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Unpacking Immigration in Youths' Academic and Occupational Pathways Author(s): Vivian Tseng Source: Child Development, Vol.

77, No. 5, Special Issue on Race, Ethnicity, and Culture in Child Development (Sep. - Oct., 2006), pp. 1434-1445 Published by: Wiley on behalf of the Society for Research in Child Development Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3878444 . Accessed: 10/02/2014 09:46
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Child Development,September/October2006, Volume 77, Number 5, Pages 1434-1445

Unpacking Immigration in Youths' Academic and Occupational Pathways


Vivian Tseng
WilliamT. GrantFoundation

This study sought to unpack how immigration is associated with youths' educational choices during the transitionto college and adulthood.Surveys and school recordswere collected on 789 youth (ages 18- 25) with Asian Pacific,Latino,African/Afro-Caribbean, and Europeanbackgrounds.The results indicated generational differencesin educationalchoices, such that children of immigrantschose courses of study with higher math and science contentthan thatof theirpeers with U.S.-bornparents.Mediationanalyses indicatedthatchildrenof immigrantsreportedhighersocial and economicaspirationsthandid theirpeers,and theireconomicaspirations differencesin educational accountedfor partof the generationaldifferencein educationalchoices.Generational choices were also mediated by verbal achievementtest scores and perceived English skills. Anthropologists and psychologists studying culture have long recognized the need to "unpack" the cultural constructs, processes, and regularities that affect child development (Betancourt & Lopez, 1993; Greenfield, 1994; Rogoff, 2003; Super & Harkness, 1986). While cultural research has made considerable progress doing so during the past few decades, immigration scholarship is just beginning to unpack immigration and understand its influence on developmental processes. Increasingly, developmental researchers are assessing generational status via parents' and youths' birthplace, but studies also need to identify, measure, and test the immigrationrelated constructs (i.e., language acquisition, acculturation, changing family roles, etc.) that can explain generational differences. Doing so takes researchers beyond documenting that immigration matters to examining how immigration matters for development. Understanding how immigration matters is increasingly important, given the changing demography of the United States. Children of immigrants now constitute 20% of the U.S. population; their numbers are growing seven times faster than that for children of U.S.-born parents; and 85% of children of immigrants are from Asia, the Pacific Islands, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Africa, and face experiences as racial minorities in the United States (Census, 2001; Shields & Behrman, 2004). The current study seeks to unpack the immigration-

related factors associated with youths' educational


choices during the transition to college and adulthood, a period when developmental tasks include identifying and pursuing occupational interests (Arnett, 2000; Schulenberg, Sameroff, & Cichetti, 2004). Youths' educational choices are examined in terms of the math

and science contentof youths' courses of study.Math and science content has been a majorfocus of developmental research on gender differences in educational and occupational interests (Eccles, 1994; Liben & Bigler, 2002). Immigration scholarship, however, has yet to examine generational differences in these interests. Some prior research has examined panethnic differences, and suggested that immigration-related factors (such as language barriers) might explain a high representation of Asian Americans in math and science fields (Escueta & O'Brien, 1991). Research has yet to test empirically whether children of immigrants are more likely to pursue math and science than their later-generation peers and, if so, whether this applies to diverse groups of immigrants. If math and science interests are associated with immigration, children of immigrants from Latin America, Africa, the Caribbean, eration peers to pursue math and science content areas. Growing evidence suggests that pursuing social and economic mobility aspirations through education is a prominent feature of the contemporary immigrant experience. Studies find that children of families, even after accounting for their often lower

and Europemay be more likely than their later-gen-

Partial support for this research was provided by New York University and the National Institute of Mental Health (T32 MH19890). The author would like to thank Ruth K. Chao for helpful comments on an earlier draft of this manuscript. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Vivian Tseng, William T. Grant Foundation, 570 Lexington Avenue, 18th Floor, New York, NY 10022. Electronic mail may be sent to vtseng@wtgrantfdn.org.

immigrants express higher educational motivation and aspirations than do their peers from U.S.-born socioeconomic status (Fuligni, 1997; Kao & Tienda, 1995; Suarez-Orozco& Suarez-Orozco,1995; Tseng,
C 2006 by the Society for Research in Child Development, Inc. All rights reserved. 0009-3920/2006/7705-0024

