Children Of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey Research Articles

CILS4NEPS – Unlocking Research Potential Through More Participants, More Schools and International Comparison: Harmonized Data for Research on Education, School-to-work Transition and Integration Processes for Adolescents in Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and England

Abstract The CILS4NEPS project combined and harmonized panel data from the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey in Four European Countries (CILS4EU) and Starting Cohort 4 of the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS SC4). This unlocks additional research potential beyond the scope of both individual datasets by increasing sample sizes and enabling international comparisons of the NEPS data. Both, the combined dataset as well as additional material to reproduce and expand the harmonization are available to users. In this article, we will first introduce the individual datasets and their comparability and describe the steps of the harmonization process. Furthermore, we will present the comparable content between both surveys, the structure of the harmonized dataset, and weighting issues. Subsequently, we provide descriptive statistics, the analytical potential, and information on data access. Lastly, we will finish with an outlook on the continuing harmonization of CILS4EU and NEPS SC4.

When your accent betrays you: the role of foreign accents in school-to-work transition of ethnic minority youth in Germany

ABSTRACT Given the challenges immigrants and their descendants face in entering the labour market, we add to the existing literature by considering a previously neglected explanation: a foreign accent. Using unique data with objective accent measures from the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey in Four European Countries (CILS4EU), we first establish whether foreign-accent effects could be found in a non-experimental setting. Second, we seek to disentangle the accent effect by human capital, signalling, and discrimination approaches. Finally, we explore the extent to which employment and educational paths of accented speakers reflect their self-selection into the fields of study that lead to occupations for which accented speech is not a precondition. Our findings demonstrate that respondents with a stronger foreign accent are more likely to be found in occupations for which language skills are less essential. This is in line with the human-capital explanation. Self-selection tendencies might also be present, even though the findings are equivocal. Our analyses lend no support to the statistical discrimination explanation, as employers’ perceptions of foreign accents do not vary according to the extent of their contact with accented speakers at work or at home.

Gender ideologies across the transition to adulthood in Germany: How early romantic relationships slow down the egalitarian trend

This study explores the development of gender ideologies across adolescence and the transition to adulthood in Germany and investigates the relevance of first romantic relationship experiences in shaping gender beliefs. Integrating the life course perspective with the theoretical framework of gender as a social structure and psychological theories, we extend the literature by following adolescents from age 15 to about age 20 across the transition to adulthood and by differentiating between young women and men from different immigrant and non-immigrant backgrounds, who may be affected differently by gender-related expectations. Using the representative and ethnically diverse German sample of the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey in Four European Countries, we conducted fixed-effects regression analyses (n = 1474). First, our findings show that young people become increasingly egalitarian during adolescence, irrespective of gender and immigrant origin. Second, for young women, romantic relationship experiences of moderate and longer durations are significantly associated with slower increases in egalitarianism. For most young men, romantic relationship experiences do not affect their gender ideologies. One exception is the group of Turkish-origin men, who change their gender ideologies less towards egalitarianism with increasing relationship durations than other groups of young men. The findings suggest that, especially for young women, early romantic relationships may be crucial in shaping their gender beliefs, which subsequently predict important educational, occupational, and family choices.

A Time of Great Change: How Parents, Friends, and Classmates Shape Adolescents’ Attitudes towards the Gender Division of Labor

Parents are crucial in the construction of their children’s attitudes towards the gender division of labor. However, little is known about the extent to which parents’ influences on their children’s attitudes weaken in favor of peers during adolescence. This study explores how gender beliefs of parents, friends, and classmates shape adolescents’ attitudes towards the gender division of labor in Sweden, Germany, England, and the Netherlands. It extends previous research which predominantly examined parent-child transmission. The analysis draws on 4645 children (at wave 1: Mage = 14.9, SDage = 0.67, females = 50%) of the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey in Four European Countries. Regression analyses of within-person changes in attitudes show that adolescents on average become more egalitarian from age 15 to 16 and significantly adapt their own beliefs to those of their parents, friends, and classmates. In cases of opposing beliefs, adolescents tended to adapt more strongly to whoever held more egalitarian views, possibly aligning with more widespread norms of egalitarianism. The findings show great similarity in adaptation processes across countries and align well with a multi-layered conceptualization of gender as a social structure that shapes gender attitudes.

The Behavioral and Mental Health Benefits of Speaking the Heritage Language within Immigrant Families: The Moderating Role of Family Relations

Understanding the development of behavioral and mental health issues among adolescents, particularly those from immigrant families, is a key area of concern. Many prior studies have focused on the role of societal (country-of-destination) language skills, but we know less about the role played by the use of the heritage language in families. We examined this latter relationship with a focus on changes in heritage language use and internalizing and externalizing problems, and how family relations moderate this relationship. We used the first two waves (2010/2011 and 2011/2012) of the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey in Four European Countries (CILS4EU) data collected from Germany (n = 1614; Mage = 14.8 years, 50% female), the Netherlands (n = 1203; Mage = 14.7 years, 54% female), Sweden (n = 1794; Mage = 14.2 years, 53% female), and England (n = 1359; Mage = 14.6 years, 50% female). Our results suggest that increased use of heritage language is associated with fewer externalizing problems only in families with greater family cohesion and parental warmth (in Germany and the U.K.) and with fewer internalizing problems only in families with higher parental monitoring (in the Netherlands and Sweden). Good family relations are thus an important precondition for increased heritage language use to lead to improved behavioral and mental health for children of immigrants.

