Investigating the Relationship Between Perceived Discrimination and Future Success of Immigrants

• In Event: Inequality, Discrimination, and Immigration Outcomes

Abstract

Discrimination has serious consequences on the health and well-being of immigrants, and studies have shown that immigrants are unfairly treated in multiple domains of their lives, including education, health care, employment, real estate, and mortgage or loan applications. The current study used longitudinal adolescent data to examine the impacts of perceived discrimination on second-generation immigrants’ tendency to succeed in the future. The two objectives are to assess the direct effects of perceived discrimination on immigrants' future successes and to determine whether there are indirect effects on immigrants’ likelihood of succeeding. Using an advanced structural equation modeling approach, the study observed that discrimination influences an immigrant’s prospects of succeeding over time; immigrants who felt discriminated against during their adolescent days found it difficult to succeed as adults. Also, it was observed that certain individual and psychological characteristics influence immigrants’ prospects of succeeding over time, but such effects are conditioned on discrimination. The policy implications of the study’s findings are tremendous and include a call for strategies to reduce discrimination.

Author

• Francis Boateng, University of Mississippi