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Unpacking Immigration 1435 2004; Vernez & Abrahamse, 1996). Qualitative research indicates that this high educational motivation may be part and parcel of parents' and youths' social and economic mobility aspirations. Because immigrant parents' own mobility is limited by cultural and language barriers, they channel their greatest mobility aspirations to their children (Chao, 1996; Kim, 1993; Matute-Bianchi, 1991). In narratives, immigrant parents describe socializing their children toward educational success and specific occupational choices by using their own low-wage, lowstatus work as a reference point. In Gibson's (1988) ethnography, Punjabi Sikh farm workers warn their children that they must do well in school or "the fields (will be) waiting" for them. Matute-Bianchi (1991) found that Mexican-descent youths internalize these socialization messages and "feel motivated to do well in school so that they can have ... greater opportunities for higher-paying, more satisfying jobs than their parents." Even middle-class immigrants express aspirations that their children will attain greater mobility because they face fewer cultural and language barriers than do their parents (Kim, 1993). Youths from immigrant families may not just express higher social and economic aspirations than their later-generation peers, they also may be more likely to choose math and science content areas that will facilitate their upward mobility. Xie and Goyette (2003) argue that immigrants are drawn to math and science fields because they are in high demand in the economy and bear the promise of high status and well-paying occupations. High social and economic aspirations are not necessarily channeled only into math and science occupations, but for children of immigrants, these fields might represent visible routes for attaining their aspirations. Immigration policy favors highly educated health, engineering, and science professionals, and many adults in immigrant communities are welcomed into the United States because of these occupational preferences (Ong, Bonacich, & Cheng, 1994). Perhaps the most obvious immigration-related factors that are likely to influence youths' educational choices involve learning a new language, both youths' skills and their self-perceptions of their skills. Despite nativist fears, studies indicate that children of immigrants acquire English proficiency at a rapid rate and, during adolescence, they achieve the same or higher reading test scores than do their peers with U.S.-born parents (Fillmore, 1991; Kao & Tienda, 1995; Rumbaut, 1997; Veltman, 1988). Among the select youths who attend college, however, it is largely unknown how youths from immigrant families compare with their later-generation peers on standardized language tests. Some scholars have suggested that the advanced skills, tested in college entrance exams and demanded in college courses, pose greater challenges for immigrant youth (Gray, Rolph, & Melamid, 1996; Sue & Zane, 1985). This may be true even for youths who fared well in high school and may be particularly pronounced for youths who immigrated at older ages. Generational differences in language-related standardized tests may be observed among college-going youth because of the differing nature of college entrance exams, the more select population of college-goers, and the concentration of children of immigrants in poor, urban high schools where academic preparation is lacking (Portes & Rumbaut, 2001; Zhou & Bankston, 1998). Moreover, youths' performance on verbal sections of college entrance exams can weigh heavily on the minds of children of immigrants as they choose their college courses of study, perhaps drawing them toward math and science content areas (Sue & Zane, 1985). In addition to standardized assessments of their skills, children of immigrants' perceptions of their English skills might influence their educational choices. Eccles' work on gender differences found that youths' perceptions of their skills had implications for their educational choices, independent of their skills as measured on achievement tests (Eccles, 1994; Frome, Alfeld-Liro, & Eccles, 2001). Because math is a sex-typed domain, young women rated their math skills lower than did young men, even when achievement tests did not reflect gender differences in their actual skills. This domain-specific self-perception influenced young women's expectations for success in math and their decisions not to pursue advanced study in math. Similarly, some children of immigrants may lack a feeling of ownership of the English language because of the challenges of learning a second language and the xenophobia and discrimination directed at certain accents (Chan, 1994; Espiritu, 1995). Their diminished self-perceptions of their English skills, in turn, might cause them to choose courses of study that involve more math and science content.

The Current Study In this study, I begin by examining whether there are generational differences in youths' educational choices. Specifically, it is hypothesized that children of immigrants choose courses of study with higher math and science content than that of their peers from U.S.-born families, even after accounting for panethnic and socioeconomic differences. In estimating generational differences, controlling for these

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1436 Tseng
Table 1 Sample by Paniethnicityand GenerationalStatus Generational Status First generation i1 ((7() 152 (41) 19 (21) 20 (25) 55 (22) Second generation n (%7c) 207 57 24 65 (57) (62) (29) (26) Third-plus generation n (%) 7 (2) 16 (17) 38 (46) 129 (52)

