that figure had almost doubled (43.6%). This indicates that
there is slow but significant progress being made in the process of
integration.
4.1.2. Experiences of discrimination
We arrive at the same conclusion if we examine the striking distribution
of answers to the question regarding whether respondents had felt
discriminated against in the last three years. Only 5% of the follow-up
sample – the same figure as in the original sample – and only 8.5% of
the replacement sample stated they had faced frequent or repeated
experiences of discrimination. As can be seen in table 4.2, these
perceptions do not vary significantly by sex, city of residence or type of
school. The low level of perceived discrimination can be considered, at
first glance, to be an indicator of a successful integration process.
In general, the children of immigrants in late adolescence do not appear
to have adopted a defensive attitude in their relationship to Spanish
society, nor is there evidence of widespread ethnic reaction. This
conclusion is strengthened by the fact that the percentage of children of
Spanish parents who feel rejected or discriminated against (sample of
the children of natives) is more or less the same: 6.1%. Clearly, the
children of immigrants and those of natives participate in the same
social world.
102 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
Table 4.2
Perceptions of discrimination in children of immigrants in Spain, ILSEG
2012
In the last three years,
have you felt rejected or discriminated against?
NEVER OR ONLY A FEW TIMES
FREQUENTLY OR MANY TIMES
Follow-up sample
a
Girls
94.6
5.4
Boys
95.2
4.8
Total
94.9
5.1
Girls
90.6
9.4
Boys
92.5
7.5
Total
91.6
8.4
Girls
93.0
7.0
Boys
94.6
5.4
Total
93.9
6.1
N = 3,811
Replacement samplea
N= 1,581
Sample of nativesa
n =1,905
a. None of the differences between the sexes are statistically significant.
4.1.3. Intergenerational relations
In both the original and follow-up surveys an index examining
intergenerational relations between parents and children was included.
This index is a consistent and reliable measure with scores that range
from 1 to 4.(2) As shown in table 5.3, the average score on the 2012 survey
(2) The index is based on the responses to three statements on the original questionnaire (“My parents do
not appreciate me much”; “My parents are not very interested in what I say”; “Sometimes I feel embarrassed/
proud of how my parents act”) and three others from the follow-up questionnaire (“My parents do not like
me very much”; “Sometimes my parents and I argue because we do not have the same objectives”; “My
parents are usually not interested in what I have to say”). Respondents had the option of responding if
they agreed strongly, agreed, disagreed or disagreed strongly with each one of these statements, except the
statement regarding whether they felt embarrassed or proud of their parents, for which they had to choose
one or the other option. The responses were coded so that higher scores indicated better relations with
parents. The sum was divided by 4, so that the range on the final index is 1 to 4. The alpha coefficient of
internal consistency (reliability) was .552 for the original sample.
Who are we? 103
was 3.1, which indicates a positive profile on this measure of integration.
There is a statistically significant difference in favour of boys in both the
follow-up and replacement samples; in addition, residents of Madrid
have a slightly higher score. In absolute terms, none of the differences are
large. The scores on this index for the two samples of children of
immigrants are almost identical to those found for children of native
parents, which again points to the similarity between both universes.
Table 4.3
Intergenerational relations in late adolescence, ILSEG 2012a
FOLLOW-UP SAMPLE
REPLACEMENT SAMPLE
SAMPLE OF NATIVES
Girls
3.1
3.0
3.1
Boys
3.2
3.2
3.1
F = 16.82***
F = 4.29*
F = 1.27 (n.s.)
3.1
3.0
3.1
Sex
City
Madrid
Barcelona
3.2
3.0
3.1
F = 3.59*
F = 0.00 (n.s.)
F = 0.10 (n.s.)
Public
3.1
3.1
3.0
Private
3.1
3.0
F = 0.49 (n.s.)
F = 3.42
Type of school
Totals
n
3.1
#
F = 1.80 (n.s.)
3.1
3.0
3.1
3,783
1,500
1,956
a. Scores on the intergenerational relations index. Range 1 - 4 (highest).
n.s.: no statistically significant difference.
# p<0.10 * p<0.05 *** p<0.001
4.1.4. Self-esteem
As we saw in chapter 2, another important psychosocial dimension is selfesteem. In the original survey this variable was measured through the
Rosenberg self-esteem scale, the most commonly used for measuring selfesteem in adolescents. The Rosenberg scale ranges from 1 to 4, higher
104 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
scores indicating higher self-esteem.(3) The average for the total sample was
2.97, which suggests a moderately high level. This average varies little
between the two cities (3.01 in Madrid, 2.93 in Barcelona), by type of
school (2.94 for private, subsidised schools and 3.00 for public schools), or
by place of birth (2.96 for those born outside of Spain, and 3.07 for those
born in Spain). However, scores on the index did vary significantly by sex.
This result confirms the predictions made in chapter 1 that girls have
considerably lower levels of self-esteem than boys. The importance of this
difference will become clearer when we examine the determinants of the
psychosocial dimension.
4.2.The determining factors for the data presented
The data reviewed in the first part of this chapter reveals the attitudes
of the adolescent children of immigrants regarding national identity,
discrimination, intergenerational relations and self-esteem. But they do
not tell us what factors are determinants of these attitudes. In this part
of the study we attempt to look at these factors, using multivariate
predictive models for each of the results previously examined.
It should be noted that the determinants were measured in the original
survey, which enabled us to establish a clear temporal order between
suggested causes and effects. We began by relating each of the
dimensions whose determining factors we wanted to identify with
binary variables corresponding to nationalities; in a second phase, we
added objective predictors, and we finished with the psychosocial
variables. For the latter in particular, the issue of temporal order is
critical, as in cross-sectional surveys that use this class of variables it is
normally not possible to separate cause and effect. For greater clarity in
the presentation, we only include the significant results.
(3) Factor analysis of the 10 items that compose this index produces a clearly unidimensional structure,
with almost all of the items concentrated in the first factor. The internal consistency was satisfactory in both
cities – Cronbach’s alpha of internal consistency was .732 in Madrid and .694 in Barcelona. These results
support the use of this scale as a reliable transnational indicator of self-esteem.
Who are we? 105
4.2.1. Self-identification of the children of immigrants as Spanish
Graph 4.1 shows the most significant results of the calculations carried
out to specify the relationship between self-identification as Spanish and
various selected predictors.(4) In a first step relating self-identification with
foreign nationalities, it appears that certain nationalities are associated
with a resistance to identifying as Spanish, while a few others lean in the
opposite direction. However, by adding the objective and psychosocial
variables, it appears that these influences on nationality conceal the
strongest predictors. When these are introduced, only Filipino national
origin seems to have a positive influence on identification as Spanish.
Graph 4.1
Determinants of national self-identity in children of immigrants in Spain,
ILSEG 2012
FILIPINO ***
BOYS*
3.9
1.2
BORN IN SPAIN*
TIME RESIDING IN SPAIN***
FAMILY SES**
0.0
1.4
1.1
1.2
1.0
2.0
National originsa
3.0
4.0
5.0
Objective predictors
The bars represent odds ratios. They indicate the likelihood of identifying as Spanish per net unit of each predictor. The
coefficients below 1 indicate negative effects, and those above 1, positive effects. Only significant effects have been
included.
a. All nationalities with a minimum of 50 cases in the original survey and 25 in the follow-up are included. “Others” is
the reference category.
* p<0.05 ** p<0.01 *** p<0.001
(4) To specify the relationship between survey participants’ self-identification as Spanish with selected
predictors, a binary logistic regression was calculated to discover the relationship of self-identification
as Spanish to the said predictors, presenting the results as odds ratios instead of logistic coefficients to
facilitate their interpretation. See Table 5A in the web page sited in footnote 3 in chapter 2. The first model
is statistically significant, but a pseudo coefficient of determination of only .03 shows that this does not fit
the data well. The following models indicate that the effects of nationality hide the effects of more powerful
predictors when they are introduced in to the equation. The model fits the data reasonably well. The pseudocoefficient of determination increases now to nearly .10 and the likelihood ratio of Chi squared is 2.5 times
greater than that corresponding to the first model, despite the increase of 11 degrees of freedom.
pinas***
Varón*
106 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
The strongest effect on identification as Spanish is associated with the
number of years of residency in Spain: each additional year of residence
increases the probability of self-identifying as Spanish by 14%, while
having been born in Spain increases that probability by 42%. Lastly,
family status completes the series of significant predictors with an
increase of around 20% in the likelihood of identifying as Spanish.
The model fits the data reasonably well, and the results are what would
be expected from the theory; the only unforeseen results are the clearly
greater likelihood, after controlling for other variables, of young Filipinos
identifying as Spanish and the greater likelihood of doing so among boys
than girls. It would be presumptuous to suggest an explanation for these
unforeseen results here. For this reason we leave this for future research.
4.2.2. Perceptions of discrimination
The analysis of the determinants of discrimination reveals little difference
between adolescents based on their different nationalities, which reflects
the widespread low perception of discrimination in our sample. The only
significant effects related to nationality are with Equatorial Guinea and
the Philippines, effects which are weak and disappear upon introducing
other variables into the equation.
Regarding the rest of the variables, those most related to perceptions of
discrimination are intergenerational relations at the time of the original
survey, family socioeconomic status and family composition. Four years
later, we find that good intergenerational relations at the time of the
original survey reduced the mention of discriminatory experiences
significantly.(5) High social status and having grown up in a family
with both parents also significantly reduces subsequent episodes of
discrimination and hostility. This trio of results reinforces the
predictions of the model of segmented assimilation regarding the
protective effects of complete families, the human capital of the parents
and selective acculturation. The latter in particular, impacted by positive
(5) The effect is notable, given that its standard error quadruples (the relation between the coefficient and
the corresponding standard error are normally considered as an indicator of the strength of an effect).
Who are we? 107
intergenerational relations, effectively protects children from the hostility
of the outside environment.
When the perceptions of discrimination measured in the original survey
are introduced into the equation, this variable becomes the strongest
predictor. This result simply indicates the consistency of these perceptions
over time. The meaning of the other coefficients changes to indicate the
effect of the other predictors on the change of perceptions over time. As
we can see, both the family variables and positive intergenerational
relations continue to have significant effects in reducing experiences of
discrimination.
Graph 4.2
Determinants of the perception of discrimination in children
of immigrants, ILSEG 20121
FAMILY SES*
–0.150
BOTH PARENTS*
–0.218
EDUCATIONAL EXPECTATIONS
INTERGENERATIONAL RELATIONS***
–0.065
–0.325
0.416
PERCEPTIONS OF DISCRIMINATION* 2008
–0.4
–0.3
–0.2
–0.1
0.0
0.1
Objective traits
s educativas#
0.3
0.4
0.5
The bars represent the coefficients from ordinal logistic regression. Positive effects indicate greater perception of
discrimination; negative effects indicate lower perception of discrimination. All the predictors were measured in the
original survey in 2008. Only the statistically significant coefficients are presented.
# p<0.10 * p<0.05 ** p<0.01 *** p<0.001
4.2.3. Intergenerational relations
These results naturally lead us to ask about the factors that explain
positive relations between children of immigrants and their parents. We
measured these relations with the already described index that provides a
continuous variable and was used with the original survey as well as the
follow-up. As a result, we can respond to questions about the factors that
lead to positive relations between generations and about the predictors
SE Familiar*
bos padres*
0.2
Psychosocial traits
108 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
Marruecos*
that affect change in these relations.(6) Graph 4.3 shows the most
important results of the estimations carried out.
What we find in the initial models is that parent-child relations are
significant and positive in the case of young Chileans and Moroccans and
significant and negative in the case of the Chinese. The complex process of
integration in the latter group, marked by a strong entrepreneurial drive
amid a Western society markedly alien to them, is now reflected in strong
tensions between generations when their perspectives begin to differ. This
effect persists when other variables are introduced into the equation and,
among both Chinese and Chileans, only disappears when the effect of
intergenerational relations in early adolescence is included. This latter
finding is what can be seen in graph 4.3.
Graph 4.3
Determinants of intergenerational relations among children
of immigrants, ILSEG 20121
Predictors
MOROCCAN*
0.036
BOY**
0.024
BORN IN SPAIN**
–0.048
BOTH PARENTS*
0.020
SELF-ESTEEM*
0.023
INTERGENERATIONAL RELATIONS***
0.064
PERCEPTIONS OF DISCRIMINATION***
–0.1
–0.048
–0.05
National origin
0.0
Objective traits
0.05
0.1
Psychosocial traits
All the predictors were measured in the original survey in 2008. Only statistically significant coefficients are presented.
The bars represents the coefficients from unstandardized least squares. Logarithmic dependent variable (Log I-Int
Gen).
All nationalities with a minimum of 50 cases in the original survey and 25 in the follow-up are included. “Others” is the
reference category.
* p<0.05 ** p<0.01 *** p<0.001
(6) To answer questions about the factors that lead to a positive relationship between generations and
that affect change in this relationship, we use an ordinary least squares routine. But, as the index of
intergenerational relations is an asymmetric variable, we transform it into a logarithm. This transformation
has the effect of making the coefficients interpretable as percentage change of the dependent variable.
We proceed adding the models, as we did before, but we add a fourth iteration in which intergenerational
relations in 2008 are introduced into the model. The remaining coefficients from this final model explain the
change in the dependent variable during the four years between the original and follow-up surveys. In the
fourth stage we also add perceptions of discrimination in 2008 to address the issue of a possible causal loop
between these variables. See Table 5.C in the web page cited in footnote 3 in chapter 2.
Who are we? 109
Secondly, with all the objective and psychosocial predictors included, we
examine if higher self-esteem in early adolescence has a positive effect on
parent-child relations in later phases of life. At the end of four years,
each one point increase in the self-esteem index increases scores on
intergenerational relations by approximately 5%.
In our calculations, we find two unexpected results: boys have significantly
more positive relations with their parents than girls, and in addition,
children born in Spain are more likely to have conflictive relations with
their parents than the 1.5 generation. In contrast to the positive effects of
self-esteem, which are in line with previous results found in the scientific
literature, these two effects have no precedence in the literature or
currently available explanations. As we have seen in chapter 1, it is likely
that the cultural gap between parents and children would be greater in
families with children born in Spain than in those where the children
were born in the same country as their parents. In this case, selective
acculturation would be greater among members of the 1.5 generation. In
addition, the importance of family stability also appears in the positive
and significant results linked to children growing up with both parents.
When intergenerational relations in early adolescence are introduced in
the calculation we obtain varied results. First, as would be expected,
intergenerational relations are the most significant determining factor of
how these relations will be four years later. Secondly, the positive effect of
self-esteem remains the same and the before mentioned effects of sex,
being born in Spain and family composition maintain the same weight.
This means that these variables have significant impact not only on the
absolute level of intergenerational relations in late adolescence, but also
on their evolution over time: being a boy born outside of Spain has
positive effects on these relations, as does having grown up with both a
father and mother. These results suggest that complete families have a
greater likelihood of maintaining a pattern of selective acculturation
marked by non-conflictive intergenerational relations.
Lastly, experiencing discrimination has a significant negative effect on
intergenerational relations, which confirms the existence of mutual
causation. The two variables appear to be closely related. Thus, while
positive family relations protect young people from the effects of outside
110 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
discrimination, the negative experiences of early adolescence lead to the
deterioration of parent-child relations. This finding is important for both
theoretical and practical reasons because it points to the existence of both
vicious and virtuous circles of integration: for children of immigrants, a
solid and positive family life protects them from outside conflicts; for others,
in contrast, these conflicts undermine relations in the domestic sphere.
4.2.4. Self-esteem
Due to the large number of items making up the Rosenberg self-esteem
scale, it was not included in the follow-up questionnaire. However, based on
the scores obtained in the original survey (already set forth), it is possible to
look at the determinants of self-esteem among children of immigrants.
Graph 4.4 shows the most significant results of the calculations carried out.(7)
Graph 4.4
Determinants of self-esteem among children of immigrants, ILSEG,
2008
AGE
0.01
SEX (GIRL)**
–0.033
CITY (BARCELONA)***
–0.046
FAMILY SES***
0.041
KNOWLEDGE OF SPANISH (ICE)***
0.146
INTERGENERATIONAL RELATIONS (INTGEN)***
0.253
EXPERIENCES OF DISCRIMINATION***
–0.094
BOLIVIA*
PHILIPPINES***
–0.073
–0.125
–0.15 –0.1
–0.05
National origins
0.0
0.05
0.1
Predictors
0.15
0.2
0.25
0.3
Psychosocial traits
The bars represent coefficients from unstandardised ordinary least squares (OLS).
* p<0.05 ** p<0.01 *** p<0.001
(7) To specify what the factors determining self-esteem are, given that this is a continuous variable and
has a normal distribution, we modelled it through ordinary least squares regression with elimination by
list of the missing cases. We use here a series of somewhat different predictors, coming from the original
survey. We reversed the order in the construction of the models, presenting the objective and psychosocial
predictors first and after, adding national origin. There is no ambivalence regarding the order of causality
among the objective variables of age, sex, time of residence in Spain and self-esteem. In the case of the
psychosocial predictors, given the transversal nature of the available data, causality is more doubtful. See
Table 5D in the web page cited in footnote 3 in chapter 2.
Who are we? 111
As can be seen, older participants and male participants have higher selfesteem. This result was expected, as mentioned in chapter 1. However,
the significantly lower self-esteem of adolescents in Barcelona, which we
currently have no explanation for, was unexpected. As was predicted,
family socioeconomic status and knowledge of Spanish have a strong
positive influence on these students’ sense of worth. And there is no
doubt about the order of causality in both cases, as it is inconceivable
that the attitudes of adolescents can determine family status or linguistic
abilities.
The most important effect, however, is intergenerational relations.(8) In
this case, causality is not clear, as it is just as possible that positive
relations with parents has a positive effect on self-esteem as the opposite
case. The safest conclusion in this case is that both variables are closely
related. Our results support this conclusion, as they point out that after
four years, positive self-esteem in early adolescence will be a significant
and positive determinant of intergenerational relations. As in the case of
experiences of discrimination and intergenerational relations explained
above, there is mutual causality.
As also predicted in chapter 1, previous experiences of discrimination
have strong negative effects on self-esteem.(9) However, the opposite effect
does not occur, as self-esteem in early adolescence does not influence
subsequent experiences of discrimination. It should be noted that
identifying as Spanish does not influence self-esteem. This could be an
indication of the tendency discussed in the corresponding section of
chapter 1 about the fact that adolescents tend to adapt their ethnic
identity to protect their self-esteem. This leads to the correlation between
both psychosocial dimensions being insignificant.
Conclusion
This analysis of psychosocial developments and life paths leads to a
positive prognosis for the integration of the children of immigrants in
Spain. There are no indications of any significant ethnic reactions or of
(8) This effect is 21 times greater than its standard error.
(9) The corresponding coefficient is 8 times greater than its standard error.
112 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
alienation; on the contrary, we find a sustained increase in selfidentification with the country.
Levels of self-esteem and the quality of intergenerational relations are
generally high, which also supports the conclusion of a positive
adaptation. The fact that among the children of immigrants in our
sample we find similar profiles to that of native children of Spanish
parents leads to the conclusion that both groups form part of the same
universe of adolescents, thus reaffirming that integration is taking place.
Regarding the relationship of these results with the theories and
hypotheses examined in chapter 2, we have confirmed our predictions
about the positive effects of having been born in Spain and time of
residence on identifying as Spanish, the positive effects of family
socioeconomic status and family composition on protecting children
from the damaging effects of discrimination, and the corresponding
negative effect of early experiences of discrimination on intergenerational
relations and self-esteem. As also expected, girls have significantly lower
levels of self-esteem than boys. This is similar to findings obtained in the
United States and other countries. Less expected was the lower level of
identification with Spain among girls.
Our results do not demonstrate that there is in general a second
generation advantage, but nor are there indications of a uniform process
of marginalisation or exclusion among the children of immigrants. The
data also do not support the hypothesis of a reactive ethnicity. In general,
the results provide support for a neo-assimilationist perspective of a
gradual process of psychological integration in the receiving society, as
well as for the analysis of segmented assimilation theory on the protective
effects of selective acculturation and the close association between
parent-child relations and child self-esteem. There are, however, few
indications that psychosocial profiles of adolescents of different
nationalities are affected by systematic differences in modes of
integration. With the exception of certain more resistant effects based on
nationality (those found among the Chinese and Filipinos stand out), the
process of integration of the children of immigrants in Spanish society
seems to be relatively uniform, despite the great diversity in the national
origins of this population.
Who are we? 113
V.The educational achievements
of children of immigrants(1)
In the preceding chapter, we examined a fundamental aspect of the
subjective integration of the children of immigrants in Spanish society:
feeling a part of that society in equality with their native peers, or on the
contrary, feeling like foreigners, subjects in an alien social space, and with
interests different from those of their native peers.
But this subjective experience has an objective counterpart that is equally
or perhaps more important: What types of resources does this population
have to integrate successfully into Spanish society? To what extent will
their future capacities and prospects connect them to the society receiving
them? If they lack these capacities, they will find themselves facing an
uncertain future, with difficulties in finding employment and respect in
society.
In today’s world, the objective ability of an individual to attain a desirable
social position is in large part related to his or her educational
achievements. In order to determine if the children of immigrants are on
an equal footing with the children of natives in this regard, in this chapter
we look at their educational attainment, as well as the factors this
depends on. We address the following aspects in relation to the
educational experience of the children of immigrants:
(1) Written with the collaboration of Jessica Yiu.
