Segmented assimilation in Italy? The case of Latinos

Abstract

The article presents results on the educational performance and social, cultural and psychological adaptation of children of immigrants from a quantitative survey conducted during the 2005/6 school year in schools with high percentages of immigrant students in Lombardy, a region of northern Italy. The sample consisted of 17,225 preadolescents (11–14 years old) divided among 13,301 Italians, 1,003 sons and daughters of mixed parentage and 2,921 of foreign parents. Data were collected by a questionnaire translated and adapted from the one used by Portes and Rumbaut in the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study (CILS) of 1992 in the United States. They are used to present the Italian situation in light of segmented assimilation theory. The main similarity between California and Florida and Lombardy is the under-achievement of Latinos. Given this finding, an effort is made to consider various factors that contribute to shaping the socio-existential circumstances of this specific group.