Ethnic background Asian Pacific Latin American African/Black Caribbean European

Total n (%) 366 92 82 249 (100) (100) (100) (100)

other variables is important because immigration, panethnicity, and socioeconomic status are confounded in the United States. For example, 88% of Asian Pacific Americans and 68% of Latinos are children of immigrants compared with only 10% of African/Afro-Caribbean Americans and 11% of European Americans (Census, 2001). Median household income is also lower in households headed by immigrant adults than by U.S.-born adults ($36,048 and $41,383, respectively; Census, 2001). Second, I examine whether generational differences in educational choices are associated with differences in youths' aspirations and language skills and self-perceptions. It is hypothesized that generational differences in math and science content are mediated by social and economic aspirations, standardized assessments of English language skills, and perceived English language skills. Third, I explore whether generational differences vary across panethnic and socioeconomic groups and across gender. Diverse panethnic and socioeconomic groups experience immigration in distinct ways, in part, because of culture, reasons for migration, racism, and government resources provided to different immigrant and refugee groups (Portes & Rumbaut, 2001). Young men and women also have distinct immigration experiences, as gender roles shift within families and youths encounter new gender roles and stereotypes in the United States (Suarez-Orozco & Suarez-Orozco, 2001). While diverse groups experience immigration in distinct ways, there is little immigration research on youths' educational choices so as to make specific hypotheses about whether generational differences exist for some groups but not others. Methods

Sample
The sample consisted of 789 late adolescents and young adults between 18 and 25 years of age

(M = 19.15) who were of Asian Pacific, Latin American, African/Afro-Caribbean, and European backgrounds and who had declared a college major (80% of all respondents: 72%of first-year and 94% of thirdyear students). A handful of additional youths (4%) had individualized courses of study that could not be coded for math and science content, and those youths were not included in the current study. This sample is unique in that there is considerable generational variation within the panethnic groups, thereby allowing for examination of panethnicity and generational status. As would be expected by U.S. immigration patterns, however, generational distribution did vary across panethnic groups (see Table 1), X2 (6,N = 789)= 237.66, p <.001. Only a small number of Asian Pacific American youths were of the third-plus generation, whereas the other panethnic groups consisted of a better distribution of youths across generation. First-generation youths were considered those who were foreign-born and immigrated to the United States. Second-generation youths were born in the United States, but had at least one foreign-born parent. Third-plus generation youths were U.S.-born and both their parents were U.S.-born. Ethnic groups were grouped into four panethnic groups in order to achieve adequate sample sizes for comparison across generation and panethnicity. Almost one-half (47%) of the youths from Asian Pacific backgrounds were Chinese. The next largest groups of Asian Pacific American youths were Asian Indians (18%), Koreans (16%), and Filipinos (9%). The remaining 10% of youths were of other East, Southeast, and South Asian backgrounds. There was not one predominant group of Latino youths. The largest groups of Latino youths were of Puerto Rican (25%), Dominican (15%), and Mexican (13%) backgrounds. The remaining one-half of Latino youths were from Cuba and countries in Central and South America. American Among the African/Afro-Caribbean Afrihalf were about third-plus generation youths,

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Unpacking Immigration 1437


Table 2 Generationaland Panethnic Differencesin BackgroundCharacteristics Parents' education: high school degree or less, n (%) Mother Generational status First Second Third-plus F Bonferroni contrasts Panethnic backgrounds Asian Pacific Latin American African /Afro-Caribbean European F Bonferroni contrasts Father Parents' occupation unskilled or semi-skilled labor, n (%) Mother Father

Household income below $20,000, n (%)

86 (37%) 119 (35%) 22 (13%) 9.46*** 1, 2>3*** 130 (37%) 38 (44%) 20 (27%) 37 (16%) 3.64* Asian Pacific, Latin American > European***

70 (30%) 104 (31%) 25 (15%) 3.31* 1 > 3***; 2>3** 108 (31%) 32 (37%) 18 (25%) 41 (18%) 1.31

42 (19%) 46 (14%) 3 (2%) 7.00* 1,2>3*** 60 (18%) 14 (17%) 5 (7%) 12 (5%) 0.87

37 (17%) 34 (10%) 2 (1%) 7.35* 1 >3***; 2>3**; 1>2* 38 (11%) 14 (17%) 8 (12%) 12 (5%) 2.02

36 (17%) 27 (9%) 11 (7%) 0.99

40 (12%) 14 (17%) 6 (9%) 14 (7%) 2.07

*p<.05, **p < .01, ***p< .001.