114 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
•Early school leaving or continuing of education
•Level of education they start out with
•Qualifications attained
•How they evaluate their schools
•Future goals
We first look at where the children of immigrants are and what they have
achieved in relation to each of the above points (section 5.1), comparing
this data with that for children of natives (section 5.2). Then, we look for
the determinants behind the educational achievements of the children of
immigrants (section 5.3) and finally we return to the role of parental
influence.
5.1.Schooling among the children of immigrants
5.1.1. Staying in school
At 18 years of age, the main question regarding the future of the children
of immigrants is whether they continue their education and what progress
they make. The information obtained in the follow-up survey provides an
answer to this question, which is shown in table 5.1 broken down by
country of birth.
Regarding the synthesized data in this table, four observations should be
taken into account:
•First, more than 80% of the original respondents interviewed in
2007-08 continued to be enrolled in some level of education. This is
undoubtedly a high percentage, and the effort involved on the part
of parents to keep their children in school during the current context
of crisis and high unemployment should be emphasised. But the
question arises: Is it perhaps because of the crisis and the great
difficulty in finding employment that these young people have
remained in school?
The educational achievements of children of immigrants 115
Table 5.1
Percentage enrolled in school at an average age of 18, 2012
n
% Enrolled
Country of birth
a
Born in Spain of foreign
parents
Ecuador
590
90.6
1,030
83.0
Colombia
280
83.2
Morocco
238
84.9
Peru
218
88.5
Romania
177
84.2
Dominican Republic
171
77.2
Bolivia
168
83.1
Argentina
91
90.1
China
79
68.3
Philippines
69
89.9
Bulgaria
52
78.9
Chile
52
92.3
Other, Latin America
140
80.7
Other, Asia
106
82.1
95
86.3
3,807
84.6
Other, Western Europe
Total
b
a. The nationalities are ordered by size after those born in Spain. Only individual countries and regions with more than 50 cases are
included. Others are included in the final totals. Missing cases are excluded.
b. Follow up sample.
•Secondly, members of the second generation, strictly defined, that is,
those born in Spain, have one of the highest levels of enrolment: 90%
continue their education. Of those born outside Spain, only those
from Argentina, Chile and the Philippines have comparable levels.
•Third, two nationalities fall significantly below the average:
Dominicans and Chinese. As has been commented on previously, the
high drop-out rate of Chinese students reflects their parents’ focus on
business as an alternative path toward upward mobility for their
children. Regarding the Dominicans, their drop-out rates could be
due to the modest socioeconomic background of this group on
average. But this is not totally clear, as young people from other
116 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
national groups also come from disadvantaged socioeconomic strata
and are more likely to stay in school.
•Lastly, as has been indicated, 15.4% have not continued their
education, around 15% dropping out without having obtained even
the compulsory secondary diploma (ESO). Taking into account that
this is a representative sample, this data calls for further analysis.
Table 5.2 presents similar figures by sex, city and type of school (public
and publicly-funded private schools). These results do not reveal
significant differences between public and private schools regarding the
percentage of young people remaining in school. In general, they are also
the same for both sexes and for Madrid and Barcelona. The relatively low
drop-out rates in late adolescence are consistent with the most optimistic
perspectives on the integration of the children of immigrants, according
to which these young people are making continuing progress.(2)
TABLE 5.2
Enrolled in school by sex, type of school and city of residence, 2012
n
% Enrolled in school
Sex:
Boys
1,852
82.7
Girls
1,955
86.3
Madrid
1,910
81.5
Barcelona
1,897
87.7
Public
2,001
83.0
Private
1,779
86.1
3,807
84.6
City:
Type of school:
Totala
a. Follow up survey.
(2) See the theories examined in chapter 2 and graph 1.1.
The educational achievements of children of immigrants 117
5.1.2. Young people’s educational paths and levels
Just as important as the data on school abandonment are the data
regarding the educational paths followed by young people. At the age of
18, the key difference is between those who are still trying to finish basic
secondary education (ESO) or doing remedial initial vocational training
programmes (PCPI), and those who have gone on to upper secondary
education (baccalaureate), intermediate or advanced vocational training
or, in the best of cases, university.
Table 5.3 provides a breakdown by country of birth and sex of the
educational level children of immigrants are enrolled in. In general,
around one-third of the original sample interviewed in 2008 is still
struggling to complete basic secondary education(3) or has had to enrol in
initial vocational training (PCPI). Moroccans, Bolivians and Chileans
are found in the greatest frequency in this category. At the opposite end,
the Argentinians, Colombians, Venezuelans and Chinese have the highest
percentages in upper secondary education. More than 50% of these
groups have reached upper secondary education, accounting for 45% of
the total sample. The highest percentages of young people in university
are found among those born in Spain, Romania and above all, Venezuela.
The greater success in the educational paths of the latter group
corresponds to the high level of human capital of their parents. The
disparity in academic performance among nationalities is an indicator
that supports segmented assimilation theory as it points to different
processes of adaptation based on the characteristics of immigrant
families and communities.
The lower part of table 5.3 breaks down the sample by sex. There is a
clear advantage in favour of girls; while boys are over-represented in the
lower education levels, girls are more numerous in upper secondary
education (baccalaureate) and among the minority that makes it to
university. The masculine disadvantage is most evident if we look at the
respondents doing initial vocational training (PCPI). Only 1% of the girls
in the follow-up sample were enrolled in this programme, while the figure
reached 5% among boys.
(3) Thirty-three per cent of those who are in ESO are older than their cohorts in this stage of education.
118 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
TABLE 5.3
Type of educational programme in which the children of immigrants
are enrolled, 2012
In percentages
COUNTRY OF BIRTHa
EDUCATIONAL LEVELb
ESo
PCPi
Basic
Vocational
Training
Bacccalaureate
and Advanced
Vocational
Training
UNiVERSiTYd
n
Spain (of immigrant
parents
30.2
2.0
12.8
45.5
8.1
602
Ecuador
30.4
3.7
16.2
45.5
3.9
866
Colombia
30.3
2.1
12.4
50.2
4.3
241
Peru
33.7
2.0
12.1
46.2
5.6
199
Morocco
42.9
6.9
15.3
31.2
3.5
189
Romania
25.9
0.7
16.1
48.2
8.1
143
Bolivia
40.7
1.4
16.4
37.8
2.1
140
Dominican Republic
37.0
3.2
15.8
39.4
4.5
127
Argentina
30.1
1.2
10.8
55.4
2.4
83
Philippines
30.2
0.0
23.8
38.1
6.4
63
China
25.9
0.0
11.1
57.4
5.6
54
Chile
45.8
2.1
12.5
33.3
4.2
48
Venezuela
22.6
2.3
2.3
53.5
11.6
43
Bulgaria
12.2
0.0
26.8
38.1
6.3
41
others
40.5
2.4
10.1
43.7
1.8
393
Boys
35.7
4.6
15.1
39.3
3.9
1,532
Girls
29.6
1.1
13.2
49.6
6.0
1,700
Totals
32.5
2.7
14.1
44.7
4.8
1,051
88
456
1,496
155
Sex
ne
3,232
a.The nationalities are ordered by size after those born in Spain. Only countries with at least 40 cases enrolled in some
educational level are included.
b.The percentages do not add up to 100 because the category “other” has been omitted. Missing cases are excluded.
c.Advanced vocational training.
d.It includes a gap year to prepare for the university entrance exam.
e.Follow-up survey (it excludes those that have dropped out of school).
The educational achievements of children of immigrants 119
To avoid redundancies, we have omitted figures corresponding to the
replacement sample of children of immigrants, which closely parallels
those presented: Bolivians, Dominicans and Moroccans are overrepresented in the lowest education levels, and Argentinians, Venezuelans
and those born in Spain in the highest levels. The male disadvantage in
education is even more evident in this new sample, given that more than
16% of the sons of immigrants are in PCPI, which is three times the
percentage of girls.
There are also significant differences in objective indicators of academic
performance; this can be seen in the average grades obtained by young
people in the last year of school, which the respondents were asked about
in the original sample as well as in the replacement sample. In both cases,
grade average fluctuated from 6 to 10. The nationalities falling below the
average in the follow-up sample included Bolivians and Dominicans; to
these can be added Moroccans, Peruvians and non-Chinese Asians from
the replacement sample. The data indicative of the link between country
of origin and education paths are statistically significance in both
samples, indicating that the diversity in educational achievements is
effectively related to differences in country of origin. Table 5.4 presents
the most relevant findings.
As can be seen in the bottom rows of table 5.4, there are no great
differences in average grades by city of residence or type of school.
However, it is worth mentioning the differences by sex, which once again
show a significant advantage for girls. This is evident in both samples,
thus confirming a clear trend in favour of girls in all of the indicators of
educational achievement.
The great differences in academic performance between boys and girls
and between immigrants of different national origins raises questions
regarding the general theories on exclusion, advantage and convergence
among the second generation. The reason for these differences requires
more research, an issue we will return to later.
120 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
TABLE 5.4
Grade average by sample, country of birth, sex, type of school and
city of residence: Children of immigrants in Spain, 2012
Follow-up sample
Grade average
Nb
Replacement sample
Grade Average
Nb
Country of birth:
a
Spain (of immigrant parents)
6.40
582
6.48
366
Ecuador
6.01
1,014
6.04
372
Colombia
6.07
275
6.23
89
Morocco
6.08
232
5.92
85
Peru
6.00
214
5.89
108
Romania
6.45
176
6.38
72
Dominican Republic
5.96
168
6.02
55
Bolivia
5.90
165
5.86
61
Argentina
6.01
90
6.58
26
China
6.08
76
6.62
31
Philippines
6.48
69
6.11
7
Bulgaria
6.38
52
–
–
Chile
6.08
52
6.35
10
Other, Latin America
6.05
231
6.15
74
Other, Asia
6.45
166
5.91
47
Other, Eastern Europe
6.29
141
6.26
38
Other, Western Europe
6.48
65
6.39
31
Other, Africa and Middle East
6.17
78
6.03
31
Bartlett’s test for equal variance
48.34***
49.47***
Sex:
Boy
5.99
1,830
6.02
720
Girl
6.30
1,921
6.37
772
t-test
7.37***
4.84***
Type of schoolc
Public
6.18
1,978
–
–
Private
6.12
1,746
–
–
t-test
1.41 (n.s.)d
The educational achievements of children of immigrants 121
Follow-up sample
Replacement sample
Grade average
N
Grade Average
Nb
Madrid
6.16
1,888
6.19
896
Barcelona
6.14
1,863
6.19
596
b
City of residence:
t-test
0.56 (n.s.)d
Totals
6.15
0.09 (n.s.)d
3,751
6.19
1,492
a. The nationalities are ordered by size after those born in Spain. Only countries with at least 40 cases enrolled in some
educational level are included.
b. Missing data are excluded.
c. Type of school is was verified in the original survey in 2008 and therefore is missing in the replacement survey.
d. Coefficient is not significant at the 0.001 level.
*** Probability of equal variances or means, less than 1 in 1,000.
5.1.3. Attitudes toward school
In contrast to what occurs with school grades, no significant differences
are found between nationalities regarding attitudes toward school. The
index constructed to measure this was based on calculating positive and
negative opinions of the students about the schools they were attending
at the time of the second survey.(4) With scores range from 1 to 4, in which
higher scores indicate more positive attitudes, the average score was 3.2
for the follow-up sample and 3.15 for the replacement sample, revealing,
in other words, clearly positive attitudes. And as can be seen in table 5.5,
there were no large differences between nationalities in either of the
samples. In addition, both sexes had equally positive evaluations of their
schools.
There are interesting differences, however, by city of residence and by
type of school. The respondents in Madrid responded more positively
about their schools than those in Barcelona, a statistically significant
difference in the follow-up sample. In contrast to what might be expected,
as attending a private school is generally a choice of the parents, the
children in public schools had more positive attitudes toward school than
those in the publicly funded private schools.
(4) This index was found to have good internal consistency (alpha=0,603).
122 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
TABLE 5.5
Attitudes toward school by sample, country of birth, sex, type
of school and city of residence. ILSEG, 2012
Follow-up sample
Replacement sample
Index score
nb
Index score
nb
Spain (of immigrant parents)
3.28
488
3.13
345
Ecuador
3.22
776
3.11
333
Colombia
3.31
216
3.22
82
Morocco
3.23
191
3.29
80
Peru
3.20
171
3.13
100
Romania
3.22
139
3.11
66
Bolivia
3.10
126
3.09
50
Dominican Republic
3.31
119
3.25
55
Country of birth:
a
Argentina
3.29
65
3.17
24
China
3.06
43
3.02
25
Philippines
3.22
56
3.23
7
Chile
3.12
46
3.20
10
Other, Latin America
3.18
182
3.17
68
Other, Asia
3.19
129
3.01
45
Other, Eastern Europe
3.27
119
3.19
34
Other, Western Europe
3.38
49
3.18
25
3.20
61
3.30
27
Other, Africa and Middle East
Bartlett’s test for equal variance
18.95 (n.s.)b
11.90 (n.s.)b
Sex:
Boy
3.22
1,399
3.12
Girl
3.23
1,529
3.17
t-test
0.55 (n.s.)
709
656
2.01(n.s.)
b
b
Type of school:
c
Public
3.26
1,497
–
–
Private
3.20
1,410
–
–
t-test
3.19***
The educational achievements of children of immigrants 123
Follow-up sample
Replacement sample
Index score
n
Index score
nb
Madrid
3.27
1,406
3.16
806
Barcelona
3.19
1,522
3.13
559
b
City of residence:
t-test
4.23***
Totals
3.23
1.34 (n.s.)b
2,928
3.15
1,365
a. The nationalities are ordered by size after those born in Spain. Only countries with at least 40 cases enrolled in some
educational level are included.
b. Coefficient is not significant at the 0.001 level.
c. Type of school is was verified in the original survey in 2008 and therefore is missing in the replacement survey.
*** Probability of equal variances or means, less than 1 in 1,000.
5.1.4. Young people’s future prospects
The aspirations and expectations these young people have regarding their
future deserves special consideration because, as was seen in chapter 1, these
are both important predictors of future academic achievements, and in turn
affected by them.
Our surveys provide data on both aspirations and expectations, and for
both the follow-up sample as well as the replacement sample. Table 5.6a
presents the significant results of those who aspire to high academic
achievement (a university degree or above). In table 5.6b we see the data
corresponding to expectations, broken down by country of birth, sex, type
of school and city of residence.
In both samples, approximately 65% of the respondents aspire to obtain a
university degree. Those born in Spain, those from several countries in
South America (Argentinians, Colombians, and Peruvians) and western
Europeans coincide in all having higher than average aspirations. Lower
aspirations are found among the Romanians and in the replacement sample,
among Dominicans, Moroccans and non-Chinese Asians. The differences
between countries are very significant statistically, although this is above all
due to the large size of the samples. Country of birth has a moderate
124 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
relationship to level of aspirations,(5) as do type of school and city of
residence, neither of which reaches statistical significance.
TABLE 5.6a
Educational aspirations by sample, country of birth, type of school
and place of residence, ILSEG, 2012
Follow-up sample
High aspirations
%
nb
Replacement sample
High Aspirations
%
nb
Country of birth:a
Spain (of immigrant parents)
70.2
530
74.6
374
Ecuador
60.1
855
61.9
378
Colombia
70.1
234
63.3
 90
Morocco
59.2
201
45.4
 88
Peru
74.4
195
75.8
108
Romania
61.6
151
57.4
 73
Bolivia
65.0
140
60.7
 61
Dominican Republic
55.6
133
50.0
 58
Argentina
71.6
 81
80.8
 26
Philippines
69.8
 63
33.3
  9
China
59.3
 54
58.8
 34
Chile
62.5
 48
54.6
 11
Venezuela
81.4
 43
76.5
 17
Bulgaria
65.8
 41
–
–
Other, Latin America
68.4
114
65.3
 49
Other, Asia
58.6
 87
46.5
 43
Other, Eastern Europe
69.5
 64
69.2
 39
Other, Western Europe
76.8
 82
67.7
 31
Other, Africa and Middle East
62.7
 68
62.8
 31
Chi-squared:
   34.50***
Cramer’s V:
Type of school:
  41.82***
0.10
0.17
d
Public
66.3
1,666
–
–
Private
63.8
1,533
–
–
(5) Cramer’s V coefficient (on strength of association) indicates a weak to moderate correlation between
country of birth and level of aspirations.
The educational achievements of children of immigrants 125
Follow-up sample
High aspirations
%
Chi-squared:
Cramer’s V:
Replacement sample
nb
High Aspirations
%
nb
  2.14 (n.s.)e
0.03
City of residence:
Madrid
67.5
1,562
62.6
911
Barcelona
62.8
1,663
67.4
613
Chi-squared:
7.82 (n.s.)e
Cramer’s V:
0.05
Totals
65.2
3.69 (n.s.)e
0.05
3,225
64.5
1,524
a. The nationalities are ordered by size after those born in Spain. Only countries with at least 40 cases enrolled in some
educational level are included.
b. University degree or graduate degree.
c. Missing data excluded.
d. Type of school is was verified in the original survey in 2008 and therefore is missing in the replacement survey.
e. Coefficient is not significant at the 0.001 level.
*** Probability of equal variances or means, less than 1 in 1,000.
TABLE 5.6b
Educational expectations by sample, country of birth, type of school
and city of residence, 2012
Follow-up sample
High expectations
%
Spain (of immigrant parents)
Replacement sample
nc
High expectations
%
nc
64.0
529
63.1
374
Ecuador
48.9
855
42.7
377
Colombia
62.4
234
44.9
89
Morocco
46.0
202
29.2
89
Peru
60.5
195
62.0
108
Romania
53.6
151
38.4
73
Bolivia
50.0
140
39.3
61
Dominican Republic
41.0
134
36.2
58
Country of birth:a
Argentina
56.8
81
80.8
26
Philippines
52.4
63
22.2
9
China
51.8
54
39.4
33
Chile
52.1
48
36.4
11
Venezuela
69.8
43
58.8
17
126 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
Follow-up sample
High expectations
%
Replacement sample
n
c
High expectations
%
nc
Bulgaria
58.5
41
–
–
Other, Latin America
55.3
114
59.2
49
Other, Asia
47.7
86
30.2
43
Other, Eastern Europe
55.8
64
46.4
39
Other, Western Europe
63.0
81
71.0
31
53.8
69
48.1
30
Other, Africa and Middle East
Chi-squared:
42.92***
Cramer’s Vr:
Type of school:
70.47***
0.12
0.22
d
Públic
55.9
Private
52.4
Chi-squared:
4.08 (n.s.)
Cramer’s V:
0.04
1,666
–
–
1,533
–
–
e
City of residence:
Madrid
57.4
1,562
48.9
Barcelona
51.2
1,663
50.4
Chi-squared:
12.43***
Cramer’s V:
0.06
Totals
54.2
0.33 (n.s.)
910
611
e
0.01
3,225
49.5
1,521
a. The nationalities are ordered by size after those born in Spain. Only countries with at least 40 cases enrolled in some
educational level are included.
b. University degree or graduate degree.
c. Missing data excluded.
d. Type of school is was verified in the original survey in 2008 and therefore is missing in the replacement survey.
e. Coefficient is not significant at the 0.001 level.
*** Probability of equal variances or means, less than 1 in 1,000.
In comparison with ideal aspirations, realistic expectations fall 10% in
the follow-up sample and 15% in the replacement sample; however, the
general trends remain the same. In the replacement sample, we find
notably higher expectations among those born in Spain, Western
Europeans and those born in certain Latin American countries. In both
samples, lower expectations were again found among Bolivians,
Dominicans, Moroccans and non-Chinese Asians. The association
between expectations and country of birth in the follow-up sample is
statistically significant but weak; however, in the replacement sample, it
The educational achievements of children of immigrants 127
reaches moderate strength. The associations with city of residence or
type of school – as in the case of aspirations – is statistically significant
but weak.
The high percentage of high educational goals (bachelor’s or graduate
degree) contradicts the negative predictions of the marginalization or
exclusion of adolescent children of immigrants. The relatively
homogeneous nature of these goals suggests convergence, although there
are visible differences between nationalities, which roughly correspond
to the known characteristics of different immigrant communities.
These characteristics will be examined in the following sections. But for
now, we can say that with the longitudinal data from this study we can
follow the evolution of educational objectives over time. This is done by
comparing the original sample of 2007-08 with the follow-up sample
obtained four years later. The most important results, broken down by
sex, are presented in table 5.7.
The main difference is that aspirations as well as expectations have
increased over time, especially in reference to the highest level. While
realistic expectations follow the same direction as idealistic aspirations
and girls maintain the advantage observed before, both sexes have
increased their goals significantly: if at 14 only 10% of the sample
aspired to obtain a graduate degree, four years later 26% hoped to do so.
In the case of girls, the figures were 11% and 30% respectively. A similar
trend can be seen regarding expectations, which leads us to conclude
that as the educational process advances and the respondents get older,
higher educational goals become more desirable and attainable.
Still, it should be noted that these figures include those of the total
follow-up sample; these, in addition to including those who continued
studying, included 15% of the respondents who had already left school.
