Adolescent Immigrants' Well-Being: The Case of Ethnic German Immigrants in Germany

About 3.5 million citizens in Germany are so-called Aussiedler.This is a group of ethnic Germans whose ancestors used to live in various countries of Eastern and Southeastern Europe. The political changes in the post-Soviet nations resulted in a steady influx of ethnic Germans, who in most regards resemble immigrants but, due to particularities of German laws, are eligible for immediate citizenship in contrast to about 8 million former guest workers and their families who are treated as aliens. In this article, we report a study on 220 adolescent Aussiedler and their parents. In a four-wave longitudinal design, the course of well-being after immigration and some predictors of individual differences in their adaptation were investigated for a group of novices (0 to 18 months of residence in Germany) and a group of experienced Aussiedler (19–36 months of residence), both on average 13.5 years of age. Results showed, first, that in line with previous research on immigrants in other cultures, well-being gradually improved from rather low levels soon after immigration. Second, the predictors of inter-individual differences were distinguished by length of residence. Among the experienced group, more improved levels of well-being were observed at the final assessment, if the adolescents shared their families' decision to emigrate, were given more leeway for their own decisions, came from families with higher cohesion, and engaged in leisure activities with local age-mates. In contrast, newcomers were better off affectively if their parents shared less collectivist value orientations and if they entertained fewer contacts with local peers. These distinct patterns were interpreted against the backdrop of social comparison processes with local German age-mates. The article concludes with some informed speculations about differences from other groups of immigrants in Germany.     

Culture,Race, and the Economic Assimilation of Immigrants

The economic assimilation of European-origin immigrants is fairly rapid but selectively culture contingent; the economic assimilation of racial minority immigrants is less rapid and less culture contingent. Regression analysis of survey data examines occupational status and earnings effects of eight ethnic attachments among men and women in seven ethnic and racial minorities in mainstream and enclave employment in Toronto (N = 1792), controlling for foreign and domestically acquired human capital. Assimilationist pressures that the survey showed to be widely perceived may apply more to Europeans than to racial minorities. Economic assimilation is affected when foreignness is most pronounced: very selectively for European immigrants and universally for racial minorities treated as foreign, presumably based on skin color, regardless of specific culture, identity, behaviors, or network affiliations.     

Self‐Selection and Economic Assimilation of Immigrants: The Case of Iranian Immigrants Arriving to Three Countries During 1979–1985

The study is designed to evaluate the impact of the interaction between patterns of immigrants' self‐selection and the context of reception at destinations on economic assimilation of Iranian immigrants who came to three countries during 1979–1985. For that purpose, we studied immigrants at the age of 22 or higher upon arrival by utilizing the 5 percent 1990 and 2000 Public Use Microdata files (PUMS) of the United States census, the 20 percent demographic samples of the 1983 and 1995 Israeli censuses of population, and the 1990 and 2000 Swedish registers. The results indicate that the “most qualified” immigrants – both on observed and unobserved variables – who left Iran right after the Islamic revolution, arrived in the US Their positive self‐selection led them to reach complete earnings assimilation with natives there. Iranian immigrants who arrived in Israel and Sweden did not achieve full earnings assimilation with natives. Of these two groups, a smaller immigrant‐to‐native gap in average earnings was found in Sweden, but in the same time Iranian immigrants in Israel were more positively self‐selected and showed better assimilation than their counterparts in Sweden. Market structure played a certain role in immigrants' earnings assimilation mainly in Sweden.     

Immigrants and Social Networks in a Job‐Scarce Environment: The Case of Germany1

Though information about jobs passed through personal networks has been central to the labor market integration of immigrants in the United States, its role in the economic absorption of immigrants in Germany, where jobs are scarcer and employers more likely to demand formal qualifications, is less clear. Through analysis of German Socio‐Economic Panel data, we discovered that nearly half of all immigrant‐origin job changers found their positions through networks and that the most vulnerable to unemployment – the young and the less educated – were especially likely to rely on them. Also, jobs found through networks were as likely to lead to improved working conditions as jobs acquired through more formal means. These findings have implications both for debates about assimilation and for social policy.     