can Americans. The remaining half were children of immigrants from Afro-Caribbean countries, the largest groups being from Jamaica (16%) and Haiti (10%), and from African nations (10%) such as Nigeria and Ghana. Among European American youths, about half were of the third-plus generation. An additional 19% were children of immigrants from the former Soviet Union; the remaining were children of immigrants from countries scattered across Western and Eastern Europe, with no other country or region predominating. Generational and panethnic differences in socioeconomic status were examined using analyses of variance that included generation, panethnicity, and their interaction. As shown in Table 2, immigrant parents (of first- and second-generation youths) had lower educational and occupational levels than did U.S.-born parents (of third-plus generation youths). Within immigrant families, parents of first- versus second-generation youths did not differ significantly on any of the socioeconomic indicators. Panethnic variations in socioeconomic status generally did not reach statistical significance. Procedures The study is part of a larger project developed in collaboration with personnel at a large urban university. Based on university records of ethnicity, 3,500 undergraduate students who entered the university in fall 1996 and fall 1998 were recruited for participation. All students of Asian Pacific,

Latin American, and African/Afro-Caribbean backgrounds were sampled. To obtain a large sample of European immigrants, the sampling plan recruited Russian and Eastern European immigrants, the second largest immigrant group in the metropolitan area in the late 1980s. Half the European American sample was drawn by sampling youths with permanent addresses in Russian neighborhoods or with Russian and Eastern European surnames. The second half of the European American sample was drawn randomly. Of the students who had not designated their ethnicity for university records, 20% were drawn randomly. Students were recruited using three mailings. First, students were mailed letters introducing the study, surveys, and consent forms granting permission to use their surveys and university records. Nineteen percent of the sampled students returned the survey after this initial mailing. A second mailing of reminder postcards yielded surveys from an additional 9% of students. A third mailing consisting of a duplicate survey and consent forms were mailed to students who had not returned surveys and yielded an additional 6% return. Flyers were posted in public spaces (e.g., student center, study halls, student activities office, etc.) and researchers attended large classrooms to introduce the study and encourage participation. As an incentive, students who participated were entered into a raffle in which 5 students were each awarded $50. Overall, 34% of the surveys were completed and returned. Response rates ranged from 31% to 32%

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1438

Tseng

among students of African/Afro-Caribbean and Latin American backgrounds to 34-35% among those of Asian Pacific and European backgrounds to 38% among those who did not specify their ethnicity for university records. According to university records of grades, students who completed the survey had slightly higher grade-point averages (M = 3.25, SD = 0.47) than students who did not complete the survey (M = 3.14, SD = 0.58), t(3, 498) = 5.86, p <.001. The effect size (d = .20) is small, indicating an 85% overlap in the distributions of grade-point averages across the participant and non-participant samples (Cohen, 1988). Measures Math and science content of youths' courses of study. Students' majors were collected from university records and coded using a coding scheme developed for the Michigan Study of Adolescent Life Transitions (MSALT, Frome, 1998). Majors, in this study, that were not included in the MSALT coding scheme were coded based on required coursework and home departments of the majors. Majors were coded as 3 (if they primarily involved math and physical science coursework; i.e., math, physics, computer science, and engineering), 2 (if they required some math or physical science coursework; i.e., biology, psychology, sociology, zoology), and 1 (if they required no math or physical science courses; i.e., advertising, art, music, philosophy). Social and economicaspirations. Youths' aspirations were assessed as the weight youths placed on prestige and salary in making their educational and occupational choices, thus assessing their social status and economic aspirations. This measure was derived from a similar set of items created by Sue and Zane (1985) in their study of educational choice among Chinese-descent college students. In the current study, students rated the extent to which their "choice of a major to study" was influenced by (1) prestige of the field or major and (2) salary. Students then rated the extent to which "their future educational and career plans" were influenced by prestige and salary. For both sets of items, students used a 5point scale ranging from 1 (not at all) to 5 (very much). The two aspirations measures demonstrated good internal consistency (social status: cx= .86; economic: c = .89). English skills. English skills were assessed using youths' scores on the Verbal section of the SAT examination. These scores were collected from university records. SATscores range from 200 to 800. In this sample, scores ranged from 340 to 800 (M = 577, SD = 175).