But even for this group, educational aspirations had not fallen
drastically, as the majority was thinking about going back to school at
some point. Otherwise, the figures omit the “don’t know” responses,
which represented 20% of the responses in the follow-up survey. This
128 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
level of uncertainty is worth mentioning, although it does not invalidate
the general trend toward an increase in aspirations and educational
goals of students as they advance in their education.
TABLE 5.7
Educational aspirations and expectations over time among
the children of immigrants in Spain
In percentages
BASIC SECONDARY/
INITIAL VOCATIONAL
TRAINING
BACCALAUREATE/
ADVANCED
VOCATIONAL
TRAINING
UNIVERSITY
DEGREE
GRADUATE
DEGREE
A. Aspirations
Original sample, 2008
(Avg. age, 14)
22.1
23.3
44.5
9.6
6.7
25.5
41.8
26.0
Boys, 2008
25.2
26.1
39.9
8.8
Boys, 2012
9.5
32.2
36.7
21.6
Girls, 2008
18.9
20.3
50.3
10.5
Girls, 2012
4.0
19.2
46.6
30.2
Original sample, 2008
33.1
31.6
29.7
5.6
Follow-up sample, 2012
11.1
32.1
40.6
16.2
Boys, 2008
35.8
32.4
26.8
5.0
Boys, 2012
14.9
37.3
34.8
13.0
Girls, 2008
30.3
30.8
32.7
6.2
Girls, 2012
7.5
27.3
46.2
19.0
Follow-up sample, 2012
(Avg. age, 18)
B. Expectations
The evolution over time in the level of educational ambitions supports an
assimilationist interpretation, which predicts a process of gradual
integration. In the same way, this evolution negates theories of
marginalization or the lack of integration of immigrant youth. It remains
to be seen how these educational objectives and other aspects related to
educational achievement compare to those of autochthonous youth.
The educational achievements of children of immigrants 129
5.2.Comparison of these findings with those for the children of natives
5.2.1. Staying in school and types of educational paths followed
As we saw in chapter 3, the second round of the ILSEG included a broad
sample of children of native parents. Table 5.8 presents the results
obtained for this sample for all of the indicators of educational attainment
we have examined. We will now compare them with the original and
replacement samples. As can be seen, there are no significant differences in
the figures on enrolment at different education levels, especially if we focus
on higher levels. Approximately 50% of the original sample continued
advanced studies (baccalaureate and university) in 2012; this figure
increases slightly to 54% in the replacement sample and to 57% among the
respondents with native parents. The slight advantage of native students is
also found in lower education levels, but in the best of cases the association
between belonging to one or the other of these samples (children of
immigrants or children of natives) and remaining in school is weak.
TABLE 5.8
Academic performance of the children of immigrants and children
of natives, 2012
In percentages
Children of immigrants
RESULTS
Children of natives
Original
sample
Replacement
sample
Boys
Girls
Total
32.5
18.7
19.9
19.6
19.7
2.7
11.0
5.8
2.5
4.3
49.6
54.0
53.3
62.3
57.4
Low (secondary or less)
44.9
35.8
40.3
23.9
32.7
High (univesity or graduate degree)
55.1
64.2
59.7
76.1
67.2
Low (secondary or less)
54.1
50.8
52.3
38.1
45.7
High (univesity or graduate degree)
45.9
49.2
47.7
61.9
54.3
Grade average (1-10)
6.15
6.19
6.39
6.71
6.54
3.23
3.15
3.16
3.17
3.17
3,807
1,528
888
1,062
1,950
Enrolled:
Basic secondary (ESO)
PCPI
Upper secondary and university
Educational aspirations:
Educational expectations:
Attitude toward school (1-4)
n
130 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
5.2.2. Ambition
The figures regarding the educational ambitions of native children are
similar to those for average grades. Ideal educational aspirations are
around 10% higher among the children of native parents than among the
children of immigrants; but realistic expectations decline to approximately
the same level. Therefore, when evaluating their real possibilities for
achieving higher educational goals, only around half of all young people
believe this is possible. The difference between the native students and
those of the two combined samples of children of immigrants are
statistically significant, but again the association is weak. As with the
children of immigrants, 62% of girls of native origin hope to obtain a
university degree, in comparison to only 48% of boys, a highly significant
difference.
5.2.3. School performance
Regarding grades, the children of native parents show around a halfpoint advantage over the combined group of children of immigrants. The
difference, which is considerable and statistically significant, confirms
the results of the OECD PISA studies on school performance in the
advanced countries, which have repeatedly shown that the children of
immigrants are at a disadvantage (Alba et al., 2011). Girls of native
parents have the best average performance as reflected by grades, but the
advantage of those of native origin is present for both sexes. Although
the difference in grades is not large, it does indicate that the children of
immigrants still have a way to go to reach their Spanish peers.
5.2.4. Attitudes toward school
The differences in grades do not translate into different evaluations of the
schools they attend. Both the children of immigrants and their native
peers evaluate their schools in a generally positive manner. The differences
between the samples is barely statistically significant.
Together, these comparisons do not confirm the perspective of second
generation advantage, but they do not support the pessimistic perspective
of non-integration and exclusion either. Instead, they seem to clearly
support the neo-assimilationist perspective, which predicts a convergence
The educational achievements of children of immigrants 131
between children of immigrants and children of natives. These averages
may, however, hide differences between immigrant communities.
5.3. The determinants of educational achievements
When we refer to educational attainment in this section, we are not referring
to the attainment of specific knowledge and competencies which could
prepare these young people for a specific job in the future. Instead, we are
referring to four goals they can accomplish in their current education:
• remaining in school instead of dropping out
•accessing higher levels of education and training
•attaining good grades
•having a positive attitude toward the school.
In this study, the investigation of the factors conditioning or determining
these accomplishments is indirect but essential. It is indirect because what
is directly of interest is the integration of the children of immigrants into
Spanish society, not merely into school life; it is essential, however, if we
accept that the educational attainment of the children of immigrants is
decisive for their eventual successful integration.
This is the basis upon which, in the context of this study, we have examined
not only the distribution of the above mentioned accomplishments among
the children of immigrants of different national origins, but also, going
further, what determines why some young people achieve more and others
less.
We will begin by referring to the most basic of the accomplishments:
staying in school, overcoming the risk of dropping out. Though only an
initial achievement, it is the most essential. Once students drop out of
school, it is very difficult for them to return.
5.3.1. Determinants of staying in school
We have seen that approximately 15% of the original sample eventually left
school. To examine the causes of this, a series of regressions were performed
taking continuing education as a binary dependent variable (yes/no) and with
132 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
positive coefficients indicating a greater likelihood of enrolment in school.
We began by relating this likelihood to nationality of origin; then in a second
step, we also related it to objective characteristics of the respondent (being
born in Spain, age, sex, time of residence in Spain, years in school, knowledge
of Spanish, hours spent doing homework, attending a public or publiclyfunded private school, and city of residence – Barcelona or Madrid). In a
third step, we added various psychosocial features of the adolescents (selfesteem, familism, intergenerational relations, educational expectations).(6)
Graph 5.1 shows the most significant results obtained in the last step.
Graph 5.1
Determinants of children of immigrants in Spain staying in school, 2012
Predictorsa
ECUADOR*
1.55
PERU**
2.54
AGE***
–0.63
BORN IN SPAIN**
2.62
EDUCATIONAL
EXPECTATIONSc
TIME DEDICATED TO HOMEWORK**
1.33
COMPLETED SECONDARY/
VOCATIONAL TRAINING***
UNIVERSITY DEGREE***
GRADUATE DEGREE***
2.08
3.11
6.88
–2
–1
0.0
1
National
originsb
2
3
4
Objective
characteristics
5
6
7
8
Psychosocial
characteristics
The bars represent the exponential function of the logistic regression coefficeints. Coefficients below 1 indicate low
permanence in the level of education mentioned, while those above 1 indicate a high level of permance. Only significant
effects have been included. Other predictors included in the model but that are not significant, are the rest of the
national origins and objective and psychosocial characteristics.
a.All the predictors were measured in the original 2007-2008 survey.
b.Limited to nationalities with a minimum of 50 cases in the original sample and 25 cases in the follow-up survey.
The rest of the sample corresponds to the reference category.
* p<0.05 ** p <0.01 *** p<0.001
(6) The regressions use robust standard errors to compensate for the nature of the grouping of the sample by
schools, and for those deleted from the list of missing cases. Different routines simply inflate the N and generate
less rigorous estimates of statistical significance. See G. Firebaugh, 2008. To facilitate interpretation we present
odds ratios and not the coefficients themselves. National origins enter in the model as a series of binary variables
for groups consisting of at least 50 cases in the original survey of 2007-2008 and 25 cases in the follow-up; the
rest of the sample is used as the reference category. The assignment of a national origin to a respondent was
done by attributing to the subjects the nationality of their country of birth; however, if they were born in Spain,
they were assigned the nationality of the country of birth of their parents. Thus, all respondents, including
second-generations (born in Spain), were assigned a nationality. In the third model, including all predictors
significantly improves the fit of the sample and produces a respectable pseudo R2 of 0.148.
Ecuador*
Perú**
Edad***
Nacido en España**
Tiempo dedicado a los Deberes**
The educational achievements of children of immigrants 133
Regarding the first step, the initial result is that in a broad and diverse
reference category (N=1,105), adolescents from several Latin American
nationalities – in addition to Moroccans and Chinese – are significantly
less likely to remain in school. The likelihood of the Chinese students
remaining in school is only one-third that of the rest of the sample. This
finding corroborates what was already observed in chapter 4 on the
entrepreneurial focus of Chinese parents.
When objective predictors are introduced into the equation, most
national differences disappear, which means that they are due to other
factors. In the 2008 school year, the students who were older than their
respective cohorts were much less likely to remain in school; the
likelihood of them doing so was two-thirds that of the rest of the sample.
In contrast, the second generation in the strict sense (that is, those born
in Spain) is twice as likely to remain in school. As expected, family
socioeconomic status and the amount of time spent doing homework in
early adolescence have a significant positive influence on remaining in
school. Most of these effects remain unaltered when the psychosocial
predictors are added to the model, but among the latter the decisive role
of educational expectations will be highlighted.
Those who aim high are much more likely to continue studying. Each
leap in expectations in the first survey will give rise to a strong
improvement in the likelihood of continuing to study four years later.
Thus, for example, those who in 2008 expected to be able to obtain a
graduate degree were seven times more likely to still be studying in 2012
than the rest of the sample. The Peruvians and Ecuadorians now show
greater and very significant likelihood of continuing their education, a
finding only visible when controlling for age, place of birth and
educational expectations.
Before analysing the theoretical implications of these findings, we want
to examine the determinants of the type of education the children of
immigrants are enrolled in.
134 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
5.3.2. Determinants of the level of education the children of immigrants
enrol in
We have already seen that some of the young people being studied were
still trying to finish basic secondary education or doing initial vocational
training (PCPI), while others had been able to reach upper secondary
school or enrol in university. What are the factors influencing whether
they are able to enrol in one or another level of education? Graph 5.2
shows the factors that are the most significant in the analysis.(7)
GRAPH 5.2
Enrolment in advanced levels among the children of immigrants in
Spain, 2012
Predictorsa
CHILE**
–1.7
CHINA**
2.37
MALE***
–0.57
SCHOOL YEAR***
2.44
FAMILY SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS***
0.32
BOTH PARENTS PRESENT***
0.57
EDUCATIONAL
EXPECTATIONSSc
LIVES IN BARCELONA***
–1.43
COMPLETED SECONDARY/
VOC. TRAINING**
UNIVERSITY DEGREE***
0.59
0.88
GRADUATE DEGREE***
1.34
FAMILISM*
–2
–0.29
–1.5
–1
–0.5
National
originsb
0.0
0.5
1
Objective
characteristics
1.5
2
2.5
3
Pyschosocial
characteristics
The bars represent the ordered logistic regression coefficients. They indicate the net effect of each predictor controlling
for the rest in enrolment in advanced levels. Only significant effects have been included. Other predictors included in
the model that were not significant: age, time residing in Spain, hours dedicated to homework, attendance at a public
school and Spanish nationality.
a. All the predictors were measured during the original survey.
b. See note b, graph 5.1.
c. Educational expectations: basic secondary or less is the reference category.
* p<0.05 ** p <0.01 *** p<0.001
(7) To analysis the influence that the variables we have been considering – nationality, objective and
psychosocial characteristics – have on the access of the adolescents surveyed to higher levels of education,
we first used an ordinal regression that defines basic secondary education and initial vocational training
as the basic categories and estimated models for the two higher levels of education (the baccalaureate
and university). These two levels are subsequently combined (given the relatively low number of students
enrolled in the university) and the model is estimated through binary logistic regression.
The educational achievements of children of immigrants 135
Chile**
China**
Varón***
Curso Escolar***
Based on this analysis, Moroccan and Chilean adolescents are
significantly less likely to go on to upper secondary education or to
university. In the opposite sense, only students of Chinese origin exceed
the sample average. This means that the children of Chinese immigrants
who decided not to leave school early and to continue their education
have gone much further than other nationalities. When we introduce
other predictors into the equation, the effects of nationality remain (with
the exception of the Moroccan students), and the positive Chinese
coefficient is even stronger. According to these findings, young people of
Chinese origin are seven times more likely to reach upper secondary
levels of education (baccalaureate, intermediate or advanced vocational
education) or university than other children of immigrants.
Other factors that have an important effect on the level of education
reached by these young people are age, sex, family composition and
status and early educational expectations. The very strong effect of the
grade they were in is due to the fact that the adolescents in the study were
in the third year of secondary school when they were first interviewed
and therefore had a greater likelihood of reaching higher levels of
education. Once this effect is controlled for, age is shown to have a
significantly negative effect, which means that the students who were
older than others in their grade were much less likely to continue their
education.
Sex functions in the same way, with the already familiar disadvantage of
boys, who have two-thirds the likelihood of girls of reaching upper
secondary education or university. As expected, children in families with
both the mother and father present, as well as with higher socioeconomic
positions, are much more likely to reach higher levels of education.
The educational expectations of early adolescence again have an
extraordinarily positive effect on education levels reached by young
people. For each increase in expectation levels there will be a significant
increase in the likelihood of reaching higher levels of education. At the
highest level, the students who aspired to attain a graduate university
degree in 2008 had a 300% greater likelihood than others of being
enrolled in higher levels of education. The findings also indicate a very
significant negative effect among the residents of Barcelona. We do not
136 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
believe, however, that this reflects a substantial disadvantage for the
students in this city, but rather is a function of the way in which the sample
was obtained. As can be seen in the tables in chapter 2, the original
sample in Barcelona included many more students from the first year of
ESO than the sample in Madrid. As is also indicated by the coefficient
corresponding to school year, those who were in lower grades during the
original survey were much less likely to have attained higher education
levels by the time of the follow-up survey. As a result, this finding does
not have any substantial implications.
If we focus on the small minority that has reached university, the findings
are similar, with a few differences. The educational advantage of the
Chinese students persists, as does the disadvantage of students of
Chilean origin. The effect of age disappears, but all of the others remain,
including the negative effect of familism. This variable is measured by an
index indicative of family cohesion and preference for family members in
comparison to persons outside the family.(8)
5.3.3. Determinants of the qualifications obtained by the children
of immigrants
A third significant finding on education is related to the academic
qualifications attained by the students. We asked about the highest grade
and the average grade obtained in the last year in school, but for the
analysis, we focused on the latter.(9) Graph 5.3 shows the factors with the
most significant effects on grades as a result of the analysis.
To begin, we found that various Latin American nationalities – Bolivian,
Colombian, Dominican and Ecuadorian – had significantly lower grades
(8) The index of familism is composed of three items:
“If you have the option to help someone get a job, it is always better to choose a family member instead of
a friend.”
“When you have a problem, only relatives can really help.”
“When you look for a job, it is better to look for one close to where your parents live, even if it means losing
a better job elsewhere.”
The alpha coefficient for internal consistency is 0.49.
(9) To neutralize a skewed distribution, we convert grade averages into logarithms and, since the resulting
scale is continuous, for modelling we use ordinary least squares with robust standard errors. As logarithms,
coefficients indicate the gain or loss, in approximate net percentage, for a unit of change in each predictor.
In general terms the final model provides a reasonably good fit for the data, as indicated by the F-test of
significance and the coefficient of determination R2.
The educational achievements of children of immigrants 137
with respect to the reference category (“other nationalities”); this was
also the case with Sub-Saharan Africans. However, with the exception of
the latter group (primarily from Equatorial Guinea), the differences were
not great and the majority of them disappear when other factors are
included in the calculations. Only the Bolivians continue to demonstrate
in this instance a significant disadvantage regarding grades.
GRAPH 5.3
Determinants of grade averages (logarithms) in secondary school
of the children of immigrants in Spain, 2012
Predictorsa
BOLIVIA*
–0.06
EQUATORIAL GUINEA*
–0.12
PERU*
–0.05
ROMANIA*
0.04
AGE#
–0.1
MALE***
–0.03
KNOWLEDGE OF SPANISH*
0.03
TIME DEDICATED TO HOMEWORK*
0.03
EDUCATIONAL
EXPECTATIONSc
FAMILY SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS***
0.02
UNIVERSITY DEGREE**
0.06
GRADUATE DEGREE***
0.10
FAMILISM**
–0.02
–0.15
–0.10
National originsb
–0.05
0.0
Objective
characteristics
0.05
0.10
0.15
Psychosocial
characteristics
The bars represent the values of the non-standardised least squares regression coefficients. Non-significant effects
are excluded. Grades have been transformed into logarithms to adjust for the bias of the original distribution.
a. All the predictors were measured during the original 2007-2008 survey.
b. See note b of graph 5.1.
c. Educational expectations: Basic secondary or less is the reference category.
* = p<0.05 **= p <0.01 *** = p<0.001
Other significant effects related to academic performance that appear
once all the variables are introduced are associated with various objective
predictors that include age, sex, knowledge of Spanish, time dedicated to
homework and family socioeconomic status. But they are also associated
with two other subjective variables, early educational expectations and
Bolivia*
Guinea
Ecuatorial*
138 GROWING UP IN SPAIN:
THE INTEGRATION
OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
Perú*
Rumanía*
Edad#
Varón***
familism. Following an already familiar pattern, girls continue to
demonstrate a significant academic advantage even after controlling for
other factors that could influence performance. Students who are older
than their cohorts continue to suffer a significant disadvantage in their
grades. A better knowledge of Spanish improves school performance, in
the same way as does more time spent doing homework in early
adolescence. Both effects are predictable and point toward a normal
process in academic performance. Equally expected is the positive effect
of family status.
However, no variable has a stronger influence than ambition on the level
of grades obtained by the children of immigrants. Early expectations of
obtaining a university degree increase grades by 6% (on average) four
years later; the goal of obtaining a graduate degree raises them by 10%.
Familism, in contrast, has a negative influence on grades, which would
again indicate that a preference for family members does not bode well
for the children of immigrants regarding academic performance. In
contrast, the influence of nationality on grades is in general insignificant,
with one exception.
Overall, the results obtained up to now show significant differences
between nationalities of origin. However, the majority of these
differences can be explained by other variables, such as age, sex, family
status and especially, early educational expectations. The crucial role of
ambition on performance, foreseen in chapter 1, has clearly been
confirmed by this analysis. The expected educational advantage of girls
and also the expected disadvantage of older students have also been
broadly confirmed. The positive effects of family socioeconomic status
and complete families support the predictions of the segmented
assimilation model. The absence of the significant influence of
intergenerational relations (indicative of selective acculturation), and
instead, the negative effect of familism both go against this model. These
results provide support for a neo-assimilationist position, which would
favour giving up family bonds that are too close and a position more
open to the receiving society.
The educational achievements of children of immigrants 139
5.3.4. Determinants of attitudes toward school
Lastly, we look at the determinants of attitudes toward school with the
assumption that a more positive attitude generally reflects a better
adaptation to school and better performance.(10)
As can be seen in graph 5.4, we found very few differences between
nationalities on this variable, due to the homogeneous and generally
positive attitude regarding the schools considered in our sample. The
Bolivian and Chinese students had more critical attitudes, in both cases
with effects of a comparable size.
GRAPH 5.4
Determinants of attitudes toward school among the children
of immigrants in Spain, 2012
Predictorsa
BOLIVIA*
CHINA*
–0.12
–0.18
LENGTH OF RESIDENCY IN SPAIN*
0.008
FAMILY SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS*
0.03
INTERGENERATIONAL RELATIONS*
0.04
PERCEPTIONS OF DISCRIMINATION*
–0.2
–0.05
–0.15
National
originsb
–0.1
–0.05
0.0
Objective
characteristics
0.05
0.10
Psychosocial
characteristics
The bars represent non-standardised least square regression coefficients. Non-significant effects have been
excluded.
a. All the predictors were measured during the original 2007-2008 survey.
b. See note b in graph 5.1.
# p<0.10 * p<0.05 ** p <0.01 *** p<0.001
Few of the factors of those considered have large effects on this
dependent variable, but the factors that do have an effect are revealing.
Among the objective variables, the positive influences on school attitudes
(10) To estimate the determinants of attitudes toward school, given that in this case the dependent variable
is also continuous, we model it with a routine of ordinary least squares regression (OLS) with robust
standard errors.
