Abstract
Recent studies in North America have produced mixed results on the socioeconomic success of second-generation immigrants. This study contributes to this debate by analysing the data of the 1999 Equality, Security, and Community Survey. The analysis reveals that children of immigrant parents are not performing as well as most theories of linear assimilation suggest. Their performance varies depending on whether one or both parents are foreign-born. Specifically, there is a marked similarity between the outcomes of native-born children and second-generation children with only one immigrant parent, and between immigrant children and those of the second generation with two foreign-born parents.
Résumé
En Amérique du Nord, des études récentes ont produit des résultats mixtes quant à la réussite socioéconomique d’immigrants de deuxième génération. Cette étude nourrit le débat en analysant les données provenant de l’enquête de 1999 sur l’égalité, la sécurité et la communauté. L’analyse indique que les enfants d’immigrants ne réussissent pas aussi bien que le laissent croire la majorité des théories sur l’assimilation linéaire. En fait, leur performance varie en fonction de l’origine de leurs parents (si un ou les deux sont nés à l’étranger). Plus précisément, une similarité marquante existe entre les résultats des enfants nés au pays et les enfants de deuxième génération dont un seul parent est immigrant, et entre les enfants immigrants et les enfants de deuxième génération dont les deux parents sont nés à l’étranger.
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Notes
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Data from the first wave of the Equality, Security and Community (ESC) survey were provided by the Institute for Social Research, York University. The ESC project was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), grant number 412-97-0003, Project Director, Jonathan R Kesselman, Public Policy Program, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, British Columbia. The survey component of the ESC study was completed under the direction of Richard Johnston, UBC. Neither the Institute for Social Research, SSHRC, nor the ESC Research Team are responsible for the analyses and interpretations presented here.
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Developed countries include European countries, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand. This operationalization is used to distinguish between predominantly visible-minority population countries where the population is predominantly white.
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Ethnic importance was measured by the question “Is your ethnic origin: (1) very important to you; (2) somewhat important; (3) not very important; (4) not important at all to you?”
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Acknowledgements
This study was made possible through a research grant provided by the Praire Metropolis Center which the authors are grateful. The authors would also like to thank Raluca Buzdugan for her helpful comments and suggestions.
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Halli, S.S., Vedanand The Problem of Second-generation Decline: Perspectives on Integration in Canada. Int. Migration & Integration 8, 277–287 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-007-0022-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-007-0022-z