Poster #69 - Educational Attainment and Family Capital as Protective Factors Against Immigrant Youth Risk Behaviors:Evidence from Add Health

• In Event: ASC Poster Session II

Abstract

This study examines how educational attainment and family capital (symbolic, economic, cultural, and social) serve as protective factors against substance use, violence, and delinquency among immigrant youth. Drawing on Waves I–IV of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), we examine how these forms of capital interact with educational outcomes to influence behavioral trajectories from adolescence into adulthood. Grounded by Bourdieu’s Forms of Capital theory and Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems framework, we highlight how multilevel influences, from family and school to broader societal contexts, shape developmental outcomes. We discuss the implications of structural and familial inequalities for immigrant youth development and in designing prevention and intervention strategies.

Authors

• Jie Soo Hong, University of Colorado Denver

• Jorge Chavez, University of Colorado Denver