Bolivia*
140 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
China*
Tiempo de Residencia en España*
are associated with time of residence in the country, academic year, and
family socioeconomic status. The students who had lived longer in Spain
and who were in higher grades in school at the time of the original survey
had a more positive opinion about their respective schools. As we have
seen, those who were interviewed originally in their third year in ESO
were more likely to have gone on to upper secondary or university by the
time of the follow-up survey. Having reached these levels of education
may have contributed to making them feel part of a more select group,
which could lead to a more favourable opinion toward their school. A
higher family status also improves attitudes toward school.
Among the psychosocial variables, intergenerational relations and early
experiences of discrimination have a very significant influence on attitude
toward school, although in opposite directions. A good relationship with
parents in early adolescence leads to more favourable attitudes toward
school, which probably reflects the influence of the primary institution in
the life of the adolescent – the family – on the second most important
institution – the school. Experiences of discrimination, on the other
hand, result in more critical attitudes.
These effects are similar to those found in the previous chapter on other
psychosocial dimensions of adaptation. In addition, this is consistent
with the predictions of segmented assimilation theory regarding the
positive and protective role of positive intergenerational relations and the
negative role of discrimination. In chapter 4 we saw that the difficulties
of adaptation to a foreign country have a significantly negative impact on
the relationships between Chinese adolescents and their parents. Here we
find that these effects also influence the attitudes of Chinese students
toward school in a negative way. Thus, despite making the most academic
progress, Chinese students are also the most critical.
5.4. Parental influence on academic performance
In chapter 1, we noted a very solid and repeated finding in the social
science literature: that parents’ human capital – understood in the case of
The educational achievements of children of immigrants 141
immigrants as the education levels they arrive with from their country of
origin – plays a decisive role in shaping the aspirations of their children.
The same literature also argues that parents’ ambitions have a major
impact on the influence that family status has on the aspirations of their
children. In chapter 1 we also discussed how in one of the few crossnational studies in this field, Buchmann and Dalton compared the effects
of parents’ educational aspirations on the orientation of their children in
twelve countries. Their findings confirm the prediction that parental
goals have significant effects on the aspirations and achievements of their
children in countries with relatively undifferentiated secondary education
systems. In contrast, in those education systems characterized by early
separation into tracks, parental influence was much less, since the decisive
factor would be the type of school the child attended in early adolescence.
Studies on young people’s aspirations have largely depended on the
information young people have shared about their family characteristics,
including the goals of their parents. Obviously, such results are subject to
the danger of the respondents’ own orientations affecting their
recollections of the views and characteristics of their parents. As we have
said, the ILSEG included an independent survey of the parents, which
provided a decisive advantage in allowing us to examine parental effects
on the ambition and achievements of their children, independently of the
information provided by the children. In addition, in contrast to other
European countries, Spain does not separate students into different
educational tracks at an early age. Therefore, it is possible for young
people to plan for themselves the educational paths they want to follow
and for parents to have a significant influence on these plans.
In chapter 3 – on the parents’ sample – we examined parental levels of
ambition as well as their determinants. In this chapter we have analysed
the impact of parental ambition on the goals of their children, and next
we examine the extent to which parental characteristics affect academic
performance in late adolescence, before and after controlling for the
characteristics of the children. In the following footnote we indicate the
calculations used to quantify these influences and how they confirm
142 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
the strong influence of family socioeconomic status and parental ambition
on the goals of children.(11) However, realistic expectations of parents are
more important than their ideal aspirations in influencing their children.
Graphs 5.5 and 5.6 show the main results of these calculations.(12)
GRAPH 5.5
Determinants of the educational aspirations of the children
of immigrants in Spain, 2010
Predictorsa
FATHER AND MOTHER PRESENT*
–0.233
FAMILY SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS***
0.373
EDUCATIONAL ASPIRATIONS#
0.145
EDUCATIONAL EXPECTATIONS***
AGE***
0.479
–0.505
SEX (FEMALE)***
0.390
SCHOOL YEAR**
0.310
NATIONAL
ORIGINb
KNOWLEDGE OF SPANISH (ICE)***
ECUADOR**
–0.6
0.608
–0.442
–0.4
–0.2
Parents
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
Children
The bars represent the ordered logistic regression coefficients. Only significant effects are presented.
a. All the predictors were measured in the original survey and in the parents’ survey.
b. Fictitious variables were included for 14 nationalities. Only significant variables are presented.
# p<0.10 * p<0.05 ** p<0.01 *** p<0.001
(11) To analyse the impact of parents’ ambitions on the educational goals of their children we used a series
of nested ordered logistic regressions
that measure the influence of parental predictors on the educational
Aspiraciones
aspirations and expectations of children before and after controlling for their characteristics. The sample
Padres
only takes into Ambos
account those
casesPresentes*
that contain data from the original survey of adolescents and from the
independent
parents’
sample.
Estatus Socio-Económico(ESEFP)***
(12) These results were originally published in Portes et al., 2013.
Aspiraciones Educativas#
Expectativas Educativas***
Edad*** The educational achievements of children of immigrants 143
Sexo (Femenino)***
Curso Escolar**
Conocimiento del Español (ICE)***
GRAPH 5.6
Determinants of the educational expectations of the children
of immigrants in Spain, 2010
Predictorsa
FATHER AND MOTHER PRESENT***
0.259
EDUCATIONAL EXPECTATIONS***
0.506
AGE***
–0.438
SCHOOL YEAR***
0.311
NATIONAL
ORIGINb
KNOWLEDGE OF SPANISH (ICE)***
0.603
ARGENTINA*
–0.71
ECUADOR**
–0.522
PERU*
–0.527
–0.8
–0.6
–0.4
–0.2
0.0
Parents
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
Children
The bars represent ordered logistic regression coefficients.
a. All the predictors were measured in the original survey and in the parents’ survey.
b. Fictitious variables are included for 14 nationalities. Only significant coefficients are presented.
# = p<0.10 * = p<0.05 **= p <0.01 *** = p<0.001
Graph 5.7 shows the results of a synthetic structural equation model
(SEM) based on the same analysis.(13) As shown in this case, parental
ambition has the strongest influence on children’s goals, greater than
other significant predictors, such as age, sex and knowledge of Spanish.
The model fits well with the predictions of the Wisconsin theory on
status attainment (seen in chapter 2) and can even be interpreted as a
Spanish update of this theory. It is also consistent with one of the basic
predictions of segmented assimilation theory on the role of parental
human capital and positive intergenerational relationships.
(13) For this model, two latent variables were constructed: Parental ambition, as a function of the
educational aspirations and expectations of parents; and ambitions of children, as a function of their future
educational and occupational goals. The model is a reasonable fit for the data.
Expectativas
Ambos Padres Presentes***
144 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
Expectativas Educativas***
Edad***
Curso Escolar***
GRAPH 5.7
A structural model of ambitiona
PARENTS
CHILDREN
0,240
–0,038
0,678
AGE
PARENTAL AMBITION
0,564
0,795
Educ. Asp. Educ. Exp.
0,298
0,157
KNOWLEDGE
OF SPANISH
CFI= 0,934
TLI= 0,910
BIC= 51.949,06
RMSEA= 0,06
0,108
GIRL
SOCIOECONOMIC
STATUS
0,253
0,171
SCHOOL
YEAR
–0,350
0,420
0,193
KNOWLEDGE
OF SPANISH
0,146
AMBTION
OF CHILD
0,796
0,290
0,329
Educ. Asp. 0,868
Exp. Exp. Asp.
Educ. Occup. Occup.
0,933
0,936
0,829
Pw2
P y2
P zb
a. Standardised effects.
b. The P variables are residual effects, estimated as Pi= √(1–Ri2 ). In which the i represents each endogenous variable.
To respond to the second question – to what extent do the characteristics
of parents affect their children’s academic performance in late
adolescence, before and after controlling for the children’s own
characteristics? – we return to models for the determinants of three
educationally decisive issues – staying in school, type of school attended
and academic grades – and relate them to parental predictors and
predictors for their children.(14) The most significant results are
summarized in graphs 5.8a, 5.8b and 5.8c.
We found that the children whose parents expected them to attain a
university degree were twice as likely as the rest of the sample to continue
in school. In turn, the children with parents who expected them to obtain
a graduate degree were 300% more likely to be enrolled in upper
(14) As before, the first two results are dichotomous and are modelled with routines of logistic regression;
the third is a continuous variable (logarithm of grades) and is modelled with ordinary least squares (OLS).
We have only included cases from the original survey, the survey of parents and the follow-up survey that
have complete information. The first column of each nested model includes only parental predictors; the
second adds the variables for the children, including national origin. The first model of each of the results
clearly shows that parental ambition has the expected positive and significant effect on all indicators of
academic achievement. To avoid collinearity, we included only parental expectations, which, as discussed
earlier, are the strongest predictor.
The educational achievements of children of immigrants 145
secondary education or in the university. In the follow-up survey, the
grades of these young people were 10% higher than those of their peers.
The socioeconomic status of parents also demonstrates positive effects
on the type of education pursued by their children and on their grades,
although this effect disappears when the variables related to the children
enter into the equation. This is not the case for parental expectations,
whose effects, although limited, continue to be positive and significant
even when the expectations of the children are included in the series of
predictors. This occurs especially with the highest level of parental
expectations.
Two other findings deserve mention. First, the level of knowledge of
Spanish of the parents has a significantly negative effect on grades. This
GRAPH 5.8.a
Influence of parents and children on being enrolled in school
EDUCATIONAL
EXPECTATIONS
UNIVERSITY DEGREE**
1.49
GRADUATE DEGREE*
AGE**
RESIDENCE IN BARCELONA#
EDUCATIONAL
EXPECTATIONS
OBJECTIVE
PSYCHO SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS CHARACTERISTICS
Predictorsa
1.82
–0.76
–0.67
SELF-ESTEEM*
1.44
UPPER SECONDARY*
1.40
UNIVERSITY DEGREE**
1.90
GRADUATE*
–1.0
2.17
–0.5
0.0
0.5
Parents
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
Children
The bars represent odds rations. Values below 1 represent negative effects; values greater than 1 represent positive
effects. Only significant effects are included.
a. All the predictors were measured in the original survey and in the parents’ survey.
146 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
finding is in part a result of the greater command of Spanish of Latin
American parents, many of whom come from modest socioeconomic
origins. When the national origins of respondents are taken into account,
this negative effect is reduced by almost half, while the effect of children’s
command of Spanish on grades is positive and significant. Secondly, with
all of the predictors of parents and children controlled for, the only
nationality with a positive effect is Chinese. Again, Chinese students who
have remained in school have a significantly greater likelihood of being
enrolled in more advanced education levels and of obtaining higher
grades than their peers.
Leaving aside the differences due to nationality, the main point revealed
by this part of the research on the effects of parental ambition on
GRAPH 5.8.b
Influence of parents and children on being enrolled in upper secondary
and university
Predictorsa
KNOWLEDGE OF SPANISH
0.32
EDUCATIONAL
EXPECTATIONS
1.32
UNIVERSITY DEGREE***
2.97
GRADUATE DEGREE**
AGE**
2.66
–0.72
SCHOOL YEAR***
RESIDING IN BARCELONA***
EDUCATIONAL
EXPECTATIONS
OBJECTIVE
NATIONAL PSYCHOSOCIAL
ORIGIN CHARACTERISTICS CHARACTERISTICS
FAMILY SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS*
5.88
–0.24
UPPER SECONDARY***
2.61
UNIVERSITY DEGREE***
3.35
GRADUATE DEGREE***
4.98
13.58
CHINESE***
–3.0
–1.0
1.0
3.0
5.0
Parents
7.0
9.0
11
13
15
Children
The bars represent ordered logistic regression coefficients. Only significant effects are presented.
a. All the predictors were measured in the original survey and in the parents’ survey.
The educational achievements of children of immigrants 147
children is that the influence of parents on their children’s academic
achievements is very resistant. Of course the children’s own expectations
are much stronger, which was predictable. However, the key finding is
that the influence of parental ambition is not entirely filtered out by the
characteristics of the children but continues to be significant in their
subsequent achievements. This supports the predictions of the Wisconsin
status attainment model regarding the important effect of significant
others, especially parents, on the educational achievements of children.
GRAPH 5.8.c
Influence of parents and children on grade averages (logarithm)
EDUCATIONAL
EXPECTATIONS
GRADUATE DEGREE*
MAN#
0.061
–0.28
KNOWLEDGE OF SPANISH**
0.04
0.035
SELF-ESTEEM*
FAMILISM*
EDUCATIONAL
EXPECTATIONS
OBJECTIVE
NATIONAL
ORIGINa PSYCHOSOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS CHARACTERISTICS
Predictors
–0.035
GRADUATE DEGREE*
0.081
CHINESE#
–0.3
0.074
–0.2
–0.1
Parents
0.0
0.1
Children
The bars represent non-standardised ordered least square coefficients. The grades have been transformed into
logarithims.
a. Fictitious variables for 14 nationalities were included.
# p<0,10 * p<0,05 ** p<0,01 ** p<0,001
5.5. A synthetic model of educational achievements
The final part of this chapter presents a synthetic model of educational
achievements, which uses all the information provided in both the
original and follow-up surveys. Having established the resistant influence
148 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
Post-Grado Universitario*
Varón#
of parental expectations, the factors related to parents are not considered
in the final model, since this would drastically reduce the size of the
sample by eliminating a significant number of cases that otherwise would
be valid. Thus we have limited the model to the objective and
psychosocial factors influencing achievements that were measured in the
original survey and that had reliable influence on the results in the followup survey, quantifying the weight of these influences on the base of two
latent variables: the ambition of the children of immigrants, consisting
of a four point scale of aspirations and expectations,(15) and their
achievements, represented by grade averages and a five point scale for
enrolment in school, ranging from “not enrolled” to “university”.(16)
All theory requires simplification, and for greater clarity we have omitted
several of the weaker predictors in favour of those whose effects on one
or both latent variables have been shown to be more consistently reliable.
In addition, we have looked for a causal model that is applicable to all
adolescent children of immigrants in Spain; thus, we have left out
national origins.
The model(17) includes five objective exogenous variables: age, sex, place
of birth (Spain), academic year in school in 2007-08 and family
socioeconomic status. These predictors have different effects on a series
of endogenous variables that includes knowledge of Spanish, self-esteem
and educational plans of friends.(18) With the cross-sectional data
provided by the original survey it was possible to establish a causal order
between the plans of respondents and those of their friends; with the
longitudinal data of the follow-up survey it is possible to unequivocally
verify the hypothesis that the educational plans of friends significantly
influence the level of ambition of the respondents.
(15) 0 = basic secondary or intermediate vocational; 1 = baccalaureate or advanced vocational; 2 =
university degree; 3 = graduate degree.
(16) 0 = not enrolled; 1 = ESO, initial vocational; 2 = intermediate vocational; 3 = baccalaureate or
advanced vocational; 4 = enrolled in university or access course.
(17) The model has been estimated with the MPLUS routine (simultaneous structural equation modelling).
(18) These variables were also measured in the original survey: knowledge of Spanish and self-esteem in
composite indexes as previously described; “plans of friends” is a three point scale that, in a previous analysis
was revealed to be closely correlated with level of ambition in early adolescence of our respondents (0=less
than baccalaureate; 1=baccalaureate or intermediate and advanced vocational training; 3=university).
The educational achievements of children of immigrants 149
This series of exogenous and endogenous predictors for early adolescence
are related, then, in various ways to the two latent variables measured
four years later. The first version of the model reveals a causal line from
ambition to achievement, in agreement with the literature, as well as with
our own findings described above. Other predictors of achievement
include sex, socioeconomic status and academic year in school.
In substantive terms, the model(19) manages to account for 81% of the
variance in the main dependent variable (achievement). It is not
surprising that ambition is by far the factor with the greatest impact on
achievement.(20) It is followed by family socioeconomic status and sex, as
boys – as demonstrated repeatedly in the previous analyses – are at a
considerable academic disadvantage.(21)
The academic year also has a strong influence on academic achievement
in early adolescence, but this is a direct consequence of the greater
likelihood of the students originally interviewed that were in the last
years of ESO, having reached higher levels of education after the four
year interval than those who had been in lower levels of ESO. As a result,
this variable functions as a control and its coefficient does not have
important theoretical implications.
This model also accounts for almost 20% of the variance in ambition. In
this case the strongest positive effect corresponds to the educational plans
of friends in early adolescence;(22) knowledge of Spanish and self-esteem
also have considerable influence.(23) In the opposite direction, negative
influences on ambition are associated with age and sex (male), since, as
has been observed, students who are older than their cohort in their
academic year tend to lower their educational ambitions with negative
consequences for their achievements, while in ambition as well as
educational achievements, boys lag behind their female peers. Our model,
(19) The estimate of the model carried out with the MPLUS programme gave statistically acceptable
results for the goodness of fit (RMSEA =0.064; CFI =0.992; TLI = 0.987). One of the reasons for these
satisfactory results is the parsimony of the model, as it only used 36 of the 56 degrees of freedom available
in the data.
(20) Its effect is 12 times its standard error.
(21) This effect is also quite strong, reaching 5 times its standard error.
(22) The effect of friends’ plans is 8 times its standard error.
(23) Both effects are 5 times their standard errors.
150 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
thus, provides a satisfactory synthesis of the causal factors leading to
higher or lower academic achievement in late adolescence.
However, this model still has a downside and that is, having
simultaneously measured the two latent variables in the follow-up
survey, there is a real possibility that they influence each other. In other
words, while it is very plausible that ambition causes achievement, as
confirmed in previous studies, it is also reasonable that academic
performance has an influence on future educational goals: success in
school should encourage students to have higher goals, while failure can
lead them to lower their goals. This requires a modification to make the
model non-recursive, that is, representing a causal loop.
GRAPH 5.9
A non-recursive causal model of educational achievement among
the children of immigrants in Spain, 2012
SEX (MALE)
AGE
BORN IN
SPAIN
FAMILY
STATUS
0,15
KNOWLEDGE
OF SPANISH
0,25
0,07
SELF-ESTEEM
0,06 –0,25 –0,12
0,21
FRIENDS’
UNIVERSITY PLANS
SCHOOL
YEAR
(2008)
0,14 0,09 –0,10 –0,19 –0,03
AMBITION
0,96
Educ. Asp.
0,95
Educ. Act.
0,18
CFI=1,00
TLI= 0,99
RMSEA= 0,053
WRMR=1,98
0,99
0,96
0,93
0,66
Ru
Rv
Rw
Ry
–0,11
0,38
0,68
PERFORMANCE
0,71
0,45
Type of
Grade
school
avg.
Rz
The figures are standardised coefficients. All are significant at the 0.001 level. The residual coefficients (Rs) are
computed as √(1+R2 ) for each variable.
MPLUS makes it possible to estimate such a model by creating a reverse
effect, from achievement to ambition. Not all non-recursive models add
up, but fortunately ours does, and in fact it is an improvement over the
The educational achievements of children of immigrants 151
previous model. The new model is shown in graph 5.9. As can be seen,
the causal effect of ambition on achievement remains positive and very
strong, exceeding 12 times its standard error. However, the opposite
effect is also positive and very significant. The other causal effects
already described remain the same, both in direction and in strength.(24)
For this reason, we adopt this model as the ultimate causal
interpretation that summarizes our results.
Conclusion
How do we relate these results to the predictions made regarding the
integration of children of immigrants by the different theories? There is
no more important criterion when evaluating the process of adaptation
of adolescent children of immigrants than their progress in education.
Judging by this criterion, the descendants of immigrants in Spain have
not had stellar performances, but nor have they been absolute failures.
What is of greatest concern is that 15% have dropped out of school,
together with 11% who are still in ESO after reaching 16 years of age and
an additional 4% who continue to be stuck in remedial programmes
(PCPI).The causes of dropping out of school and poor performance have
been closely examined in this chapter and provide a reliable empirical
basis for addressing the problems faced by these young people. However,
it should be stressed that around half of this population of immigrant
origin has been able to go on to upper secondary education and even to
university. The appearance of divergent paths confirms the expectations
of segmented assimilation theory, not only in terms of their presence but
also in terms of their determinants.
Despite these differences in outcomes, other findings support the general
trend toward a convergence with the mainstream. In terms of ambitions
regarding the future and attitudes toward school, the children of
immigrants do not differ significantly from the children of natives. Based
on their qualifications, they are somewhat behind in terms of average
(24) The CFI and TLI criteria for model fit remain the same but crucially, the mean square error of
approximation (RMSEA), which incorporates not only the fit of the model but also its parsimony, drops to
0.05, indicating an entirely satisfactory model.
152 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
academic performance, but the gap is not insurmountable nor is it as
large as that found in other European countries.(25) The constant
advantage demonstrated by girls in all indicators of achievement is not
exclusive to the children of immigrants in Spain, given that it is also
manifested by girls with Spanish parents and has been repeatedly found
among both adolescents of immigrant origin and native origin in other
countries.
The children of some nationalities, especially Moroccans and certain
Latin Americans, are behind on many of the indicators of achievement.
This result, largely attributable to the modest socioeconomic origins of
their parents, should alert authorities to the specific problems faced by
these groups. Together with older students, these are the students at
greatest risk of school failure and, therefore, those who educational and
governmental authorities should focus on in order to prevent these results
in the future.
(25) In any case, we should examine what this means, as based on PISA studies, many of the countries
where the gap is greatest are also those in which natives have the highest scores and hence, are countries with
higher quality education systems.
