Studying the Nativity Effect on Academic Outcomes for Young Children: Effects of Family Practices and Resources

• In Event: 207 - Section on Sociology of Education Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 06. Immigration and Education

Abstract

Current scholarship on the education of children of immigrants mostly draws from studying adolescents and young adults. There remains limited knowledge on how parental nativity affects the education of young children, and how the established approaches on the immigrant family apply to this group. This study uses the Kindergarten Cohort in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey to examine different types of parental nativity effects on academic outcomes as well as the impact of different sets of family practices and resources. The results indicate that the effect of coming from an immigrant family on academic performance in early childhood is a) overall slightly negative but can be explained away by demographic and socioeconomic factors; b) differs substantially along broad racial groupings; c) is associated with sets of family influences different from otherwise comparable peers of native parents. Discussion about the implications on academic growth trajectories and nativity differences of family impact is provided.

Author

• Por-fu Aspen Chen, University of Connecticut