Perceived English skills. Perceived English skills were measured as youths' ratings of their English skills and comfort with English. Youths were asked to report how well they spoke and understood spoken English using a 5-point scale from 1 (not very well) to 5 (very well). Using another 5-point scale from 1 (not at all true for me) to 5 (very true for me), youths responded to two additional items: "I feel very comfortable speaking in English" and "Writing in English is very easy." The measure demonstrated adequate internal consistency (a = .73). Results Dating Coding and Descriptives In all analyses, generational differences were examined using two contrast codes. The first contrast code compared first- and second-generation youths with third-plus-generation youths, thereby contrasting youths from immigrant and U.S.-born families. The second contrast code compared youths within immigrant families: contrasting first-generation (immigrant) and second-generation (U.S.-born) youths. Panethnicity was examined using three dummy codes contrasting youths of European backgrounds with those of Asian Pacific, Latin American, and African/Afro-Caribbean backgrounds. Gender and year in school were examined using additional dummy codes. Correlations, means, and standard deviations for the demographic, mediator, and criterion variables are presented in Table 3. RegressionAnalyses Hierarchical multiple regression was conducted to examine the main effects and interactions (see Table 4). Analyses indicated that youths from immigrant families chose courses of study with more math and science content than did their peers from U.S.-born families, even after accounting for panethnic and socioeconomic differences. First- and second-generation youths within immigrant families did not differ. Analyses also indicated other group differences. Over and above the generational differences, Asian Pacific American youths chose courses of study with more math and science content than did European Americans; Latinos chose courses of study with less math and science content than did European Americans; and African/Afro-Caribbean Americans did not differ from European Americans. Young women's courses of study involved less math and science than that of young men's. In the second step of the regression, interaction terms were entered to examine whether the genera-

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Table 3 VariableIntercorrelations, Means, and Standard Deviations 1 1. Generation 1, 2 versus 3 (immigrant versus U.S.-born family) 2. Generation 1 versus 2 (immigrant versus U.S.-born youth) 3. Asian Pacific 4. Latin American 5. African/Black Caribbean 6. Gender 7. Parents' Education 8. Parents' occupation and household income 9. Year in School 10. Economic aspirations 11. Status aspirations 12. English test scores 13. Perceived English skills 14. Math and science content M SD *p <.05, **p < .01, ***p < .001. 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

-.09*

.49*** -.01 .06 -.11** .01 -.19*** - .03 .09* - .23*** .01 -.10* -.18*** .10** .28*** .19*** .02 .03 .01

-.34*** -.31*** - .03 - .13** -.04 .11** .24*** .15*** -.13** -.20*** .30*** .47 .50

-.12** - .02 .11** - .01 - .13*** .05 -.04 -.02 -.13** -.10** -.10** -.03 -.03 .07t -.17*** .12 .32 -.04 -.09* -.09* .07t .06t -.09* .10 .30 .02 -.10** -.01 -.05 .07t -.09* .68 .47

0.51***

-.19*** -.11** -.21*** -.21*** .05 .28*** - .14 .15 .86 .64

-.01 -0.01 .01 -0.09* -.07t 0.74** .01 -0.05 -.10** - 0.14** .19*** .08* 0.18*** .17*** -.01 0.11** -0.13*** 0.25** -.05 .22*** - 0.09* - .04 3.22 .34 4.9 1.33 .76 .48 1.76

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1440 Tseng
Table 4 RegressionAnalyses of Group Differencesin Math and Science Courses of Study Step 1 Step 2

B
Group differences Generation 1, 2 versus 3 Generation 1 versus 2 Asian Pacific Latin American African/Afro-Caribbean Female Third year Parents' education Parents' occupation and income Interactions Asian Pacific x Generation 1, 2 versus 3 Latin American x Generation 1, 2 versus 3 African/Afro-Caribbean x Generation 1, 2 versus 3 Female x Generation 1, 2 versus 3 Parents' Education x Generation 1, 2 versus 3 Parents' Occupation and Income x Generation 1, 2 versus 3 R2 AR2 F df 0.22 0.03 0.25 -0.26 - 0.04 - 0.16 0.33 - 0.03 0.02 0.20 18.13*** (9, 656)

SE
.05 .03 .07 .10 .10 .06 .06 .02 .04 -

B
0.18*** 0.03 0.17** - 0.11** - 0.01 - 0.10** 0.21*** - 0.06 0.02 -

SE
.09 .03 .12 .10 .11 .06 .06 .02 .04 .22 .15 .14 .09 .04 .07 .28*** .03 .14' -.10* - .04 - .08* .20*** - .10* .01 .00 -.06 - .04 -.09 .06 .02

0.34 0.03 0.20 -0.23 -0.11 - 0.13 0.32 - 0.04 0.01 0.00 -0.22 -0.13 -0.13 0.04 0.04 0.21 0.01 11.37*** (6,650)

Note. Generation was contrast coded: positive coefficients indicate that immigrant families/students are higher than U.S.-born families/ students. Panethnicity, gender, and year in school were dummy coded: positive coefficients indicate that students of color are higher than European Americans, women are higher than men, and third years are higher than first years. *p<.05, **p<.01, ***p<.001, 'p<.10.