The educational achievements of children of immigrants 153
VI.Occupations, income and downward
assimilation(1)
This final empirical chapter complements the previous chapters with
an examination of economic variables, including family income,
incorporation into the labour market and occupational aspirations and
expectations.
6.1. Family income
The first series of results completes and updates those from chapter 4
regarding the economic situation of immigrant families by presenting
more recent figures (corresponding to 2012) and comparing them with
those of native parents. Tables 6.1 and 6.2 show the relevant data. Given
that the great majority of adolescents surveyed still live with their
parents, the figures in the first table can be interpreted as family income
and reveal the modest economic circumstances of immigrant families.
More than one-third of these families have to make it to the end of each
month with less than one thousand euros, and more than one-half earn
1,500 euros or less each month. At the other extreme, families with
incomes greater than 2,000 euros a month account for only 15% of the
sample.
There are no significant differences by sex for this variable. There is a
small predictable difference in favour of children of immigrants that
attend Spain’s publicly subsidised private schools, and a more surprising
difference in favour of residents of Madrid. However, neither of these
(1) Written with the collaboration of William Haller.
154 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
differences is significant.(2) Where there is a real significant difference is
in relation to native families. Almost 40% of native adolescents live in
families that have incomes of 2,000 euros a month or more, more than
double the percentage found among immigrant families. Only 13% of
Spanish families have to manage on less than 1,000 euros a month.(3)
TABLE 6.1
Family income
In percentages
Less than
1,000 €
between 1.000 €
and 1,500 €
between
1,500 €
and 2,000 €
More
than
2,000 €
TOTAL
n
Children of immigrantsa
Total
36.99
28.63
19.20
15.18
4,603
Girls
41.13
27.58
17.88
13.41
2,300
Boys
32.80
29.70
20.54
16.96
2,293
Sex:
V= 0.075
Chi squared = 8.13 (n.s.)b
School
Public
38.23
29.47
18.85
13.45
3,539
Private
26.47
25.52
21.55
26.47
631
28.62
20.43
14.68
2,501
28.62
17.70
15.85
2,107
24.41
37.55
1,811
V= 0.142
Chi squared = 84.11***
City
Madrid
Barcelona
36.27
37.83
V= 0.067
Chi squared = 22.19** Nativesc
Total
Sex:
13.03
25.01
boys > girls
V= 0.129*
School:
n.s.
City:
n.s.
Chi squared = 30.37***
b
Missing values excluded.
a. Unified sample of children of immigrants, 2012.
b. Not statistically significant.
c. Detailed breakdown omitted. Available upon request.
** p<0.01 *** p<0.001
(2) As mentioned in previous chapters, the statistical significance indicated by Chi squared is affected by
the size of the sample. In large samples such as this one, it is better to rely on Cramer’s V coefficient because
the size of the sample is irrelevant. In this analysis we used the criteria of a coefficient of 0.10 as indicative
of at least a moderately strong relationship.
(3) To avoid an excess of data, we omit the breakdown of the sample of natives by sex, type of school and
city of residence, but we indicate when these differences are statistically significant.
Occupations, income and downward assimilation 155
The data on housing in table 6.2 reveal the same thing. More than half of
immigrant families rent housing and there are no significant differences by
sex or city of residence. There is, however, a significant difference in favour
of those who attend publicly subsidised private schools. But these
differences pale in comparison to those between immigrant and native
families. Less than 10% of the latter live in rental housing and almost 90%
own their homes. This deep-rooted Spanish tendency of home ownership
can be seen clearly in these figures.(4)
6.2. Integration in the labour market and the occupational
aspirations of adolescents
6.2.1. Labour market integration and employment conditions
The economic crisis in which Spain was immersed when the follow-up
survey was carried out in 2012 seems to have had the unexpected but
positive result of keeping many children of immigrants in school. A
widespread opinion among school personnel when we carried out the
original survey (2007-2008) was that many adolescents, both natives and
immigrants, left school early because of the ease which which they found
jobs that required no skills and could be considered well-paying. The deep
economic recession has led to the disappearance of these jobs in the labour
market and, as a result, has led to adolescents staying in school. As table
6.3 shows, only 12% of the children of immigrants were employed at the
time of the follow-up survey. This figure is not only consistent with the
results regarding early school leaving in chapter 5 but provides an
additional confirmation.
(4) In contrast to what occurs in northern European countries, in which housing is perceived as a service,
the Spanish population, similar to the US population, perceives home ownership as the foundation of
security and economic wealth.
156 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
TABLE 6.2
Housing situation
In percentages
RENT
OWNER
OTHER
n
53.55
40.24
6.21
5,312
Girls
52.49
40.51
7.00
2,671
Boys
54.61
39.96
5.43
2,633
Children of immigrants
a
Total
Sex:
V= 0.039
chi-square = 8.11 (n.s.)
b
School
Public
54.94
39.19
5.87
3,988
Private
43.25
51.98
4.77
733
V= 0.094
chi-square = 41.81***
City:
Madrid
52.20
40.98
6.82
1,906
Barcelona
55.03
38.78
6.19
1.89
5.45
1,945
V=0.053
chi-square = 10.58*
Nativesc
Total
8.33
Sex:
n.s.
School:
n.s.
City:
n.s.
86.22
b
Excluding missing values.
a. Unified sample of children of immigrants, 2012.
b. Not statistically significant.
c. Detailed breakdown omitted. Available on request.
* p<0.05 *** p<0.001
In the table we also see that more than four-fifths of those who work do
so only part-time, which reveals a weak integration into the labour
market. There is a notably greater proportion of boys employed fulltime than girls, although the difference is not statistically significant. In
contrast, the differences between Madrid and Barcelona are significant.
Residents of Madrid are more likely to be employed full-time than
residents of Barcelona. This suggests that employment opportunities are
greater in Madrid, although we do not currently have an explanation for
this.
Occupations, income and downward assimilation 157
TABLE 6.3
Youth who are employed and types of employment
In percentages
CURRENTLY WORKING
TYPE OF JOB (IF WORKING)
FULL-TIME WORK
PART-TIME WORK
n
Children of
immigrantsa
Total
11.9
22.5
77.5
5,323
Girls
13.0
19.3
80.7
2,679
Boys
10.8
26.3
73.7
2,644
V=0.033 chi-square= 5.97*
V=0.083
13.0
30.6
Sex:
chi-square=4.43*
School:
Public
p
ubliclyfunded
private
69.4
3,149
80.5
651
11.8
19.5
V=0.13 chi-square=0.62 (n.s.)
V= 0.090
Madrid
13.4
26.6
73.4
2,822
Barcelona
10.3
16.5
83.5
2,509
chi-square= 3.91*
City:
V=0.048 chi-square= 12.17***
V=0.119
9.1
4.9
chi-square= 9.07**
Nativesc
Total
Sex:
School:
n.s.
b
n.s.
City:
n.s.
95.1
1,951
n.s.
Full-time
publicly-funded
Private > public
V=0.200
chi-square= 7.27**
n.s.
Excluding missing values.
a. Unified sample of children of immigrants, 2012.
b. Not statistically significant.
c. Detailed breakdown omitted. Available on request.
* p<0.05 ** p<0.01 *** p<0.001
The most significant difference is found in the comparison between
adolescent children of immigrants and adolescent children of natives, not
so much in the figures regarding employment, but in those regarding
part-time employment – much higher among natives. Almost all native
adolescents that stated they had jobs worked part-time. This suggests
158 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
that for these adolescents, working is complementary to going to school.
A much higher percentage of children of immigrants who work, work
full-time than their native peers.
TABLE 6.4
Type of contract and wages (if working)
In percentages
CONTRACT
WAGES
n
EMPLOYED
WITHOUT
CONTRACT
HAS
INDEFINITE
CONTRACT
52.2
11.3
36.5
73.6
21.9
4.5
640
Girls
56.3
12.7
31.0
77.6
19.5
2.9
343
Boys
47.2
10.0
42.8
68.7
25.0
6.3
OTHER
LESS
CONTRACT THAN 600 €
600 €
More
to 1000 € than 1000 €
Children of
immigrantsa
Total
Sex:
V=0.119 chi-square = 9.05
#
284
V=0.130 chi-square = 10.56 #
School
Public
P
ubliclyfunded private
47.4
10.5
42.1
86.3
10.9
2.9
409
55.8
10.4
33.8
88.5
6.6
4.9
77
V=0.092 chi-square = 4.12 (n.s.) V=0.064 chi-square = 1.66 (n.s.) City:
Madrid
Barcelona
50.4
54.8
V=0.142
13.5
36.1
7.7
37.5
chi-square = 12.94*
69.4
25.3
5.3
379
3.2
250
80.0
16.8
V=0.136
chi-square = 11.61# 85.7
10.3
Natives
Total
Sex:
53.7
14.7
31.6
4.0
177
Some type of contract: Boys > Girls
V=0.223
School:
chi-square = 9.20#
n.s.b
Some type of contract: Publicly-funded private > Public
V=0.292
City:
chi-square =15.14**
n.s.
Some type of contract:
Madrid > Barcelona
V=0.259
chi-square = 11.70*
n.s.
Excluding missing values.
a. Unified sample of children of immigrants, 2012.
b. Not statistically significant.
c. Detailed breakdown omitted. Available on request.
# p<0.10 * p<0.05 ** p<0.001
Occupations, income and downward assimilation 159
The impression that labour market integration is weak is reinforced by the
data in table 6.4; in both samples more than half those who are employed
have no contracts, in other words, they have informal employment. In
contrast, less than 15% of the children of natives and immigrants have an
indefinite job contract. Among boys there is a significant tendency to work
with at least a temporary contract, while the majority of girls work
informally. Residents of Madrid not only are more likely to work full-time,
but also to have some type of contract, a difference that appears in both
samples, as informal employment seems to be more common in Barcelona.
Approximately three-fourths of these young people that work earn less
than 600 euros a month and less than 5% earn more than 1,000 euros a
month. Girls are less likely to earn that much. The proportion earning low
incomes among native adolescents is over 85%. This supports the
conclusion that their participation in the labour market is fundamentally a
complementary activity. This is also the majority tendency among the
children of immigrants, but among this group there is a significantly higher
tendency toward participation in the labour market, especially among
boys. Among girls, in the majority of cases work is informal and
overwhelmingly poorly paid.
6.2.2. Occupational aspirations and expectations
Occupational aspirations were measured in the follow-up survey by asking
respondents what job they would like to have when they are 35 years old.
Occupational expectations were measured by asking respondents if they
believe they can reach their goals. The open responses regarding
occupational aspirations were recoded to transform them to fit the
PRESCA2 occupational prestige scale, described in previous chapters. The
range on the scale, in this case, is from 65 to 270. As can be seen in table 6.5,
the average score to which respondents aspire is in the middle of the
PRESCA2 scale, which corresponds to low-level professional and technical
jobs. Again, girls have significantly higher aspirations. There are no
significant differences by type of school or city of residence.
160 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
TABLE 6.5
Occupational aspirations and expectations
Occupational expectations (belief
that aspirations will be achieved)
Occupational
Avg. score on prestige scalea
nb
%
nb
Children
of immigrants
Total
146.31
4,485
70.31
5,255
148.49
2,304
69.90
2,641
144.00
2,181
70.76
2,603
Sex:
Girls
Boys
t= 3.54***
V=0.030 Chi-square = 4.75 n.s.
School
Public
148.47
P
ubliclyfunded private
150.89
3,386
70.0
3,385
641
73.2
640
t= 1.32 n.s.
V=0.026
c
Chi-square = 3.07 n.s.
City:
Madrid
145.62
2,369
70.99
2,785
Barcelona
147.10
2,127
69.55
2,466
t=1.17 n.s.
V=0.028
Chi-square = 4.26 n.s.
Nativesc
Total
150.66
1,639
67.68
1,906
Girls
152.08
758
67.66
872
Boys
149.44
881
67.70
1,034
Sex:
t=1.28 n.s.
V=0.067
Chi-square = 9.06*
School:
Public
150.59
1,513
67.56
1,763
P
ubliclyfunded private
150.64
130
70.07
147
t=0.01 n.s.
V=0.023
Chi-square = 1.04 n.s.
City:
Madrid
Barcelona
147.02
797
153.60
846
t= 3.40***
68.17
67.33
V=0.018
955
955
Chi-square = 0.63 n.s.
Excluding missing values.
a. PRESCA Occupational prestige scale, Range: 65-235.
b. Unified sample of children of immigrants, 2012.
c. Not statistically significant.
* p <0.05 *** p <0.001
Occupations, income and downward assimilation 161
More than 70% of the children of immigrants in late adolescence believed
that they could meet their occupational aspirations, with no significant
differences by sex, type of school and city of residence. This suggests that
the broad majority of the sample aspire to relatively moderate but
subjectively attainable goals. This orientation does not differ much from
their native peers. As can be seen in table 6.5, their aspirations are more
or less in the same range. Native girls have the highest occupational goals,
but the difference is not great. The belief in the possibility of reaching
these goals is almost the same, which again confirms the conclusion that
the children of immigrants and the children of natives share the same
cultural universe.
Another question from the follow-up survey addressed the issue of
occupational aspirations in a different manner. It proposed a list of
occupations and asked respondents which of them was closest to the type
of work they would like to be doing when they are 35 years old. The
responses reveal some differences by city of residence and type of school
but they are small in comparison to the large difference by sex. Table 6.6
shows these results; a look a the lower part of the table shows that
differences by sex have the highest Chi squared value found up until now
in our analysis, as well as the highest correlation coefficient: 0.42.
These important differences are due to markedly different choices of
occupation by sex. The likelihood of choosing nursing as a desired career
is five times greater among girls than boys, who, in contrast, are ten times
more likely to want to be computer technicians. At the highest
professional levels, three times more women than men aspire to be
doctors, lawyers or teachers, while four times as many boys choose
engineering as girls. These differences are clearly a reflection of the
connection between gender and occupations in the Spanish labour
market.
This latter conclusion is reinforced by the pattern of responses in the
sample of natives, on the right in the table. Again, their answers are
similar to those found among the children of immigrants: nursing and
the trio of medicine/law/teaching are the most common choices among
native girls; the boys, on the other hand, prefer engineering and computer
science. In lower skilled occupations – sales and clerical work – as well as
162 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
in those of higher skill – business executives –, differences by gender are
not as great.
TABLE 6.6
Details of occupational aspirations by sex
In percentages
Children of immigrants
OCCUPATIONS
GIRLS
BOYS
TOTAL
NATiVes
girls
boys
TOTAL
Clerical / Sales
8.78
6.11
7.45
5.96
4.05
4.90
Nursing
10.4
2.44
6.45
8.06
1.54
4.49
Computer technician
2.14
20.43
11.22
2.45
16.51
10.15
16.17
10.91
13.56
9.11
13.32
11.42
Engineer
4.84
16.49
10.62
3.86
18.82
12.05
Teacher
10.91
5.61
8.28
23.6
9.46
15.86
Lawyer
8.09
3.44
5.78
4.56
2.9
3.65
Business executive
Doctor
11.1
3.83
7.49
10.05
4.73
7.14
Other
27.57
30.74
29.15
35.35
28.65
30.34
na
2,622
2,584
5,206
856
1,036
1,892
V=0.428 Chi squared= 951.82*** V=0,417 Chi squared=329.07***
Missing values excluded.
a. Unified sample (follow-up and replacement) 2012.
*** Probability of the difference being random, less than 1 in 1,000.
Lastly, we have also looked at the evolution of occupational aspirations
over time. Here we find contradictory results. Table 6.7 shows that the
proportion of those that aspire to positions as professionals or executives
increased visibly for both sexes between 2008 and 2012. However, the
average and mean scores regarding occupational prestige declined by
approximately 10 points over the period examined. The first series of
results is in line with what was revealed in the previous chapter, which
indicated an increase in educational aspirations and expectations over
time. And the second suggests that although aspirations to become
professionals and executives have become common, expectations have, at
the same time, tended to decline to more realistic levels. These tendencies
are also consistent with the results found in Table 6.6, which indicate that
only a minority of respondents of both sexes aspire to a career requiring
Occupations, income and downward assimilation 163
a university education (teacher, lawyer, doctor and engineer) when they
reach 35 years of age. The widespread tendency is to aspire to a university
education but not to a high position in the occupational hierarchy in
Spain.
TablE 6.7
Occupational aspirations of the children of immigrants over time
Percentage that aspires to a professional/executive level occupation in adulthood
Girls:
a
2008
2012
46.47
51.11
Boys:
33.48
40.29
Total:
39.86
45.74
Average score on occupational prestige scale
Girls:
158.63
148.49
Boys:
152.16
144.00
Total:
155.38
146.30
158.49
141.25
Median score on occupational prestiges
Girls:
Boys:
138.03
131.83
Total:
152.38
138.03
a. Only follow-up sample.
6.3. The determinants of labour market integration, initial income
and occupational aspirations
In this section we look at the determinants of the three aspects
mentioned: labour market integration, initial wages and occupational
aspirations. The first two are focused on present realities while the third
refers to future goals. It can be argued that in late adolescence future
goals are centred on occupations, as educational aspirations have already
been reached or are within reasonable reach. For this reason, we have
chosen to examine occupational aspirations.
164 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
6.3.1. Integration into the labour market
To address this issue we follow the pattern of previous chapters, carrying
out a series of complex statistical operations as detailed in following
footnote 5. We relate entry into the labour market, first, with nationality
of origin and, following, with the same objective and psychosocial
variables considered previously.(5) Graph 7.1 shows the most significant
results once all the variables are incorporated.
The probability of being employed among those surveyed of Chinese
origin is almost four times greater than for the rest of the respondents.
This result is completely consistent with the lack of interest in the
Spanish education system shown by Chinese parents and their alternative
aspiration for their children to have success in business, which they
transmit to them.
When other variables are introduced into the equation, three other
important effects appear. As was predictable, the likelihood of integration
into the labour market increases with age, each additional year increasing
it by approximately 52%.
In contrast, growing up in families with both parents present significantly
reduces the likelihood of early entry into the labour market. Although
family socioeconomic status does not have a large effect, the influence of
family composition is consistent with the predictions of theories
regarding status and segmented assimilation on the positive effects of
family environment. The presence of both parents discourages children
from beginning to work too early, encouraging them, instead, to continue
their educations. In comparison to other adolescents, the presence of
both parents reduces the likelihood of early entry into the labour market
by around 25%.
(5) As in prior analyses, we examine the reason for each result through a series of regressions with robust
standard errors and eliminating the missing data by list. Integration into the labour market is coded in two
different ways: as a dichotomous variable, in which 1 refers to those who are employed and 0 referring to
others, and as an ordinal variable in which 2 refers to those who are employed full-time, 1 refers to those employed part-time and 0, to those who do not work. Thus, the first version is modeled with a binary logistic
regression, and the second with an ordered logistic regression.
Occupations, income and downward assimilation 165
GRÁPH 6.1
Determinants of entry into the labour market of children of immigrants,
2012a
Predictors
CHINA***
1.53
AGE***
BOTH PARENTS*
SELF-ESTEEM*
0.42
–0.33
–0.40
–0.5
National origin
0
0.5
1.0
Objective characteristics
1.5
2.0
Psychosocial characteristics
a. Ordered logistic coefficients indicating effects on full-time employment.
*p<0.05 ** p<0.01 *** p<0.001.
Lastly, self-esteem has a similar impact on the probability of working full
or part-time. In line with theoretical expectations, young people with
higher self-esteem in early adolescence are less inclined to later drop out
of school in exchange for a poorly paid job.
6.3.2. Income
Regarding young people that are already working, an additional important
consideration is the determinants of pay. As before, the details for the
calculations we carried out are provided in a footnote(6) and the most
important results are shown in graph 6.2.
The first thing we notice when we limit the analysis to national origin, is
that adolescents of Chinese origin are better paid, a direct consequence of
their greater presence in the labour market and their business orientation.
In the opposite situation, we find young people from Equatorial Guinea,
who by far receive the lowest wages. These adolescents, predominantly
black, tend to work in poorly paid informal jobs,(7) and to such an extent
(6) To analyse them we coded income to fit the three categories indicated in Table 6.4 and we used
ordinal logistic regressions in the sequence used before (national origin – objective variables – psychosocial
variables).
(7) The high coefficient associated with Equatorial Guinea is probably due to the small number of this
China***
nationality in the sample that are working.
Edad***
166 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
Ambos Padres *
that the negative effect of being of Guinean descent remains significant
even after other variables enter into the equation.
Graph 6.2
Determinants of wages among children of immigrants who work, 2012a
Predictors
EQUATORIAL GUINEA***
–13.38
AGE*
0.32
MALE*
0.78
PUBLIC SCHOOL*
–0.98
INTERGENERATIONAL RELATIONS#
0.35
–16
–14
–12
–10
–8.0
National
origin
–6.0
Objective
characteristics
–4.0
–2.0
0.0
2.0
Psychosocial
characteristics
a. Ordinal logistic coefficients expressed as odds ratios of receiving higher pay.
# p<0.10 * p<0.05 *** p<0.001.
Of the other predictors considered, age and sex stand out. In line with
Table 6.4, boys receive significantly higher wages, as do those who are
older. In comparison with working adolescents that attended private
schools, those that went to public schools were much less likely to be in the
higher wage category. The few respondents who were in better paid stable
employment in late adolescence were more likely to be boys educated in
private schools.
