Teachers as Socializers of Immigrant Youth? The Importance of Teachers’ Personal Relationships With Racial/Ethnic-Minority and Immigrant Adolescents

• In Event: Roundtable Session 24
  In Roundtable Session: Teacher Beliefs and Minority Youth

Abstract

Although teachers are often assumed to play a large role in socializing immigrant youth, little research actually examines their role. I use the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002, a nationally representative sample of high schoolers, to examine whether teachers report having weaker personal relationships with immigrant students, and whether personal relationships are linked to students’ feelings of citizenship and belonging. Overall, results show that immigrant youth have weaker personal relationships with their teachers. Moreover, personal relationships with teachers early are associated with feelings of citizenship and belonging later in high school. These findings show that teachers roles as socializers of may be more limited than previously assumed, and highlight the importance of personal relationships in the lives of immigrant youth.

Author

• Hua-Yu Sebastian Cherng, New York University