Work

Immigrant selectivity and second generation education in Italy: An aspiration squeeze?

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Theories of immigrant selection posit that immigrants’ pre-migration social standing may explain their children’s educational outcomes. However, this has only been tested in Nordic and Western European countries, where the children of immigrants perform especially well in education. Moreover, few studies investigate the impact of selection on different educational outcomes. Using the 2015 Italian survey ‘Integration of the Second Generation’, we investigate whether (a) immigrant parents are more educated than similar individuals in their countries of origin (positively selected); (b) selection is associated with children’s school grades, attitudes, and aspirations; (c) selection explains educational differences across immigrant groups. We find wide variation in educational selectivity between origin groups. In line with prior evidence, educational selectivity is associated with higher educational aspirations but not school grades, which may lock the second-generation into an “aspiration squeeze”, with ambitious goals but lower means to attain them.

Source: Revista Internacional de Sociología

DOI: 10.3989/ris.2025.83.4.1499

Authors: Alessandro Ferrara, Claudia Brunori

Institutions: WZB Berlin Social Science Center, Freie Universität Berlin, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Centre for Demographic Studies

Language: English

Topic: Education and experiences of immigrants and refugees

Subfield: Education

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Reduced inequalities, Quality education

Open Access status: diamond

Funders: European Commission, European Research Council