Ecuatorial***
Edad*
Varón*
gio Público*
Only one other result is relevant: the effect of early positive
intergenerational relations on income. Although, as mentioned, families in
which both parents are present may have discouraged their children from
entering the labour market prematurely (with the exception of the
Chinese), the adolescents from these families that do enter the labour
market were generally assisted by their families to do so in the most
favourable manner. This assistance is conditioned on the previous existence
of positive intergenerational relations.
neracionales#
-16
-14
-12
-10
-8
-6
-4
-2
0
2
Occupations, income and downward assimilation 167
6.3.3. Occupational ambitions
To analyse the determinants and evolution of occupational ambition we
have carried out the complex calculations necessary explained in footnote
8. We use two models to measure occupational ambition: coding it as a
continuous variable based on scores on the PRESCA2 prestige scale and
coding it as a dichotomous variable (professional with university studies/
other).(8) Graphs 6.3 and 6.4 show the most significant results, once all the
predictors are incorporated in each case.
The results of the initial model indicate significant differences among
nationalities, although these vary according to the two measures of
ambition used. Five nationalities have negative effects in both cases, but
not in the same way. The children of Moroccan and Romanian parents
reveal lower ambitions on the continual scale, but not on the dichotomous
measure. The opposite occurs with Chileans and Filipinos. The three
nationalities that have the lowest aspirations are the Chinese, Ecuadorians
and Dominicans. The disadvantage of Dominican descent is particularly
significant under both measures. In comparison with the rest of the
respondents, young Dominicans score 14 points lower on the occupational
status scale and have only half the probability of having professional
occupations as their goal.
The impact of Dominican descent declines when other predictors are
included in the equation, although it continues being significant (see graph
6.3). In contrast, once the objective and psychosocial variables are
introduced, they effectively account for the rest of the effects of
nationality. In addition. we find that older respondents have significantly
lower aspirations than their younger school peers – a net deficit of almost
7 points on the prestige scale. This result is consistent with the educational
achievements discussed in chapter 5 and with the theoretical expectations
discussed in chapter 1. As suggested by theory, and regarding both
measures, family socioeconomic status and positive self-esteem in early
(8) Both models are presented in three stages: in the first, only national origin is included; in the second,
all the objective and psychosocial predictors are also included, except occupational expectations of early
adolescence, which is included in the third stage. Including this variable changes the significance of the
coefficients: from expressing net effects (without regard to time) regarding the dependent variables, to
expressing changes over time. These effects appear most clearly in the continual coding of occupational
aspirations (coded to fit the PRESCA scale) because by doing this the aspirations in 2008 and 2012 are both
coded.
168 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
adolescence considerably increase the levels of ambition found four years
later.
GRaph 6.3
Determinants of occupational aspirations (continual scale) in late
adolescence, 2012a
Predictors
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC**
–11.15
AGE***
–5.69
SCHOOL YEAR#
2.90
OCCUPATIONAL EXPECTATIONS***
0.16
SELF-ESTEEM**
6.83
–15
–10
–5.0
0.0
Objective
characteristics
National
origin
5.0
10
Psychosocial
characteristics
a. Unstandardised least squares coefficients that indicate the effects on the status of occupational aspirations. Only
significant effects are included.
# p<0.10 *p<0.05 ** p<0.01 *** p<0.001.
The dichotomous measure of ambition is also positively affected by
higher knowledge of Spanish and by positive intergenerational relations,
and, negatively, by sex (boys). As with the results regarding educational
aspirations and expectations, boys have lower occupational ambitions
than girls.
Dominicana
Edad***
o Escolar#
cionales***
to-Estima**
-15
An unexpected effect on the dichotomous measure of ambition is time
residing in Spain. Each additional year of residence in the country tends
to reduce aspirations of attaining a professional level occupation by a net
3%. However, the effect is not very strong nor comparable with that of
sex, age and socioeconomic status in terms of its permanency, based on
different measures of ambition.
When early occupational expectations are introduced, these become, as
expected, the strongest predictor, as they increase the coefficient of
determination considerably in the continual measure of the dependent
variable. Controlling for early expectations, other effects in both graphs
can be interpreted as affecting change in occupational goals with the
-10
-5
0
5
10
Occupations, income and downward assimilation 169
passage of time. Respondents of Dominican origin continue to be at a
disadvantage, being the only nationality where we find a net negative
effect. The other important influences are age and self-esteem. However,
these factors act in opposite ways: while older respondents have lower
aspirations, those that had positive self-esteem when first surveyed,
subsequently raised their aspirations.
On the dichotomous measure of aspirations, the positive influence of selfesteem is reinforced by knowledge of Spanish and family socioeconomic
status. The influence of sex is particularly strong in this version of the
dependent variable, suggesting that girls not only have higher levels of
ambition in early adolescence, but that the difference increases as they get
older.
GRaph 6.4
Determinants of occupational aspirations (professional/executive vs.
others) in late adolescence, 2012a
Predictors
CHILE#
7.51
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC**
0.56
AGE*
0.90
MALE***
0.70
LENGTH OF RESIDENCE IN SPAIN#
0.97
SCHOOL YEAR#
1.17
KNOWLEDGE OF SPANISH*
1.26
FAMILY SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS*
1.14
OCCUPATIONAL EXPECTATIONS***
1.00
INTERGENERATIONAL RELATIONS#
1.13
SELF-ESTEEM#
1.22
0.0
1.0
2.0
National
origin
3.0
4.0
5.0
Objective
characteristics
6.0
7.0
8.0
Psychosocial
characteristics
a. Odds ratios. Less than 1, negative effects; greater than 1, positive effects.
# p<0.10 *p<0.05 ** p<0.01 *** p<0.001.
In general, the results of this analysis are consistent with those regarding
educational aspirations and expectations discussed in the previous chapter,
170 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
which also revealed few unexpected effects and differences between
nationalities. In the majority of cases, these are due to differences in age,
sex and parents’ human capital. The Dominicans represent the exception
regarding future occupational aspirations, as do the Chinese with regard
to early integration into the labour market, and adolescents from
Equatorial Guinea regarding low pay among those who are working.
6.4. Downward assimilation
While there are few indications of problematic integration or of massive
downward mobility among our sample of children of immigrants, it is
useful to look at the actual extent of such trends and to compare them to
trends among native youth.
To do this we use an Index of Downward Assimilation (IDA) based on
the sum of six indicators which provide a profile of problematic
integration in late adolescence. The items making up the index are:
1) dropping out of school; 2) being enrolled in remedial programmes
(programas de cualificación profesional inicial or PCPI in Spain);
3) being unemployed; 4) living alone or with a room-mate;(9) 5) having
had at least one child during adolescence; 6) having been arrested or
incarcerated in the last three years. The IDA is a count variable and its
components are not necessarily correlated. Table 6.8 shows the
correlations between the items as well as the distribution of frequencies
for the index. As can be seen, for almost 80% of the sample there is no
evidence of downward or problematic assimilation; the remaining
proportion are primarily affected by only one problem, mainly dropping
out of school or unemployment. Only 5% of the sample is affected by
two or more of these problems.
Table 6.9 presents parallel evidence from our sample of the native
population. There is a notable similarity in the patterns observed, both
regarding the correlations between the items on the IDA as well as in the
frequency of incidents of downward assimilation. These results provide an
(9) The great majority of our participants live with their parents. In this context, leaving the parental
home to live alone or with a roommate at these ages is a sign of problematic intergenerational relations and
dissonant acculturation (see chapter 2).
Occupations, income and downward assimilation 171
additional example of the close convergence between children of natives
and children of immigrants and contradict the assumption that social
pathologies exist in Spain that are specific to the children of immigrants.
However, based on the logic of our previous analyses, we want to
examine the factors that lead to a greater likelihood of being in the small
minority that is affected by any of the problems considered. The
following footnote 10 explains the calculations carried out to do this,
somewhat more complicated than in previous cases.(10)
TABLE 6.8
Correlations between items and frequency distributions (in %)
of downward assimilation (IDA) among children of immigrants, 2012a
I
II
III
ENROLLED
LIVING
IN REMEDIAL ALONE OR WITH UNEMPLOYED
CLASSES
ROOM-MATE
IV
V
VI
HAS
CHILDREN
ARRESTED OR
INCARCERATED
DROPPED
OUT OF
SCHOOL
I
–
II
0.066
–
III
0.053
0.062
–
IV
0.023
0.111
0.016
–
V
0.062
0.065
0.038
–0.009
–
VI
0.065
0.045
0.106
0.142
0.096
–
Frequencies of IDA:
Number of items
Percentage
Accumulated
0
78.42
78.42
1
17.25
95.68
2
3.34
99.02
3
0.79
99.81
4
0.16
99.98
5
0.02
100.00
n = 5,311
a. Unified follow-up and replacement surveys.
(10) To analyse the determinants we have used a negative binomial regression model; we could not
model them using ordinary least squares or logistical regression as they are count variables with a highly
asymmetric distribution. As before, we have used robust standard errors to avoid the possibility of bias
caused by the grouped character of the schools in the sample. Positive coefficients indicate a higher
probability of downward assimilation, and negative ones a lower probability.
172 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
After a first look at the figures, limited to the relationship between
national origins and symptoms of downward assimilation, two notable
effects are noticed: the Chinese have significantly lower probability than
other nationalities of experiencing any of these symptoms, while the
Dominicans have significantly greater likelihood of doing so. However,
the Chi2 coefficient is not significant, which indicates that national origin
is, by itself, a poor predictor for these results.
The situation changes when objective predictors are entered into the
equation. Among these, the most important are age and socioeconomic
status.
TABLE 6.9
Correlations between items and frequency distributions (in %)
of downward assimilation (IDA) among natives, 2012
I
II
III
IV
ENROLLED
LIVING
IN REMEDIAL ALONE OR WITH UNEMPLOYED
CLASSES
ROOM-MATE
HAS
CHILDREN
V
VI
ARRESTED OR
INCARCERATED
DROPPED
OUT OF
SCHOOL
I
–
II
–0.015
III
–0.054
0.072
–
IV
–0.011
–0.003
0.020
–
V
0.040
0.085
0.071
–0.125
–
VI
0.023
0.103
0.139
0.073
0.234
–
–
Frequencies of IDA:
Number of items
Percentage Accumulated
0
76.5
76.5
1
19.7
96.2
2
3.1
99.3
3
0.6
99.9
4
0.1
100.00
n = 1,698
Predictably, the higher the socioeconomic status of the family, the lower is
the likelihood of downward assimilation. In addition, older adolescents
(in relation to their cohort in school in early adolescence) are much more
Occupations, income and downward assimilation 173
likely to experience these situations associated with downward
assimilation. Growing up in families with both parents also has an impact
in preventing negative effects. When these and other factors are controlled
for, the effect of Dominican nationality disappears, which indicates that
downward assimilation in that community is primarily due to low family
socioeconomic status and the proportion of single-parent families. The
effect of Chinese nationality, however, which inhibits downward
assimilation, persists.
The introduction of psychosocial predictors in the calculation (Graph 6.5)
leads to certain significant results. Higher self-esteem and positive
intergenerational relations in early adolescence significantly reduce the
later appearance of symptoms of downward assimilation. These, added to
the effects of family socioeconomic status and completed families prevent
the emergence of downward assimilation. With all the predictors in the
calculation, only two nationalities continue to have significant effects:
Chinese descent continues to be associated with opposition to any factors
that lead to a problematic trajectory, and being of Peruvian origin. The
latter effect was hidden in the original model and only appears when we
control for other variables.
Another interesting result is that residents of Madrid have a greater
likelihood of downward assimilation than those who reside in Barcelona.
The reasons for this are not clear once all the relevant factors are
controlled for. Other then this one exception, the results are what would
be expected based on the theories discussed in chapter 1. The significant
effects of family socioeconomic status, families with both parents present
and positive intergenerational relations fit, in particular, with the
predictions of the theory of segmented assimilation over the decisive role
of these variables in fostering integration and preventing negative
adaptation outcomes. A positive self-image in early adolescence also has
a positive effect among children of immigrants, consistent with results
found in other countries.
174 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
Graph 6.5
Determinants of downward assimilation among children
of immigrants, 2012a
Predictors
CHINA*
–1.61
PERU*
–0.47
AGE***
0.25
FAMILY SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS*
–0.16
BOTH PARENTS
–0.25
RESIDES IN BARCELONA**
–0.40
PUBLIC SCHOOL*
–0.26
INTERGENERATIONAL RELATIONS*
–0.17
SELF-ESTEEM*
–0.31
–2.0
–1.5
National
origin
–1.0
–0.5
Objective
characteristics
0.0
0.5
Psychosocial
characteristics
a. Negative binomial regression coefficients. Positive coefficients indicate greater downward assimilation, and negative
coefficients the opposite.
*p<0.05 ** p<0.01 *** p<0.001.
CHINA*
PERÚ*
EDAD***
O FAMILIAR*
In short, downward assimilation, in line with neo-assimilationist
expectations, is unusual among children of immigrants in Spain. The
most susceptible to this experience are those that arrived when older and,
predictably, those that have grown up in poor or single-parent families. A
positive attitude in early adolescence reflected in positive self-esteem and
in better relations with parents are important factors in preventing it.
Despite the intergenerational tensions revealed earlier (see chapter 4),
Chinese adolescents continue to exhibit uniquely positive characteristics,
along with their high academic performance, revealing a strong tendency
to avoid events and situations that can compromise their upward
mobility. Adolescents of Peruvian origin, although not as strongly, seem
to lean in the same direction.
BOS PADRES
ARCELONA**
IO PÚBLICO*
ACIONALES*
UTO-ESTIMA*
-2,0
-1,5
-1,0
-0,5
0,0
0,5
Occupations, income and downward assimilation 175
Conclusion
The analysis in this chapter of participation in the labour market,
occupational aspirations and the events of late adolescence offers a
positive diagnosis of the integration of the children of immigrants in
Spain. We do not find any massive exit from the education system and,
with the exception of certain nationalities, early incorporation into the
labour market is unusual. The occupational aspirations of children of
immigrants do not differ from those of their native peers. Differences by
sex in future occupational plans are similar to those observed in other
countries and confirm the higher ambitions of girls. Lastly, we can
confidently state that there is no tendency toward downward assimilation
among children of immigrants in Spain, a finding that differs from that
found in the United States and which suggests a positive prognosis for
their future integration.
Exceptions to this are found among the children of immigrants who
arrive at later ages, a disadvantage regarding both ambitions and
achievements, as well as among certain nationalities, being notable the
low level of educational achievement and ambition of Dominican
adolescents. Young people of Chinese origin are situated in a class apart,
marked by their apparent pessimism over the future and a critical
position toward the Spanish education system, along with a high level of
educational performance and the absence of behaviours indicative of
downward mobility. These and other tendencies, such as the significant
differences between Madrid and Barcelona in various indicators of
integration, require additional study.
176 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
Conclusions
Main findings
Data
The data and findings presented in this book come from a longitudinal
study on the second generation in Spain (Investigación Longitudinal de la
Segunda Generación, ILSEG). A total of 6,905 children of immigrants
were initially interviewed in 2008 (3,375 in Madrid and 3,530 in
Barcelona). They were all students in the first three years of compulsory
secondary education from 200 schools in both of these metropolitan
areas in the 2007-08 school year. The average age of the sample was 14
years old, divided equally between girls (49%) and boys (51%). The
parents of those interviewed were from 63 different countries, the main
ones being Ecuador, Morocco, Romania, Peru, the Dominican Republic
and Colombia. The probability sample design makes it statistically
representative of the population of children of immigrants in the two
cities for the 12-17 year old age group.
In 2010, two years after the initial survey, a random sub-sample
composed of 1,843 parents of the original respondents (approximately
25% of the original survey sample) was interviewed. The national origins
of the parents interviewed reproduced the main groups represented in the
original sample: Ecuadorians (28%), Moroccans (10.5%), Colombians
(7.8%), Peruvians (6.7%), Dominicans (5.5%) and Romanians (5.1%).
This sample provided us with direct knowledge about the parents’
attitudes and families’ situations.
Conclusions 177
The ILSEG has sought to translate longitudinal research on the second
generation (CILS, the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study) to
the Spanish context. The CILS, carried out in the United States in the
1990s under the direction of Alejandro Portes and Rubén Rumbaut, was
the most ambitious study on the subject to date. Following the
methodology used in the CILS, the original respondents in the ILSEG
were interviewed four years later, at the average age of 18, including both
those who were still studying and those who had left school.
This follow-up survey was carried out in 2011-12. Using the
methodologies described in chapter 3, we were able to locate and reinterview 3,810 of the original participants, representing 73% of the
original sample (located through personal data corresponding to 2008).
This percentage compares favourably with that obtained in longitudinal
surveys conducted in the United States as well as Europe. Comparative
analysis also presented in chapter 3 indicates that the follow-up sample
faithfully reproduces the characteristics of the original sample, with no
statistically significant bias.
However, and in order to compensate for the loss of original cases, we
interviewed a replacement sample made up of children of immigrants of
the same average age (18) as those being re-interviewed. This sample
consisted of 1,534 respondents in the same schools as the original.
Finally and for comparative purposes, we interviewed a sample of
children with Spanish parents in the same schools. This sample of nearly
2,000 cases allowed us to systematically compare the family situation,
educational achievements, participation in the labour market, ambitions
and attitudes of the children of immigrants and children of natives in
Madrid and Barcelona, although not their evolution over time, as the
sample of non-immigrant children was only interviewed once, in 2012.
In total, the study collected information on 7,300 children of immigrants
and natives in 20011-12. Never before has a longitudinal study of
immigrant youth of such magnitude and scale been carried out in Spain
or in Europe. We summarize its main findings in what follows.
178 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
Immigrant parents
Predictably, immigrant parents come from modest origins, and the
majority are employed in subordinate occupations in the Spanish labour
market. Only 10.4% has a university degree, compared to 30% who did
not finish secondary school. It is not surprising then that more than half
(54.1%) are employed in subordinate manual labour, and only 9.2% are
professionals or managers. There is a great range of nationalities; the
parents from Argentina, Venezuela and Western Europe have the highest
educational and occupational profiles and the Moroccans, Dominicans
and Filipinos the lowest.
Despite this, the large majority of the parents have high educational
expectations for their children. Almost half (48.5%) expect their children
to obtain a university or graduate degree. In addition, 85% hope that
their children will remain and make their lives in Spain.
Analysis of the factors behind parents’ ambitions for their children has
shown, as would be expected, that socioeconomic status, time of
residence in Spain and knowledge of Spanish increase educational
expectations. Taking these variables into account, the parents of Chinese,
Dominican, Ecuadorian and Romanian origin have significantly lower
educational expectations for their children.
Only one-fourth (26%) of the parents said they had been discriminated
against in Spain, although the figure is significantly higher among
Filipinos (34.9%) and especially among the Chinese (75%). Statistical
analysis reveals that parents of higher socioeconomic status feel
discriminated against in Spain more often than do others (4 times more
in comparison controlling for other predictors). This can be explained by
the greater contact these parents have with the surrounding society and
their sensitivity to gestures and behaviours indicating prejudice on the
part of natives.
An overwhelming majority of parents says that they are satisfied with the
education their children are receiving in Spain (87.4%), and believe that
they will have the same opportunities for upward mobility as native
children (90.8%). Such high percentages could indicate a desire to provide
“correct” responses to the survey questions, but an analysis of this
Conclusions 179
possibility, as well as variations by national origin (for example, the
percentage of parents who believes their children have equal
opportunities decreases to 64% among Chinese parents), reveal that this
interpretation is implausible.
Self-identity, discrimination and self-esteem
Half of the children of immigrants identify as Spanish, with no significant
differences between boys (49.4%) and girls (47.1%), Madrid (40.4%) and
Barcelona (46.9%) or between the original sample (50.1%) and the
replacement sample (48.3%). At the average age of 18, a significant
difference is found between those born in Spain to foreign parents (second
generation), 81.5% of whom identify with Spain, and those born in
another country and brought here at a young age (generation 1.5); in this
group identification with Spain falls to 40.7%.
As a result of the longitudinal nature of the ILSEG, it has been possible
to examine how national identification has varied over time; we found that
identification with Spain increased significantly among children of
immigrants between early and late adolescence: in 2008, only 22.1%
identified as Spanish, and in 2012 this doubled to 43.1%. Causal analysis
confirms the important impact of time of residence in the country on
national identity. In addition, being male and of high social status
increases identifying with Spain by 20% in comparison with the rest of the
sample.
Perception of discrimination is another important psycho-social
dimension. The social science literature reveals that high perceptions of
discrimination in early adolescence lower self-esteem and lead to
“reactive” identities rejecting the receiving society. The processes of
adaptation of the children of immigrants in France, the United Kingdom
and the Netherlands have been marked by this. Data from the ILSEG
reveals that perceptions of discrimination among the children of
immigrants are very low. At the average age of 18, only 5% of the sample
said that they had experienced discrimination “sometimes or many times”.
The figures do not vary significantly between males (5.4%) and females
(4.8%), and are practically identical to that of the children of natives;
6.1% of them also say that they have been discriminated against. These
180 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
data indicate a generally positive process of adaptation and a
psychological and cultural convergence between the children of
immigrants and natives. In Spain, there are no indicators of cultural
rejection or of reactive identities among immigrants or their children.
