The academic aspiration of immigrant youths and their college graduation in young adulthood: A multilevel analysis of individual and contextual carry-over effects

Abstract

Educational success of immigrant youths in young adulthood, e.g. college graduation, signifies them a milestone of upward mobility (Rumbaed, 2005, p.1043). In this study, I employed a representative sample of 3344 immigrant youths from the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study (CILS) and investigated how individual and school-level academic aspirations of immigrant youths in early adolescence (Mage=14) contributed to their successful college graduation in young adulthood (Mage=24) through their development of academic aspiration in late adolescence (Mage= 17). Results found that, even accounting for structural factors proposed by the conventional assimilation perspective and segmented assimilation theory and pertinent background covariates at individual and school levels, development of immigrant youths’ individual- and school-level academic aspirations during adolescence significantly predicted their successful college graduation in young adulthood.