tional differences varied by panethnicity, socioeconomic status, and gender. Entering these interaction terms did not account for additional variance in the model, and there were no significant interactions between whether youths were from immigrant or U.S.-born families and their panethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, and year in school. Follow-up analyses were conducted to further explore whether generational differences existed within each panethnic group. For the Latino, Afriand European panethnic can/Afro-Caribbean, groups, analyses confirmed that there were generational differences in math and science content: t(92) = 2.04, t(82)=2.06, t(249) = 6.37, p <.05, respectively. For the Asian Pacific group, there was no significant generational difference: t(366)= 1.00, uns The small number of Asian Pacifics of the third-plus generation (n = 7) limited the power to detect a statistically significant difference. These analyses suggest that Latino, African/Afro-Caribbean, and European children of immigrants choose majors with greater math and science content than that of their later-generation peers of the same panethnic group.

Structural EquationModeling A path model was used to examine the hypotheses that generational differences in the math and science content of youths' courses of study were mediated by social and economic aspirations and English skills and self-perceptions. Lisrel 8.72 was used to conduct structural equation modeling and to generate maximum likelihood estimates. As in the regression analyses, the structural equation modeling (SEM) analyses controlled for the effects of panethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, and year in school. The SEM model demonstrated a good fit with the data: X2(df)= 85.30(40); CFI = .98; GFI = .98; RMSEA = .04 (Hu & Bentler, 1999; Kline, 2004). To test the mediation hypotheses, SEM estimates were used to calculate the size of each indirect effect (i.e., mediation path). The size of each effect was evaluated in two ways. First, Baron and Kenny's (1986) methods were used as a significance test for the size of each indirect effect. Second, the size of each indirect effect was evaluated as a portion of the

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Unpacking Immigration 1441


ECONOMIC ASPIRATIONS .25*** .17*** IMMIGRANT VS.U.S.-BORN FAMILY
-.15**

.15** SOCIAL STATUS ASPIRATIONS .15*** MATH/SCIENCE CONTENT .00

1 ENGLISH SKILLS

14***

PERCEIVED ENGLISH SKILLS

Note: * Standardized coefficients are presentedin the figure. * The SEManalyses controlled for panethnicity, gender, socioeconomicstatus, and year in school, butthese variables are not includedin the figurefor ease of presentation. SIZESOF EFFECTS
[ B (SE)

PATHS Indirect Effect:Immigrant Family- EconomicAspirations-> Math/ScienceContent -- Math/ScienceContent Indirect Effect:Immigrant Family- Social Status Aspirations Indirect Effect:Immigrant Family- EnglishSkills-> Math/ScienceContent Effect:Immigrant Indirect Family- Perceived EnglishSkills-- Math/ScienceContent DirectEffect:Immigrant Family-a Math/ScienceContent TotalEffect:Immigrant Family-* Math/ScienceContent

.04** .05 (.02) .00 (.01) .00 -.02* -.02 (.01) .02* .02 (.01) .15*** .17(.05) .19*** .22(.05)

Figure1. Mediation of generational differences in math/science content, as estimated in structural equation modeling.

total effect (size of the indirect effect divided by the total effect). That is, how much of the generational difference in educational choice was accounted for by each mediator? Figure 1 depicts the mediation paths for generational differences in educational choice. Please note that standardizedcoefficients are reported in the figure, as is customary in SEM models. However, unstandardizedcoefficients are used below to calculate the sizes of the indirect effects, and their significance, using the methods proposed by Baron and Kenny (1986). Generational differences. Calculations examined whether generational differences in math and science content were related to the proposed mediators. Specifically, indirect effects were calculated as the product of the generational difference in the mediator and the association between the mediator and the outcome. The total effect of generational differences in math and science content was B =.22, p<.001. There were significant indirect effects through economic aspirations (indirect effect= .05, p <.01), Eng-

lish skills (indirect effect= - .02, p <.05), and perceived English skills (indirect effect= .02, p <.05). Social status aspirations were not associated with the math and science content of majors, and the indirect effect through social status aspirations was non-significant (indirect effect= .00, ns). The indirect effect through economic aspirations accounted for 23% of the total generational effect (generational difference in math and science content). Each of the indirect effects through English skills and perceived English skills represented 9% of the total generational effect. While the indirect effect through perceived English skills was positively valenced, the indirect effect through English skills was negatively valenced, indicating a potential suppression effect. Even after controlling for their standardized test scores, youths from immigrant families had lower self-ratings of their English skills than did youths from U.S.-born families. Lower self-ratings on English skills, in turn, were associated with greater pursuit of math and science content. Multiplied together, these two ef-