Causal analysis indicates that perceptions of discrimination in early
adolescence (2008) are the determining factor of perceiving discrimination
in late adolescence (2012); however, socioeconomic status, growing up in
intact families (with both biological parents present) and especially,
positive relations between parents and children in early adolescence
significantly reduce experiences of discrimination in later years. The latter
effect is very significant statistically; the likelihood of this result occurring
by chance is less than 1 in a 1,000.
Parent-child relationships and perceptions of discrimination form a causal
loop; that is, positive intergenerational relationships reduce experiences of
discrimination four years later, but experiences of discrimination in early
adolescence worsen relationships with parents over time. Again, the
longitudinal design of the ILSEG study makes it possible to establish dual
causality. Young people who have grown up in intact families have better
relationships with their parents. Surprisingly, the relationships of those
born in Spain are worse than those born in another country. The
possibility of this being by chance is less than 1 in a 1,000 and indicates
that families in which parents and children were born in the same country
and belong to the same cultural universe tend to have much better
intergenerational relations than families where there is a cultural
separation, as there can be between immigrant parents and children born
in Spain.
One last important psycho-social dimension is self-esteem. The ILSEG
measured self-esteem using the Rosenberg scale, a “transnational” index
of high reliability and validity. Scores range from 1 to 4, with higher scores
representing higher self-esteem. In the ILSEG sample, the average score
was 2.9, a relatively high level of self-esteem. This figure did not vary
much by city of residence (Madrid, 3.1; Barcelona, 2.9), by type of school
(public school, 3.0; private schools, 2.9) or by place of birth (3.1 for those
born in Spain; 2.9 for those born in another country). The only important
variation was by sex: girls had much lower levels of self-esteem than boys.
Conclusions 181
This finding is identical to that of the CILS in the United States and other
studies in England, Germany and Australia.
Causal analysis of self-esteem confirms these results. Once other variables
are controlled for, being a girl reduces the level of self-esteem as measured
by the scale by 0.033 points. The likelihood that this is due to chance is
less than 1 out of 100. Other variables having significant effects on selfesteem are family socioeconomic status and intact families, both help to
improve self-image. The most important effect, however, is that of intrafamily relations. A positive relationship with parents increases self-esteem
by 0.253 points; the likelihood of this being a random effect is less than 1
out of 1,000. This result confirms the existence of another causal loop,
these two psychosocial dimensions supporting each other mutually.
Educational achievements In the four years that passed between the original survey of the children
of immigrants and the follow-up survey, only 15% of the respondents
had left school. This positive finding is reinforced by the fact that this
percentage was only 10% among those born in Spain and only increased
to 32% among the children of Chinese parents. This last group is
characterized by a strong entrepreneurial orientation that leads many
Chinese adolescents to drop out of school in order to work in their
parents’ businesses or those of other co-nationals.
As important as or more important than remaining in school is the level
of education pursued by the children of immigrants. Here we find a clear
division: more than one-third of those enrolled were finishing basic
secondary education (ESO) or doing initial vocational training (PCPI).
At the other extreme, 44.1% went on to the baccalaureate or to advanced
vocational training, while a minority (4.7%) had already started
university. Girls have a clear advantage over boys in both remaining in
school and in the level of education pursued. Regarding the latter, there
are also clear differences by national origin: more than 60% of
Argentinians, Venezuelans and Chinese that decided to remain in school
were enrolled in the baccalaureate, advanced vocational training or
university; this percentage decreased to 44% among Dominicans, 40%
among Bolivians and 35% among Moroccans.
182 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
Causal analysis of remaining in school and the level of education
pursued confirm the significant advantage of girls and the positive effects
of family socioeconomic status and intact families. The possibility that
all these effects are due to chance is statistically insignificant (less than 1
out of 1,000).
However, the most important effect is that of ambition: the young people
who aspired to go to university or obtain a graduate degree in early
adolescence (2008 survey) had a greater likelihood of having in fact made
it to university or being enrolled in the baccalaureate or advanced
vocational training.
On a scale of 1 to 10, the grade average of the same students(1) from the
original sample was 6.15 (among those enrolled in any programme) and
6.19 in the replacement sample. Here girls also have a significant
advantage over boys (with grade averages of 6.30 in comparison to 5.99
in the original sample, and 6.37 and 6.02 in the replacement sample).
There are no significant differences by city of residence or by type of
school (public or private school). The children of native parents have
higher grade averages than the children of immigrant parents; girls of
native origin are the only group with grade averages above 7. These
findings confirm the existence of academic disadvantages among the
children of immigrants, already noted in the OECD PISA studies.
However, in our study, the difference in grade average between natives
and immigrants is modest and not insurmountable.
Causal analysis of academic performance confirms the significant
advantage of girls (grade averages over 3% higher) and the disadvantage
of students above the average age for their level (grade averages 10%
lower). Knowledge of Spanish increases net grade average by 3%, but the
most important effect is again ambition: the grades of young people who
in early adolescence expected to go to university are 6% higher than the
average, controlling for other variables; those that expected to obtain a
graduate degree surpassed the average by 10%. With these and other
predictors controlled for, the majority of differences by nationality
disappear, with the exception of Romanian children, who exhibit a net
(1) It was measured in both 2008 and 2012 although here we are referring to the grade average in 2012.
Conclusions 183
academic advantage of 4% and those of Equatorial Guinea, with a
disadvantage of 12%.
In light of the decisive role of ambition – high aspirations and
expectations in early adolescence – we examined what is behind this. We
found that the characteristics of the family and especially parental
ambition are important. The high educational expectations of parents in
the sample have a strong effect on the expectations of the children, even
when controlling for sex, age, and other characteristics. The likelihood of
a random effect in the transmission of parental expectations to their
children is less than 1 out of 1,000.
Based on the ILSEG samples of parents and children we were able to
construct a structural statistical model of ambition that verifies the
decisive effect of parental attitudes. This model is presented in chapter 5
(graph 5.7). Other important effects on children’s educational ambitions
are sex (girls have higher ambitions than boys), age (lower for students
who are older than others in the same level) and knowledge of Spanish
(strongly associated with higher ambitions ).
The ILSEG data indicate that the effects of parental ambition on
academic performance remain significant because they are transmitted to
their children. Thus, the expectations of parents that their children will
attain a university degree or higher increases their academic scores by a
net 6%.
With the data from the original and follow-up samples, it is possible to
construct a second causal model on educational attainment. This model
is also presented in chapter 5 (graph 5.9) and again shows the decisive
role of early ambition. Controlling for parental attitudes, educational
ambition is also determined by knowledge of Spanish, self-esteem, sex,
age and the influence of friends in early adolescence.
Labour market participation, occupation, income and downward
assimilation
At the time of the 2012 survey, only 12% of the respondents were
working. This low level of labour market participation is a result of the
high percentage still in school. Among those who were already working,
184 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
only 22.5% worked full-time, the rest worked part-time. Residents of
Madrid had a greater likelihood of finding employment than those who
live in Barcelona (13.4% were employed in Madrid compared to 10.3% in
Barcelona) and a greater likelihood of working full-time (26.6%
compared to 16.5% among those employed).
A significant difference is found between immigrant children and the
children of natives. Only 9.1% of the latter group were working and
among them 95% worked part-time, that is, as a supplementary activity
to attending school.
Causal analysis of the early entrance into the labour market indicates
that older adolescents predictably have a greater likelihood of being
employed, while the likelihood is lower among those who come from
intact families. Higher self-esteem at an early age also significantly
decreases labour market participation later in adolescence, instead
encouraging remaining in school. There are no significant differences
among national groups, with the exception of the Chinese: the
participation of Chinese adolescents in the labour market is 1.58 times
higher than the average. Only age has as strong an effect.
Among the children of immigrants that are already working, more than
half (52.2%) do not have contracts and 73.6% earn less than 600 euros
per month. There are no significant differences with native children who
already work: 53% of them also work without a contract and 85.7% earn
less than 600 euros per month. Among the children of immigrants there
are, however, significant differences by sex. Boys have an advantage over
girls in the likelihood of working with some type of contract (52.8%
compared to 33.7%) and of having an income over 600 euros per month
(31.3% compared to only 2.4%).
Causal analysis of income among those who already work confirms the
positive effect of sex (males) and of being older. Positive relationships
with parents also help to increase income, possibly through family
support in getting better jobs.
Looking at all these variables, no significant differences are found among
national groups, except for Equatorial Guinea: among these Sub-Saharan
Africans, the likelihood of having access to jobs with relatively high
Conclusions 185
incomes is 13 times less than for the rest of the sample. The majority of
this group who are employed work in the informal sector with very low
pay.
Finally, we developed an Index of Downward Assimilation (IDA), consisting
of six indicators that reveal a process of problematic adaptation. These are:
dropping out of school, leaving the family home, being unemployed and not
studying, being arrested or imprisoned and having children.
We found that 78.4% of the unified sample of children of immigrants
(follow-up and replacement samples) did not report any of these
incidences at an average age of 18, and only 4.3% reported two or more.
The percentages are very similar in the sample of children of Spanish
parents, among whom 76.5% did not reveal any symptom of problematic
adaptation, and only 3.8% reported two or more.
Causal analysis of the IDA indicates that among children of immigrants,
the older the adolescent is, the greater the likelihood of experiencing one
or more indicators of downward assimilation, while higher family status
and having grown up with two biological parents decrease the probability.
Positive intergenerational relations and self-esteem in early adolescence
also significantly reduce negative incidents (by 0.17 and 0.31,
respectively). The children of Peruvians and in particular, the children of
Chinese immigrants are the least likely to demonstrate tendencies toward
downward assimilation. The Chinese coefficient is particularly
noteworthy and confirms that this group avoids incidents that could
compromise their upward mobility, whether through business or through
attaining high academic qualifications.
These figures are comparable to those obtained by the CILS in the
United States where, at an average age of 18, only 7% had left school,
only half the percentage found in the ILSEG sample. However, six years
later, the CILS revealed that 25% had only finished basic secondary
school or less; 8% were unemployed; 24% had children and 6% had been
imprisoned (12% among males).
This comparison tells us that despite the low indications of downward
assimilation among the children of immigrants in Spain, the final chapter
in this story remains to be written and it remains to be seen how well
186 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
these young people will be integrated in adulthood. At present, the best
indicator of a positive adaptation process is the lack of significant
differences with the children of natives, which implies that both groups
belong to the same sociocultural universe.
Immigrant organizations in Spain and the future of the children
of immigrants
The fieldwork for the ILSEG ended in the fall of 2012, in the midst of
the still raging economic crisis. Because of time factors and resources it
was not possible to do additional fieldwork to study how our respondents
and their families were coping with this situation. We knew that up to
2012, only a few had returned to their countries, as is explained in
chapter 3. However, the questionnaire did not contain detailed
information on the present moment and the opinions of immigrant
groups regarding the impact of the crisis. To place the quantitative
findings presented in this book within this context, at the beginning of
2013, we decided to carry out a series of qualitative interviews with
leaders of diverse associations and NGOs of immigrant communities in
Madrid and Barcelona.
As we have seen, the analysis of the ILSEG data consistently
demonstrates positive results regarding the integration of the children of
immigrants in Spain, with no evidence of downward assimilation or the
existence of widespread reactive identities. In the difficult period the
country is going through today, it is necessary to point out that
something has been done right with respect to these new generations of
Spaniards. However, the implications of these findings are not the same
if immigration continues or if it is reversed. If immigration continues,
the findings will serve as a foundation and guide for designing future
policies aimed at immigrants and their children. In the latter case, these
findings would have more of a historical interest: the adaptation of the
children of immigrants took place in a normal and generally positive
manner, but now there are no more immigrant children to integrate.
The 25 surveys carried out with leaders of immigrant organizations in
Madrid and Barcelona have yielded three main finding: 1) immigrant
Conclusions 187
groups have decreased in size because many have left the country, and
fewer are now arriving; 2) despite this, the communities remain, the
organizations struggle not to disappear and all hope that the crisis will
end and the economy will return to normal; 3) almost unanimously, the
leaders support a process of selective integration, which combines
loyalty to the culture of origin with a new Spanish identity; they do not
see a contradiction between the two.
The consequences of the crisis
The reports from the leaders of the immigrant groups regarding the
consequences of the crisis on their communities are very close to what we
already know or might expect: a significant increase in unemployment,
declining salaries, impossibility of supporting families in their country of
origin, and repeated complaints about the restrictions on and even
elimination of access to public health care. All of this has led many to
return to their own countries or to migrate to other cities in Northern
Europe or North America.
To all of this must be added the drastic reduction in state aid to
immigrant organisations and for projects in immigrant communities. In
the words of one Romanian community leader, “Spain is destroying the
third sector”. Many organisations have had to give up their headquarters
and some of the oldest organisations, such as the Moroccan ATIME,
have disappeared. In the face of cuts in state aid, organisations are
increasingly dependent on their own resources, consisting of
contributions from members, raffles, etc. But widespread impoverishment
is causing them to disappear, which has an impact on the aid programmes
for immigrants and their children precisely at the time support is most
needed.
Resist and remain
Despite all these problems, immigrant communities have not disappeared.
In particular, it is important to point out that at the average age of 18,
integration and a sense of belonging in the country is a given for the
children of immigrants, especially those who were born in Spain or
arrived here at an early age. It is very difficult for families whose children
188 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
have been educated here and integrated into Spanish society, to uproot
them and return to their country of origin. Of course, there is migration
to other European countries or North America in search of economic
opportunity, but this trend does not seem to be greater among the
children of immigrants integrated into Spanish society than among
natives.
The leaders of immigrant groups are in general of the same opinion.
Ninety-four per cent of those interviewed trust that their organisations
will continue despite the crisis and almost 50% are certain they will come
out of it stronger. In the words of one Moroccan leader, “The crisis has
united us more”; his organisation continues to be active and to grow. In
the words of the leader of an important Romanian organisation: “In
Spain, people live better than in Romania; some leave, but they will
return”.
In these interviews, the leaders of these organisations emphasised the
significant amount of aid they had received in the past from different
state bodies, including the central government, the Community of
Madrid, the Generalitat of Catalonia and municipal governments, such
as those of Majadahonda, Fuenlabrada, Alcorcón, Alcobendas and
others. Although this aid has sharply decreased in recent years, it provides
additional evidence of why the process of integrating immigrants and
their children in Spain has been positive: the reception in the past by
multiple government bodies was consistently proactive in offering
support for the integration process of immigrant families as well as
communities. This explains in part why 95% of those interviewed by the
ILSEG said that they had not felt discriminated against in Spain and why
a growing majority identifies with the country. More than 80% of the
organisations whose leaders were interviewed continue to maintain links
with state bodies, all trusting that the crisis is a “rough patch” and that
these relations will return to what they were before. In the words of an
Ecuadorian leader, “Our relations with the Community of Madrid have
not changed. Although the funding has decreased, we continue to be in
contact as always. The situation will change in the future”.
Conclusions 189
Selective integration
The large majority of organisations try to maintain the ties between their
members and their countries of origin. Thus, contrary to the theories of
Huntington regarding the United States and his European counterparts,
in the opinions of the leaders of these organizations there is no
contradiction between maintaining these ties and integrating successfully
into Spanish society. This almost unanimous position is shared by the
Colombian, Dominican, Ecuadorian, Moroccan, Romanian and even the
Chinese leaders, who were interviewed over several months in 2013.
In other words, immigrants do not think of acculturation or social
integration as a zero-sum game; on the contrary, they see it as a
harmonious and simultaneously productive combination of past and
present. This attitude, which has been maintained despite the crisis, is
consistent with segmented assimilation theory in regard to the
importance given to the positive effects of selective acculturation. This
finding is also consistent with high levels of positive intergenerational
relations, dependent on this integration between past and present and on
its beneficial effects in protecting children from discrimination. It is
possible that the rejection of the “conflict of civilizations” by the leaders
of immigrant organisations and their respective communities’ also has
something to do with the low levels of perceived discrimination found
among members of the ILSEG sample.
Looking at the future
As we have seen, for a significant sector of children of immigrants, by the
average age of 18, integration into Spanish society is a given. In addition,
and in the opinion of their leadership, immigrant communities, despite
the impoverishment brought on by the crisis, continue to be resilient and
confident of better times. In reality, it is difficult to imagine that the
current economic situation in Spain will continue indefinitely. What is
more likely is that there will be a return to normality and as a result,
sooner or later, a resumption of migratory flows.
190 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
If this is the case, then the findings of the ILSEG study will acquire new
relevance as a basis for the design of policies aimed at the immigrant
population. These policies could be inspired by those that have been
successful up to now, for example, combining learning the Spanish
language, for those who need to, and learning about the receiving society,
with respect and support for cultures of origin. In contrast, to policies of
forced assimilation practiced in other countries that have failed, policies
of tolerance toward immigrant communities and a proactive orientation
toward their goals and organisations is reflected in the positive results of
the processes of integration this study has found.
In addition we must also not forget that these policies can be further
refined by identifying the groups at greatest risk of dropping out of
school, entering the labour market prematurely, and developing reactive
identities. The young people who arrive in Spain after early childhood
and who are enrolled in classes not corresponding to their age group
represent a group at risk of negative results. The same occurs with certain
national groups in which, due to parents’ lack of human capital among
other factors, the children have a greater likelihood of poor academic
performance, dropping out of school and low aspirations and future
expectations. Finally, it would be useful to follow more closely the specific
integration process of the children of Chinese immigrants, marked by
early entrance into the labour market for some (normally in their parents’
businesses or in the businesses of members of their community), but also
by the noteworthy academic achievements of others, as well as by the
almost total absence of indicators of downward assimilation. As China is
the largest source of immigration worldwide, the systematic comparison
of the evolution of their communities outside of the country, including
Spain, represents a valuable scientific and practical project for the future.
Conclusions 191
Bibliography
Ajrough, K.J. and A. jamal (2007): “Assimilating to a white identity: the case
of Arab Americans”, International Migration Review, 41, 860-79.
Alba, R., J, Sloan and J, Sperling (2011): “The integration imperative: the
children of low status immigrants in the schools of wealthy societies”, Annual
Review of Sociology 37, 395-416.
A lba , R. et al. (2002): “Only English by the third generation? Loss and
preservation of the mother tongue among the grandchildren of contemporary
immigrants”. Demography 39, 467-484.
Alba, R. and V, Nee (2003): “Remaking the American Mainstream. Assimilation
and Contemporary Immigration”Cambridge Mass; Harvard University Press.
Aldous, J. (2006): “Family, ethnicity, and immigrant youths’ educational
achievements”, Journal of Family Issues 27, 1633-67.
Altschul, I., D, Oyserman, and D, Bybee (2008): “Racial-ethnic self-schemas
and segmented assimilation: identity and the academic achievement of
Hispanic youth”, Social Psychology Quarterly 71, 302-20.
Aparicio, R. (2007): “La integración de las segundas generaciones en Europa:
el estudio Effnatis” in López Sala, A.M. and L, Cachón (coord.), Juventud
e inmigración (119-136), Canarias: Dirección General de Juventud de la
Consejería de Empleo y Asuntos Sociales del Gobierno de Canarias.
— (2001): “Literatura de investigación sobre los hijos de inmigrantes”,
Migraciones 9, 171-182.
Aparicio, R. and A. Tornos (2006): Hijos de inmigrantes que se hacen adultos,
Madrid: Observatorio Permanente de la Inmigración, Ministerio de Trabajo
e Inmigración.
192 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
Bailey, B. (2000): “Language and negotiation of ethnic/racial identity among
Dominican Americans” Language and Society 29, 555-582.
— 23, 457-85.
Buchman, C. and Dalton, B., (2002): “Interpersonal influences and educational
aspirations in 12 countries: the importance of institutional context”, Sociology
of Education, 75, 2, 99-122.
Cachón, L. (2009): La España immigrante: Marco discriminatorio, mercado de
trabajo y políticas de integración, Barcelona: Anthropos.
Carabaña, J. and Gómez Bueno, C. (1996): Escalas de prestigio profesional,
Madrid: CIS.
Carabaña, J. (2012): “Concentración de inmigrantes y resultados escolares: una
falsa alarma”, ARI Nº 11/2012, Real Instituto Elcano.
— (2008): “El impacto de la inmigración en el sistema educativo español”, ARI
Nº 63/2008, Real Instituto Elcano.
Cebolla, H. (2009): La Concentración de Inmigrantes en las Escuelas Españolas.
ARI 7/2009, Real Instituto Elcano.
Cide (1998): Catorce años de investigación sobre las desigualdades en educación en
España; Madrid, Ministerio de Educación y Cultura.
Checa F., J.C. Checa and A. Arjona. (eds.), (2003): La integración Social de
los Inmigrados: Modelos y Experiencias, Barcelona: Icaria.
Crul, M. and H. Vermeulen (2003): “The second generation in Europe”,
International Migration Review 37, 965-986.
Crul, M., J. Schneider and F. Lelie (2012): The European Second Generation
Compared, Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
Edwards, Lisa M. and Andrea J. Romero (2008) “Coping With Discrimination
Among Mexican Descent Adolescents”, Hispanic Journal of Behavioral
Sciences February 2008 30: 24-39.
Elósegui, K. (2010): “Integración del Alumnado Inmigrante. Obstáculos y
Propuestas”, Revista Española de Educación Comparada 16, 235-264.
Entzinger, H., (2009): “Different systems, similar problems: the French urban
riots from a Dutch perspective”, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 35,
815-834.