Intergenerational Assimilation by Intermarriage: Hispanic and Asian Immigrants

Using multigenerational data, intermarriage rates were examined among non-White, non-European immigrants to test two competing assimilation theories: classic assimilation theory and segmented assimilation theory. Later generations of Asian and Hispanic immigrants were more likely to outmarry than their first-generation relatives, an outcome predicted by both theories. High achieving Asians were not more likely to engage in outmarriage, whereas educational achievement was positively correlated with outmarriage rates among Hispanics. Classic assimilation theory predicts outmarriage only after structural assimilation is achieved; therefore, this study provided more evidence to support segmented assimilation theory. However, low socioeconomic status Hispanics and Asians were not more likely to outmarry non-Whites, as segmented assimilation theory would suggest.     

Assimilation and Educational Achievement: the Case of the Second Generation Japanese-American*

A review of the literature reveals three conflicting hypotheses concerning Japanese-American educational achievement. Data from a three-generational, national sample of Japanese-Americans are examined to determine the correlates of the second-generation respondents'(the Nisei) educational achievement. Employing four measures of assimilation—cultural, structural, marital, and identificational—the findings suggest that the greater the assimilation of the respondent, the higher the educational achievement. These findings and their implications are discussed.     

The Economic Assimilation of African Immigrants in the United States

This article examines the puzzle that the earnings of African immigrants do not match their high qualifications in terms of educational attainment. We apply cohort analysis to compare the economic assimilation patterns of black African immigrants with that of black non‐African immigrants. We find results that are consistent with the idea that the lower earnings of African immigrants are due to greater difficulty with skill transferability. Africans face substantially lower earnings at entry than black natives and black non‐African immigrants, although they close a substantial part of the initial earnings gap over time. Moreover, the earnings gap at entry has narrowed for recent cohorts; and Africans who migrate during childhood and those with no college education face no disadvantage. We also find similar patterns of assimilation in labour supply and participation in welfare programmes, which indicate that Africans face greater challenges at entry but assimilate at a faster rate.     

Employment Differentials of Second-Generation Muslim Immigrants: Assimilation and Discrimination Hypotheses

Focusing on the status of Muslim women, this paper examines the market employment of the second generation of migrants in multicultural Australia and highlights their differentials with non-Muslims. This group of Muslim women was born and educated in a country clearly characterised by a high level of women's employment. Accordingly, it is theorised that the employment level of second-generation Muslim migrants might also be high as a consequence of assimilation and a greater freedom from religiously ascribed gender roles. The possibility of disadvantage through discrimination is also considered in this analysis. Dealing with assimilation and discrimination hypotheses, the empirical findings of this analysis explain the employment differentials of the second generation of Muslim migrants with non-Muslims in this multicultural setting.     

Mexican Immigrants,Labour Market Assimilation and the Current Population: The Sensitivity of Results Across Seemingly Equivalent Surveys

In this paper we compare estimates of immigrants’ labour supply assimilation profiles using the Current Population Survey Annual Demographic Files (March ADS) and the Current Population Survey Outgoing Rotation Groups (ORGs). We use a measure that is seemingly consistent across both surveys: usual weekly hours of work in the main job. This measure is not only important as it measures the intensive margin of labour supply, but it is also used to estimate hourly earnings in both surveys. Our results indicate that the two surveys produce dramatically different estimates of the change in average hours of work as immigrants’ years in the United States increase: estimates from the March ADS predict much steeper hour's assimilation profiles than do estimates obtained from the ORGs. These differences persist if we include controls for demographic characteristics, and only disappear once we control for occupation heterogeneity. We argue that these differences stem from two separate factors that differentiate the data. First, the ADS and ORG frame the usual “hours worked” question differently. Also, differences in the timing of the surveys may produce seasonality effects that differentially affect the composition of recent and earlier migrants, thereby changing assimilation profiles.     

Social Contacts and the Economic Performance of Immigrants: A Panel Study of Immigrants in Germany

Using data from the German Socio‐Economic Panel, we examined the impact of social contacts on immigrant occupational status and income. In addition to general social contacts, we also analyzed the effects of bonding (i.e., co‐ethnic) and bridging (i.e., inter‐ethnic) ties on economic outcomes. Results show that general social contacts have a positive effect on the occupational status and, in particular, annual income of immigrants. We also find that bridging ties with Germans lead to higher occupational status, but not to increased income. These effects remain visible even when social contacts are measured (at least) 1 year prior to the economic outcomes, as well as when earlier investments in German human capital are considered. Finally, we show that co‐ethnic concentration in the region of residence weakly affects economic returns to German language proficiency and schooling.     

