Migrating to Opportunities: How Family Migration Motivations Shape Academic Trajectories among Newcomer Immigrant Youth

This study describes the relative salience of educational and employment prospects in immigrant parents’ motivations for coming to the United States, and it links these types of parental migration motivations to newcomer immigrant youth's school performance. Data were drawn from the longitudina...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of social issues 2010-12, Vol.66 (4), p.717-739
Main Authors: Hagelskamp, Carolin, Suárez-Orozco, Carola, Hughes, Diane
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic Achievement
Adolescents
Central America
Children & youth
China
Dominican Republic
Families & family life
Family
Grades (Scholastic)
Haiti
Immigrants
Migration
Motivation
Parents
Peoples Republic of China
Studies
Youth
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Summary:This study describes the relative salience of educational and employment prospects in immigrant parents’ motivations for coming to the United States, and it links these types of parental migration motivations to newcomer immigrant youth's school performance. Data were drawn from the longitudinal immigrant student adaptation study, which includes families from Central America, China, Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Mexico. Analyses (N= 256 families) involved quantitative descriptions of parents’ responses to open‐ended questions and individual growth curve analysis of adolescents’ grade point average (GPA) trajectories over five consecutive years. Work prospects were more salient than educational opportunities in the migration motivations of this culturally diverse sample of families. Children whose parents more often mentioned schooling as a reason to immigrate had higher GPAs. The salience of work prospects in parents’ migration motivations was associated with a more rapid decline in GPA throughout high school years. Policy implication and suggestions for future research are discussed.
ISSN:0022-4537
1540-4560
DOI:10.1111/j.1540-4560.2010.01672.x