Feliciano, C. (2008): “ Education and ethnic identity formation among children
of Latinamerican and Caribbean immigrants” Sociological Perspectives 52,
135-58.
Bibliography 193
Feliciano, C. and Rumbaut, R (2005): “Gendered paths: educational and
occupational expectations and outcomes among adult children of immigrants”,
Ethnic and Racial Studies 25 1087-118.
Fernández Enguita, M. (2008): “Fronteras en las Aulas”, Revista de Educación
345, 157-181.
Fernandez-Kelly, P. (2008): “The back pocket map: social class and cultural
capital as transferable assets in the advancement of second generation
immigrants” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
620, 116-37.
Firebaugh, G (2008): Seven rules for social research, Princeton: Princeton
University Press.
Flores, R. (2012): “The Increasing Significance of Race in Spain: Discrimination
Experiences among Young Immigrants”. Informe, Center for Migration and
Development, Universidad de Princeton.
Fundación Encuentro (1991): Cuadernos de la Fundación Encuentro, nº 121.
Madrid.
G arcía C astaño , F.J., M. R ubio and O. B ouachra (2011): “Población
inmigrante y escuela en España: un balance de investigación”, in García
Castaño, F.L. and S. Carrasco (ed.), Población inmigrante y escuela:
conocimientos y saberes de investigación (141-234), Madrid: Ministerio de
Educación.
Garreta, J. (2008): “Escuela, familia de origen inmigrante y participación”;
Revista de Educación 345, 133-155.
Garreta, J. (2008): “Las Experiencias Escolares de la Inmigración”; Papers
(Barcelona) 2008.
Gibson, M.A. and S. Carrasco (2009): “The education of immigrant youths:
some lessons from the U.S. and Spain” Theory and Practice 48, 249-257.
Giró, J. (2011): Las Amistades y el Ocio de los Adolescentes, Hijos de la
Inmigración. Papers 96/1, 77-95.
Glazer, N. and D.P. Moynihan (1970): Beyond the melting pot: the Negroes,
Puerto Ricans, Jews, and Italians of New York City, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT
Press, 1970.
Glick, J.E. and M.J. White (2004): “Post-secondary school participation of
immigrant and native youth: the role of familial resources and educational
expectations”, Social Science Research 33, 272-99.
194 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
H aller , W., A. P ortes and S. L ynch (2011): “Dreams fulfilled, dreams
shattered determinants of segmented assimilation in the second generation”,
Social Forces 89, 733-62.
Hirshman, Ch. (2001): “The educational enrollment of immigrant youth: a test
of the segmented assimilation hypothesis,” Demography 38, 317-36.
Hirshman, Ch. and L. Falcon (1985): “The educational attainment of religiousethnic groups in the United States”. Research in Sociology of Education and
Socialization 5, 83-120.
Hirschman, Ch.(1983): “America’s melting pot reconsidered” Annual Review of
Sociology 9, 397-423.
Huntington, S.P. (2004): “The Hispanic challenge,” Foreign Policy 141, 30-45.
Ine (2007): Encuesta nacional a inmigrantes.
Instituto Nacional de Estadística (2008): Encuesta Nacional a Inmigrantes.
Jacobson, M. (1999): Whiteness of a Different Color: European Immigrants and
the Alchemy of Race. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.
Jimenez, T.R. (2008): “Mexican immigrant replenishment and the continuing
significance of ethnicity and race”, American Journal of Sociology 113,
1527-67.
Kao, G. and M. Tienda (1998): “Educational aspirations of minority youth”,
American Journal of Education 106, 349-84.
Kasinitz, PH. et al. (2008): Inheriting the City: The Children of Immigrants
Come of Age. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
K asinitz , P h ., J.H. M ollenkopf and M.C. W aters (2002): “Becoming
American/becoming New Yorkers: Immigrant incorporation in a majority
minority city”, International Migration Review 36, 1020-36.
López, D. and R.D. Stanton Salazar (2001): “Mexican-Americans. A second
generation at risk”, in Rumbaut and Portes (eds.): Immigrants in America
(57-90).University of California Press.
Majoribanks, K., (2003): “Family background, individual and environmental
influences, aspirations and young adults’ Educational Attainment: A Followup Study”, Educational Studies 29, 233.
Mata, P., T. Aguado, B. Ballesteros et al. (2007): Racismo, adolescencia e
inmigración: reconocer y afrontar el racismo desde una perspectiva educativa,
Emigra Working Papers 78, Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona.
Bibliography 195
Menjivar, C. (2008): “Educational hopes, documented dreams: Guatemalan
and Salvadoran immigrants’ Legality and Educational Prospects” The Annals
of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 620, 177-93.
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development: Pisa 2006:
Science Competencies for Tomorrow’s World, 2007 (www.oecd.org/pisa).
Pahl, K. and N, Way (2006): “Longitudinal trajectories of ethnic identity
among urban black and Latino adolescents”Child Development 77, 1403-15.
Pérez-Diaz, V. (2009): Educación y familia. Los padres ante la educación general
de sus hijos en España. Madrid: Fundación de las Cajas de Ahorro.
Perreira, K.M., K. Haris and D. Lee (2006): “Making it in America: high
school completion by immigrant and native youth”, Demography 43, 511-36.
Portes, A. (2012): “Tensions that make a difference: institutions, interests and
the immigrant drive”. Sociological Forum 27, 563-578.
Portes Alejandro, E. Vickstrom, W. Haller, and R. Aparicio (2013):
“Dreaming in Spain: parental determinants of immigrant children’s
ambition”, Ethnic and Racial Studies 36, 557-589.
Portes A., A. Celaya, E. Vickstrom and R. Aparicio (2012): “Who are we?
parental influences on self-identities and self-esteem of second generation
youths in Spain” Revista de Investigaciones Sociologicas 70, 9-37.
Portes, A. and A. Rivas (2011): “The adaptation of migrant children”, The
Future of Children, 21, 19-246.
Portes, A., P. Fernández-Kelly and W. Haller (2009): “The adaptation of
the immigrant second generation in America: a theoretical overview and
recent evidence”, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 35, 1077-1104.
Portes, A. and R. Rumbaut (2006): Immigrant America. Berkeley Ca. University
of California Press.
Portes, A. and R.G. Rumbaut (2001): Legacies: The Story of the Immigrant
Second Generation. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Portes, A. and M. Zhou (1993): “The new second generation: segmented
assimilation and its variants” Annals of the American Academy of Political
and Social Science 530, 74-96.
Ream, R.K. (2004): Uprooting Children: Mobility, Social Capital, and MexicanAmerican Underachievement. New York: LFB Scholarly Publishing.
Rosenberg, M., (1979): Conceiving the Self, New York: Basic Books.
196 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
Rumbaut, R.G. and G. Komaie (2010): “Immigration and adult transitions”,
Future of Children 20, 39-63.
Rumbaut, R. (2004): “Ages, life stages, and generational cohorts: decomposing
the immigrant first and second generations in the United States” International
Migration Review 38, 1160-1205.
— (2005): “Turning points in the transition to adulthood: determinants of
educational attainment, incarceration, and early childbearing among children
of immigrants” Ethnic and Racial Studies 28, 1041-86.
— (1994): “The crucible within: ethnic identity, self-esteem, and segmented
assimilation among children of immigrants” International Migration Review
28, 748-94.
Rumbaut, R. and A. Portes (eds.) (2001): Ethnicities. Children of Immigrants in
America. Berkeley: University of California.
Schnapper, D. (1992): L’europe des immigrés. Paris: F. Burin.
Schneider, C.L. (2008): “Police power and race riots in Paris” Politics and
Society 36, 133-159.
Sewell, W. and R.M. Hauser (1972): “Causes and consequences of higher
education: models of the status attainment process” American Journal of
Agricultural Economics 54, 85.
Sewell, W., A.O. Haller and A. Portes (1969): “The educational and early
occupational attainment process”, American Sociological Review 34, 82-92.
Singleton, R. and B.C. Straits (2005): Approaches to Social Research. Fourth
Edition. New York: Oxford University Press.
Telles, E. and V. Ortiz (2008): Generations of Exclusion: Mexican-Americans,
Assimilation, and Race. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. (Spanish
translation, CIS, 2012).
T errén , E. (2011): “Identidades desterritorializadas. El sentimiento de
pertenencia nacional entre los adolescentes de familias inmigradas”, Papers
96/1, 97-116.
T errén , E. and C. C arrasco (2007): “Familia, escuela e inmigración”,
Migraciones 22, 9-46.
Warner, L. and L. Srole (1945): The Social Systems of American Ethnic Groups.
New Haven: Yale University Press.
Bibliography 197
Yiu, J. (2013): “Calibrated ambitions: low educational ambition as a form of
strategic adaptation among Chinese youths in Spain”, International Migration
Review, 2013 (forthcoming).
Zapata-Barrero, R. and Burchianti, F. (2011): Tolerance to Cultural Diversity
in Spanish schools, Barcelona: Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
Zhou, M., J. Lee, J.A. Vallejo, R. Tafoga-Estrada, and .S. Xiong (2008):
“Success attained, deterred, and denied: divergent pathways to social mobility
in Los Angeles’ new second generation” Annals of the American Academy of
Political and Social Sciences 620, 37-61.
Zhou, M. and C.N. Bankston (1996): “Social capital and the adaptation of the
second generation” in A. Portes (ed.) The New Second Generation (197-220).
New York: Russell Sage, 1996.
198 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
Index of tables and graphs
Tables
1.1 A panorama of the theoretical approaches to integration
22
2.1Basic demographic characteristics of the original sample of children
of immigrants, 2008
55
2.2Socio-demographic characteristics of the ILSEG sample of parents,
2009-201057
2.3Follow-up survey of the original sample identified and additional
samples, ILSEG 2011-2012
64
2.4Distribution of frequencies from the original (2008)
and follow-up (2012) surveys of the ILSEG regarding
objective variables
65
2.5Correlations of “Missing” in the following-up survey with variables
in the original survey, 2008-2012
67
2.6Country of birth of the participants in the original ILSEG
survey and the follow-up survey
68
2.7Averages and correlations for objective variables from
the follow-up and replacement samples, 2012
69
3.1Education and occupations of immigrant mothers and fathers,
ILSEG 2010
74
3.2National origins of the parents’ sample, ILSEG 2010
76
3.3 Parents’ year of arrival and legal situation, ILSEG 2010
77
3.4National differences in education, type of employment
and occupational status of immigrant parents, ILSEG 2010
78
3.5Differences in time of residence and Spanish citizenship
of immigrant parents, ILSEG 2010
79
Index of tables and graphs 199
3.6Parents and children’s educational aspirations and expectations,
plus life plans. ILSEG 2010 and 2008
85
3.7 Parents’ involvement in their children’s education, ILSEG 2010
87
3.8Determinants of parents’ involvement in school and their
educational ambitions and expectations for their children,
ILSEG 2010
90
3.9Perception of discrimination by immigrant parents in Spain
and support of co-nationals, ILSEG 2010
93
3.10Attitudes toward Spain among immigrant parents, 2010
96
3.11Attitude of parents regarding their children knowing about
their country of origin, ILSEG 98
4.1National self-identification of the children of immigrants
101
4.2Perceptions of discrimination in children of immigrants in Spain,
ILSEG 2012
103
4.3 Intergenerational relations in late adolescence, ILSEG 2012
104
5.1 Percentage enrolled in school at an average age of 18, 2012
116
5.2Enrolled in school by sex, type of school and city of residence, 2012
117
5.3Type of educational programme in which the children of immigrants are enrolled, 2012
119
5.4Grade average by sample, country of birth, sex, type of school and city of residence: Children of immigrants
in Spain, 2012
121
5.5Attitudes toward school by sample, country of birth, sex, type of school and city of residence. ILSEG, 2012
123
5.6aEducational aspirations by sample, country of birth, type of school and place of residence, ILSEG, 2012
125
5.6bEducational expectations by sample, country of birth, type of school and city of residence, 2012
126
5.7Educational aspirations and expectations over time among the children of immigrants in Spain
129
5.8Academic performance of the children of immigrants and children of natives, 2012
130
200 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
6.1 Family income
155
6.2Housing situation
157
6.3Youth who are employed and types of employment
158
6.4 Type of contract and wages (if working)
159
6.5Occupational aspirations and expectations
161
6.6Details of occupational aspirations by sex
163
6.7 Occupational aspirations of the children of immigrants over time
164
6.8Correlation between items and frequency distributions (in %)
of downward assimilation (IDA) among children of immgrants, 2012 172
6.9Correlation between items and frequency distributions (in %)
of downward assimilation (IDA) among natives, 2012
173
Graphs
1.1Trajectories of intergenerational mobility: a model
32
1.2 Wisconsin model of status attainment
34
1.3Socioeconomic mobility between immigrant generations.
Pressures to assimilate in the receiving society
40
2.1 Flow chart of the steps taken in the tracking of the sample
63
3.1Weight of the different determinants of occupational status,
ILSEG 2010
82
3.2Determinants of Family Income in Spain, among Immigrant
Parents, ILSEG 2010
83
3.3Determinants of experiences of discrimination mentioned
by parents, ILSEG 2010
94
4.1Determinants of national self-identity in children of immigrants
in Spain, ILSEG 2012
106
4.2Determinants of the perception of discrimination in children
of immigrants, ILSEG 2012
108
4.3Determinants of intergenerational relations among children
of immigrants, ILSEG 2012
109
4.4Determinants of self-esteem among children of immigrants,
ILSEG, 2008
111
Index of tables and graphs 201
5.1Determinants of children of immigrants in Spain staying
in school, 2012
133
5.2Enrolment in advanced levels among the children of immigrants in Spain, 2012 135
5.3Determinants of grade averages (logarithms) in secondary school of the children of immigrants in Spain, 2012
138
5.4Determinants of attitudes toward school among the children of immigrants in Spain, 2012
140
5.5Determinants of the educational aspirations of the children of immigrants in Spain, 2010 143
5.6Determinants of the educational expectations of the children of immigrants in Spain, 2010
144
5.7 A structural model of ambitiona
145
5.8.aInfluence of parents and children on being enrolled in school
146
5.8.bInfluence of parents and children on being enrolled in upper secondary and university
147
5.8.cInfluence of parents and children on grade averages
(logarithm) 148
5.9A non-recursive causal model of educational achievement among the children of immigrants in Spain, 2012
151
6.1Determinants of entry into the labour market of children
of immigrants, 2012
166
6.2Determinants of wages among children of immigrants
who work, 2012
167
6.3Determinants of occupational aspirations (continual scale)
in late adolescence, 2012
169
6.4Determinants of occupational aspirations (professional/executive
vs. others) in late adolescence, 2012
170
6.5Determinants of downward assimilation among children
of immigrants, 2012
175
202 GROWING UP IN SPAIN: THE INTEGRATION OF THE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS
Social Studies Collection
Available on the internet: www.laCaixa.es/ObraSocial
Published titles
1. FOREIGN IMMIGRATION
IN SPAIN (Out of stock)
Eliseo Aja, Francesc Carbonell,
Colectivo Ioé (C. Pereda, W. Actis
and M. A. de Prada), Jaume Funes
and Ignasi Vila
2. VALUES IN SPANISH SOCIETY
AND THEIR RELATION TO
DRUG USE (Out of stock)
Eusebio Megías (director)
3. FAMILY POLICIES FROM A
COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE
(Out of stock)
Lluís Flaquer
4. YOUNG WOMEN IN SPAIN
(Out of stock)
Inés Alberdi, Pilar Escario
and Natalia Matas
5. THE SPANISH FAMILY
AND ATTITUDES TOWARD
EDUCATION (Out of stock)
Víctor Pérez-Díaz, Juan Carlos
Rodríguez and Leonardo Sánchez
Ferrer
6. OLD AGE, DEPENDENCE AND
LONG-TERM CARE (Out of stock)
David Casado Marín and Guillem
López and Casasnovas
7. YOUNG PEOPLE AND THE
EUROPEAN CHALLENGE
Joaquim Prats Cuevas (director)
8. SPAIN AND IMMIGRATION
Víctor Pérez-Díaz, Berta ÁlvarezMiranda and Carmen GonzálezEnríquez
9. HOUSING POLICY FROM A
COMPARATIVE EUROPEAN
PERSPECTIVE
Carme Trilla
10. DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
(Out of stock)
Inés Alberdi and Natalia Matas
11. I MMIGRATION, SCHOOLING
AND THE LABOUR MARKET
Colectivo Ioé (Walter Actis, Carlos
Pereda and Miguel A. de Prada)
12. A
COUSTIC CONTAMINATION
IN OUR CITIES
Benjamín García Sanz and Francisco
Javier Garrido
13. F
OSTER FAMILIES
Pere Amorós, Jesús Palacios, Núria
Fuentes, Esperanza León and Alicia
Mesas
14. P
EOPLE WITH DISABILITIES
AND THE LABOUR MARKET
Colectivo Ioé (Carlos Pereda, Miguel
A. de Prada and Walter Actis)
15. M
OSLEM IMMIGRATION
IN EUROPE
Víctor Pérez-Díaz, Berta ÁlvarezMiranda and Elisa Chuliá
16. P
OVERTY AND SOCIAL
EXCLUSION
Joan Subirats (director)
17. THE REGULATION OF
IMMIGRATION IN EUROPE
Eliseo Aja, Laura Díez (coordinators)
18. EUROPEAN EDUCATIONAL
SYSTEMS: CRISIS OR
TRANSFORMATION?
Joaquim Prats and Francesc
Raventós (directors), Edgar Gasòliba
(coordinator)
19. P
ARENTS AND CHILDREN
IN TODAY’S SPAIN
Gerardo Meil Landwerlin
20. SINGLE PARENTING AND
CHILDHOOD
Lluís Flaquer, Elisabet Almeda
and Lara Navarro
21. THE IMMIGRANT BUSINESS
COMMUNITY IN SPAIN
Carlota Solé, Sònia Parella and
Leonardo Cavalcanti
22. ADOLESCENTS AND ALCOHOL.
THE PARENTAL VIEW
Eusebio Megías Valenzuela (director)
23. INTERGENERATIONAL
PROGRAMMES. TOWARDS
A SOCIETY FOR ALL AGES
Mariano Sánchez (director)
24. Food, consumption
and health
Cecilia Díaz Méndez y Cristóbal
Gómez Benito (coordinators)
25. VOCATIONAL TRAINING
IN SPAIN. TOWARD THE
KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY
Oriol Homs
26. Sport, health and quality
of life
David Moscoso Sánchez and Eduardo
Moyano Estrada (coordinators)
27. The rural population
in Spain. from disequilibrium to social sustainability
Luis Camarero (coordinator)
28. CARING FOR OTHERS
A CHALLENGE FOR
THE 21ST CENTURY
Constanza Tobío, M.ª Silveria Agulló
Tomás, M.ª Victoria Gómez and
M.ª Teresa Martín Palomo
Available in English from No. 23
29. SCHOOL FAILURE
AND DROPOUTS in Spain
Mariano Fernández Enguita
Luis Mena Martínez and
Jaime Riviere Gómez
30. Childhood and
the Future: new realities,
new challenges
Pau Marí-Klose, Marga Marí-Klose,
Elizabeth Vaquera and Solveig
Argeseanu Cunningham
31. I mmigration and the
Welfare State in Spain
Francisco Javier Moreno Fuentes
María Bruquetas Callejo
32. Individualization
and Family Solidarity
Gerardo Meil
33. Disability and Social
Inclusion
Colectivo Ioé (Carlos Pereda,
Miguel Ángel de Prada, Walter Actis)
34. THE TRANSITION TO
ADULTHOOD IN SPAIN:
ECONOMIC CRISIS AND LATE
EMANCIPATION
Almudena Moreno Mínguez
(coordinator)
35.Crisis and Social Fracture
in Europe. Causes and
Effects in Spain
Miguel Laparra and Begoña Pérez
Eransus (coords.)
36.The Fertility Gap in
Europe: Singularities
of the Spanish Case
Gøsta Esping-Andersen (Editor),
Bruno Arpino, Pau Baizán, Daniela
Bellani, Teresa Castro-Martín,
Mathew J. Creighton, Maike van
Damme, Carlos Eric Delclòs,
Marta Domínguez, María José
González, Francesca Luppi, Teresa
Martín-García, Léa Pessin, Roberta
Rutigliano
37.Neighbourhood Crime
Perceptions and Reactions
Alfonso Echazarra
38.Growing up in Spain:
The integration of the
children of immigrants
Rosa Aparicio and Alejandro Portes
This study looks at the process of integration of adolescent children
of immigrants in Spanish society, children who were born or who
have spent most of their lives in Spain. How does being a part of two
cultures influence their identity and self-esteem? Have they
experienced discrimination? Are they able to achieve similar
academic and occupational goals as their Spanish peers? Are there
differences among the children of immigrants of different national
origins? The findings presented here provide the answers to these
questions.
To achieve their objectives, the authors interviewed nearly seven
thousand adolescent children of immigrants, their parents and a
comparable sample of Spanish adolescents. Data was gathered on
the same sample of second generation adolescents at two different
times, in 2008, and then four years later, in 2012. This made it posible
to observe the changes that took place over this time during their
adolescence, a key period in relation to later integration in adulthood.
The findings invite us to reflect on both the successes and failures in
the process of integration of this second generation of immigrants,
while identifying important factors for evaluating policies already in
place, as well as those that will be implemented in the future.