Predictive Factors for Social Mobility: Children of Immigrants in Metropolitan Los Angeles

• In Event: Perspectives on Teachers, Students, and Schooling Processes

Abstract

Using data from Immigration and Intergenerational Mobility in Metropolitan Los Angeles (IIMMLA: 2004), the researchers investigate social mobility as measured by adult outcomes of educational attainment level and the age of first full-time employment. We highlight the process of social mobility as experienced by children of immigrants with consideration to their schooling experiences and by extension, college access along with their parents’ characteristics. Through a series of multiple regressions and controlling for citizenship and generation status, significant relationships were found between individual and familial factors of the child and corresponding adult outcomes. As first- and second-generation students have transitioned into middle-aged adulthood, we were able to examine their social mobility, concluding that this population continues to experience social inequities.

Authors

• Linh Dang, University of Rochester

• Jungmin Lee, University of Rochester