Between Spatial and Social Segregation among Immigrants: The Case of Immigrants from the FSU in Israel

Studies on immigrants' residential concentration have reported mixed findings. Some have argued that immigrants' residential concentration is a necessary step in the process of their social integration because there the newcomers find housing and employment opportunities as well as social support. As they learn the language and improve their socioeconomic status, they move to neighborhoods where they share space with the native population. Others have argued that the ethnic neighborhood delays the process of social integration in the new society because it nurtures informal ethnic social networks that provide incomplete information and retard the process of language acquisition. The study reported here investigated the effect of motivations, perceptions of attitudes of the host society, acculturation and socioeconomic factors on immigrants' residential concentration. It also sought to expand previous research by examining the relationship between immigrants'residential concentration and social relationships with nonimmigrants. Data for the study were collected in 1999 through a survey of immigrants from the FSU who had settled in one northern city in Israel after 1989. The results show a negative relationship of socioeconomic status and fluency in Hebrew with the percentage of immigrants residing in a given neighborhood. The higher the socioeconomic status and the more fluent the immigrant in Hebrew, the lower the percentage of immigrants in his or her neighborhood. Immigrants who expressed a proactive motivation for migration resided in neighborhoods with a low percentage of immigrants. Immigrants' residential concentration was not found to be related to the development of social relationships with the local population. The implications of the findings are discussed.     

Geographic and Spatial Assimilation of Immigrants from Central America's Northern Triangle

With declines in migration from Mexico, the countries of the Northern Triangle of Central America (NTCA) – El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala – are now responsible for some of the largest increases in the population density of Latinos in the United States. Using data from the 5‐year estimates of the 2016 American Community Survey and the Atlas of Rural and Small‐Town America, this article provides a spatial framework for settlement among NTCA immigrants in America. Findings illustrate that, unlike previous streams of Latino migration, which tended to be more agriculturally driven, NTCA immigrants are likely to choose settlement destinations in densely populated counties which support manufacturing rather than those which are farming dependent. We also find that while NTCA communities are predominant in new destinations like Prince Georges and Montgomery counties Maryland, they are also dominant in older Latino destinations like Harris County, Texas and Los Angeles county, California.     

The Community Engagement of Immigrants in Host Societies: The Case of Canada

Using the data from the General Social Survey (2003), the community engagement of immigrants in Canada has been examined along 15 different dimensions. The findings indicate that immigrants add to the overall level of community engagement in Canada in the areas of confidence in public institutions ‐‐ such as judiciary, government, police, welfare system, education, and health care ‐‐ and involvement in religious activities. The areas in which immigrants fall behind are those that involve social interactions with the host population (e.g., trust, neighbourliness, social networks, group activities, volunteering, etc.) or engagement with private sector (i.e., confidence in private institutions such as banks and major corporations). Some of these measures of community engagement improve over time, but there is also an alarming trend that some decline with longer stays in Canada. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

Immigrant Trip Duration: The Case of Immigrants from Western Mexico1

This article uses data from the Mexican Migration Project to determine the factors that affect how long Mexican immigrants stay in the United States. Based on the estimates of a discrete‐time hazard model, the most important predictors of duration are the economic opportunities for immigrants in the United States, the household resources before migration, and the opportunities available at the immigrant's community of origin. The article also finds longer trip duration after the Immigration Reform and Control Act than in previous years and important differences between male and female migrants.     

The Occupational Assimilation of Hispanic Immigrants in the U.S.: Evidence from Panel Data1

This study focuses on the occupational component of the labor market adjustment of Hispanic immigrants. The author asks whether Hispanic immigrants assimilate with natives and what factors influence occupational attainment. The findings suggest that years since migration narrow the socioeconomic gap between Hispanic immigrants, their U.S.‐born Hispanic counterparts, and non‐Hispanic whites. The level of human capital affects the rate of occupational mobility and determines whether convergence occurs in the groups’ socioeconomic occupational status. The occupational status of Hispanic immigrants with low human capital remains fairly stable and does not converge with that of non‐Hispanic whites. However, those with high human capital experience upward occupational mobility. In part, their occupational assimilation is driven by the acquisition of human capital among younger Hispanic immigrants.