From Selectivity to Hyper-Selectivity: Intergenerational Patterns in Immigrant Educational Attainment

• In Event: 20862 - Section on International Migration Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 16: Immigration Integration (1)

Abstract

Sociologists have long been intrigued by observed heterogeneity in second‐generation immigrant outcomes. A central explanation for these variations lies in the differential selectivity of first‐generation immigrants, with certain groups exhibiting “hyper‐selectivity.” In this study, we systematically examine immigrant educational attainment by integrating U.S. Census and Current Population Survey data spanning 71 immigrant groups over the past five decades with information on education levels in immigrants’ countries of origin. We focus on higher education and elite outcomes, using the percentage of individuals aged 25 and older with at least a bachelor’s degree (BA) as our core metric. Drawing on the frameworks of Feliciano (2005) and Lee and Zhou (2015), we operationalize selectivity as the degree to which first‐generation immigrants surpass the average educational attainment in their country of origin, and hyper‐selectivity as the extent to which they exceed the average in both their origin country and in the U.S. We link group‐level repeated cross‐sections for different cohorts, identifying variation in first‐generation (hyper-)selectivity over time and examining its association with the outcomes of 1.5- and second-generation immigrants in later periods. By examining a broader range of immigrant origins beyond commonly studied sending regions, we more systematically document heterogeneity across immigrant groups. Notably, populations from Egypt, India, Iran, and Nigeria demonstrate pronounced hyper‐selectivity, a pattern that is strongly associated with elevated BA attainment among their children. The children’s generations of highly selective, and especially hyper-selective, immigrant groups consistently outpace U.S. average educational attainment levels, highlighting the enduring role of initial selectivity in shaping immigrant integration and class reproduction. This research provides a broader perspective to debates on intergenerational mobility and educational stratification by offering extensive comparisons of selectivity and hyper‐selectivity across diverse immigrant cohorts. In doing so, it contributes to new research on intergenerational mobility and educational stratification in a society experiencing increasingly diverse immigration.

Authors

• Roxanne Louise Corbeil, University of California-Los Angeles

• Kevan Harris, University of California-Los Angeles