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1442 Tseng fects yielded a positive indirect effect. Put another way, youths from immigrant families perceived their English skills as lower than would be expected from standardized tests, and these perceptions were associated with their pursuit of math and science. In addition to these effects for perceived English skills, youths' actual skills as assessed on the SAT had an independent association with math and science content. Youths from immigrant families had lower SAT-Verbal scores, but SAT-Verbal scores were positively associated with math and science content of majors, thereby yielding a negative indirect effect. Partial correlation analyses were conducted to elucidate this effect. After controlling for perceived English skills, SAT scores in both Verbal and Math were positively correlated with greater math and science content (SAT-Verbal: r = .09, p<.05; SAT-Math: r=.34, p<.001). Students with higher SAT scores, in general, were more likely to be enrolled in math and science intensive fields, perhaps because of the competitiveness and selectivity of these majors. Youths from immigrant families had lower test scores and this detracted from their likelihood of majoring in these fields. Thus, English skills based on self-perception versus standardized tests seem to work in counteracting ways for youths' educational choices, vis-a-vis math and science. Panethnic and gender differences. The SEM estimates were also used to examine whether the mediators accounted for the panethnic and gender differences in math and science content found in the regression analyses. These estimates control for generational status and the other demographic variables in the model. For the difference between Asian Pacific American and European American youths, the only significant mediation path was through perceived English skills (indirect effect= .03, p <.05). This indirect effect accounted for 13% of the total panethnic effect (B = .24, p<.001). There were no significant mediation paths for the difference between Latinos and European Americans. Recall that African/Afro-Caribbean American and European American youths did not differ in the math and science content of their courses of study. The gender difference in the content of youths' course of study was partially mediated through perceived English skills (indirect effect = - .03, p <.05) and economic aspirations (indirect effect= -.02, p<.05). The total gender effect was B = -.16, p<.01. The indirect effects through perceived English skills and economic aspirations accounted for 19% and 13% of the total gender effect, respectively. Discussion The purpose of this study was to "unpack" how immigration matters for youths' educational choices, as college-going youth transition to adulthood and begin pursuing their occupational interests. Youths from immigrant families differed from their latergeneration peers by pursuing college courses of study with higher math and science content. These youths' higher economic aspirations as compared with their later-generation peers accounted for almost a quarter of the generational difference in educational choice. Children of immigrants' high aspirations were rather remarkable, given that one third of them had parents whose educational levels were at high school level or less. Youths from immigrant families also had lower language test scores and self-perceptions than did their later-generation peers. Even after accounting for these standardized test scores, children of immigrants perceived themselves as having lower English skills than did their later-generation peers, and these self-perceptions were associated with greater math and science content in their majors. This study examined generational differences in educational choice while accounting for panethnic and socioeconomic differences. Disentangling these variables is critical because generation, panethnicity, and socioeconomic status are confounded in the United States. Asian American and Latino communities consist of much larger proportions of children of immigrants than do African/Afro-Caribbean American and European American communities (Census, 2001). Researchers more routinely collect data on race/ethnicity and test for racial/ethnic differences in their analyses. Neglecting to account for generational status in racial/ethnic comparisons, however, may mask generational differences and the ways in which immigrant experiences influence developmental outcomes (Tseng, 2005). In simultaneously examining the effects of generational status and panethnicity, this study's findings indicated a robust generational difference in educational choice that extends across Latino, African/Afro-Caribbean American, and European American children of immigrants. Testing for generational differences provides evidence that immigration matters for youths' educational choice, but identifying, measuring, and testing the immigration-related constructs that account for these generational differences provide a richer understanding of how immigration matters. The transition to adulthood is a time when youths begin to identify and pursue their adult occupational paths.

