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Educational Achievement of Immigrant Adolescents in Spain: Do Gender and Region of Origin Matter?
Author(s) -
Vaquera Elizabeth,
Kao Grace
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2012.01791.x
Subject(s) - psychology , disadvantage , immigration , developmental psychology , academic achievement , bivariate analysis , geography , political science , law , statistics , mathematics , archaeology
This study explores the educational achievement of immigrant youth in Spain employing data from 3 waves of the Longitudinal Study of Families and Childhood (Pànel de Famílies i Infància), a representative sample of children in Catalonia first interviewed at ages 13–16 in 2006 ( N = 2,710). Results suggest consistent disadvantage in achievement among first‐generation students. Differences in achievement between the second and third generations are apparent in bivariate analyses, but are explained by observable characteristics in multivariate analyses. Gender‐specific analyses uncover a large achievement gap between first‐generation girls and their third‐generation counterparts, but no equivalent gap for boys. Region‐of‐origin differences are modest, with the exception of Latin American adolescents who exhibit the lowest educational outcomes. The significance of perceptions about school on achievement are discussed.