The Role of Immigrant Generation and Mentors in Educational Attainment

• In Event: The Educational Experiences of Immigrant Youth

Abstract

We investigate how immigrant generation predicts adolescents’ access to mentors and different types of mentors (i.e., school-based and non-school-based), the effects of mentors on educational attainment, and the heterogeneity in a mentor’s impact across immigrant generations. We analyzed Add Health data of 8,708 participants and found that first and second-generation immigrant adolescents were less likely than non-immigrants to have a mentor. However, there was no significant effect on having a school-based mentor. Mentors predicted educational attainment, whereas the effects of school-based mentors were larger than of non-school-based mentors. The mentors’ effect on going to or graduating from college was largest for first-generation immigrants. Ways of how to use these findings to cultivate equitable education systems are discussed.

Authors

• Anita Caduff, University of California - San Diego

• Nabamallika Dehingia, University of California, San Diego

• Anita Raj, University of California, San Diego