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Unpacking Immigration 1443 College-going children of immigrants pursue occupational paths that will facilitate attainment of their high economic aspirations. Perhaps as suggested by prior ethnographies, children of immigrants are seeking to fulfill their immigrant parents' aspirations for upward mobility in this new country (Gibson, 1988; Matute-Bianchi, 1991). In addition, youths' educational choices are made within the context of their language skills, both as assessed on standardized tests and in terms of their self-perceptions. Perhaps because of the xenophobia and language discrimination directed at nonnative English speakers (Chan, 1994), children of immigrants' rate their English skills even lower than would be expected based on their standardized test scores, and these self-ratings push them to pursue math and science content areas that are less dependent on verbal and written English skills. Future research will need to further unpack immigration to understand more fully how immigration influences developmental processes and outcomes. Psychologists have been interested, most often, in the study of acculturation or cultural change in individuals. This research, however, has been dominated by the use of global acculturation measures that cross numerous domains of development (i.e., language, identity, friendships, etc.) and categorize individuals along a continuum of acculturation from their "ethnic" origins to "American." Developmental psychologists are well positioned to extend acculturation research by building theory and evidence on how change occurs in particular domains of development. Interdisciplinary research suggests, for example, that second-language acquisition occurs very quickly (Portes & Rumbaut, 2001; Veltman, 1988) whereas changes in academic attitudes likely occur more slowly (Fuligni, 1997). The mechanisms for change are also likely to differ across domains of development. Second-language acquisition seems to be affected by a "sensitive period" for language development (Jia & Aaronson, 1999) whereas changes in academic attitudes may be affected more by differences in socialization and family context across immigrant and U.S.-born parents (Tseng, 2004). Of course, immigration entails more than cultural change, and future research will need to unpack the additional ways in which immigration affects development. Sociologists and anthropologists focus on the contexts of reception and modes of incorporation for immigrants (Ogbu, 1991; Portes & Rumbaut, 2001). Developmental research might draw from these fields to further examine how racism, xenophobia, availability (or denial) of public services, and immigrant parents' labor niches affect children of immigrants. For example, highly educated immigrant parents often experience downward occupational mobility, and less educated immigrant parents are concentrated in low-wage, low-status, and often unstable jobs (Ong & Hee, 1994). Yet, little is known about the effects of these socioeconomic conditions on children of immigrants, and how these effects might differ from those for children of U.S.born parents. Moreover, 85% of immigrants are incorporated as racial minorities in the United States (Shields & Behrman, 2004), but few developmental studies have sought to assess the xenophobia and racism encountered by children of immigrants in their everyday settings and to examine how these experiences influence their development. There are several limitations to this study. First, the proposed mediators accounted for only part of the generational difference in educational choice, and future research might test whether youths' perceived math skills account for additional portions of the generational difference (Betz & Hackett, 1981; Brooks & Betz, 1990). Second, the study focused on a select, college-going sample. Little empirical work examines what happens to children of immigrants who do not attend college, and research is needed on their experiences and trajectories. Third, this study did not include a sufficient subsample of Asian Americans from U.S.-born families to determine whether generational differences in educational choice exist in that group. Doing so is important because societal stereotypes associate Asians with "being good at math and sciences" (Kao, 2000), and future studies could inform an understanding of whether pursuing math and science is associated more directly with immigrant aspirations and challenges, than with Asian panethnicity per se. Fourth, care should be exercised in interpreting the panethnic categories and the generational comparisons within panethnicity. For example, although Afro-Caribbean Americans and African Americans share African roots and "Black" skin, the groups differ in terms of the sociohistorical context of slavery and emancipation in the Caribbean and United States, the construction of race in the two regions, and their ethnic and racial identity development (Waters, 1999). The United States is experiencing a surge in immigration unseen since the early 1900s. For child development scholars, this growth in immigration raises important questions about how children of immigrants are faring in school and work, and how the challenges and opportunities of immigration influence how they fare. This study contributes to a growing body of interdisciplinary work suggesting

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1444

Tseng Fillmore, L. W. (1991). When learning a second language means losing the first. Early ChildhoodResearchQuarterly, 6, 323- 346. Frome, P. (1998). The influenceof girls' gender-linkedbeliefson theireducationaland occupationalaspirations.Unpublished dissertation, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Frome, P. M., Alfeld-Liro, C., & Eccles, J. (2001). Why don't young women want to pursue male-typedoccupationalaspirations? A test of alternative hypotheses. Unpublished

that children of immigrants have higher academic motivation and educational, social, and economic aspirations than do their peers from U.S.-born families (Fuligni, 1997; Gibson, 1988; Kao & Tienda, 1995; Suarez-Orozco & Suarez-Orozco, 1995; Tseng, 2004; Vernez & Abrahamse, 1996). Moreover, children of immigrants' economic aspirations are associated
with greater pursuit of math and science intensive

fields in college. While immigration policy debates often center on the contribution of immigrant adults to the economy, it may well be their children who make the most profound contributions to our nation's economy and our 21st-century needs for a highly educated workforce in technology and science (Nightingale & Fix, 2004).

manuscript,ResearchTrianglePark,NC.
Fuligni, A. J. (1997). The academic achievement of adolescents from immigrant families: The roles of family background, attitudes, and behavior. Child Development, 68, 351 -363. Gibson, M. A. (1988). Accommodationwithout assimilation. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. Gray, M. J., Rolph, E., & Melamid, E. (1996). Immigration and higher education. Santa Monica, CA: Center for Re-

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