Well-adapted adolescent ethnic German immigrants in spite of adversity: The protective effects of human, social, and financial capital

Abstract

About 10% of 1081 adolescent ethnic German immigrants aged between 10 and 20 from Russia and Kazakhstan experienced severe difficulties during acculturation. They felt discriminated against in various domains of their lives and failed at school. Not surprisingly, this group at risk also reported higher rates of delinquent activities than the others. Yet, there were a few young people who seemed to function well even under such bad conditions. The present paper aims at shedding light on the processes behind such positive developmental outcomes in spite of discrimination and school failure. We computed logistic regressions (1 = delinquent, 0 = not delinquent) separately for the risk group and the normative group, with protective factors (personal and family assets) as predictors. Financial assets, language competence, or shorter residence predicted membership in the non-delinquent group for those at risk and not at risk alike. Educational attainment of the father, however, worked differently for the two groups, but opposite to what was expected: Among those at risk, a higher education of the father posed an additional problem, whereas those whose fathers had a lower education often showed less problematic outcomes. Given that there is ample evidence that high parental educational levels relate to positive adolescent outcomes in non-immigrant groups, it seems that intergenerational transmission does not work under conditions of a “glass ceiling”, which may be particularly problematic for immigrant families from higher educational backgrounds.