Classroom ethnic diversity, teacher support, and peer victimization: Evidence from four European countries

AbstractWe investigated how classroom ethnic diversity is associated with peer victimization, effects of ethnic minority/majority status, and if individual teacher support can buffer potentially negative effects of ethnic diversity. Using two theoretical perspectives (balance of power, ethnic competition), we hypothesized that (1) victimization is more prevalent at intermediate ethnic diversity and less prevalent at lower and higher ethnic diversity, (2) this curvilinear link is stronger for ethnic majority than minority students, and (3) peer victimization at intermediate levels of ethnic diversity is lower when teacher support is high. We conducted multilevel analyses based on the first wave of the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey in Four European Countries (CILS4EU). The analytical sample included 17,882 students, nested in 882 classrooms. Although our hypotheses received no support, the findings showed that diversity was linked to less victimization for ethnic minority student. Teacher support was linked to less victimization for ethnic minority students at every level of classroom diversity but especially when diversity was low and to less victimization for ethnic majority students in classrooms with intermediate to high ethnic diversity. We discuss our findings in light the theoretical approaches and underscore the role of teachers as a protective resource.

Social Capital and Its Returns as an Explanation for Early Labor Market Success of Majority and Minority Members in the Netherlands

This paper tests whether social capital can explain differences in labor market success between ethnic majority and minority members. To overcome problems of reverse causality—labor market success is not only the result of social capital, but also leads to better networks—the focus is on adolescents who enter the labor market. Data from the ‘Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey’ are used (N = 2574) and matched to register data from Statistics Netherlands. Hypotheses are tested with structural equation models and a longitudinal approach. Two different mechanisms are tested: the capital deficit and the return deficit. Ethnic majority and minority members do not differ in social capital, thus refuting the capital deficit hypothesis. However, for majority members, the upper reachability of their social capital negatively affects chances of unemployment and positively affects chances of having a permanent contract. For minority members, no such effects were observed, indicating that the same level of social capital that benefits majorities, does not benefit minorities. More research into the return deficit minority members face is needed.

Differential effects of religiosity on the mental health problems of adolescent natives and immigrants in Sweden: A three-wave longitudinal study

BackgroundPrevious research has suggested that religiosity contributes to preventing mental health problems, such as depression and anxiety, among adolescents. However, it is reasonable to suspect that the protective effect of religiosity on mental health problems is relatively stronger in immigrant populations than in native populations since immigrants are more likely to be challenged by experiences of migration, resettlement, and discrimination. The current study tests and compares the protective effects of religiosity on the mental health problems of adolescent natives and immigrants in Sweden. DesignThree waves of longitudinal data from 4366 adolescents in Sweden were retrieved from Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey in Four European Countries (CILS4EU). The data were collected between 2010/2011 and 2012/2013, when the participants were on average 14–16 years old. Three subsamples were analysed separately, including natives (n = 2459), first-generation immigrants (n = 560), and second-generation immigrants (n = 1347). Latent growth curve models were estimated and plotted. ResultsReligiosity predicted less mental health problems among first- and second-generation immigrants throughout the period of data collection, from age 14 to age 16. By contrast, religiosity was associated with more initial mental health problems among adolescent natives. ConclusionTo prevent mental health problems among adolescents, the findings of the current study suggest that it may be necessary to develop specific prevention strategies for specific adolescent populations. Also, early interventions to facilitate religiosity among adolescent immigrants may have lasting, preventive effects on their mental health problems.

Religion and Intergroup Boundaries: Positive and Negative Ties Among Youth in Ethnically and Religiously Diverse School Classes in Western Europe

BackgroundIn the past decades, Western European countries have become increasingly religiously diverse; furthermore, a growing share of their population is now youth with a migration background. Little is known about the role religion plays in social ties among children of native and immigrant origins.PurposeThis study examines religious group boundaries among youth in secondary schools in England, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden. To this end, it describes to what extent youth’s positive and negative ties in the classroom are segregated along religious lines. Furthermore, it analyzes the role of structural opportunities and religious in-group preferences in the formation of religious boundaries in the social networks of youth.MethodsThe data come from the first wave of the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey in Four European Countries (CILS4EU), which contains more than 18,000 adolescents (aged 14–15) in England, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden. First, we describe overall religious segregation in the social ties of youth by using the full survey data. Second, we test our hypotheses by analyzing the complete social networks of 5236 students in 247 classes.ResultsThe analysis reveals that friendships are more likely between classmates with similar religious affiliations than classmates with different religious affiliations. In particular, in terms of friendships, there is clear segregation between non-religious and Christian youth on the one hand and Muslim youth on the other. This segregation is partly driven by structural forces that constrain intergroup meeting opportunities. However, group segregation goes beyond the patterns expected from opportunities alone. The results show strong preferences for intrareligious friendships and a tendency to avoid ties between Muslim and non-Muslim youth.Conclusion and ImplicationsThere are religious boundaries in the social relationships of youth in ethnically and religiously diverse school classes in Western Europe. In particular, social boundaries between Muslim and non-Muslim youth are the strongest. Creating opportunities for positive intergroup contact, such as the promotion of religiously diverse schools, apparently is not sufficient to avoid religious boundaries among youth. To reduce segregation along religious lines, interventions would also need to address the factors that shape youth’s preferences for intrareligious friendships.

Dual identity in context: The role of minority peers and school discrimination

AbstractImmigrant‐origin minority adolescents combine their common national identity with distinct ethnic identities. Depending on different social ecologies they develop more or less compatible dual identifications. Taking an ecological approach to ethnic‐racial socialization (ERS), we investigate how schools and peers as socializing agents can afford compatible ethnic and national identifications. We draw on the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey of 944 Turkish and Moroccan minority adolescents in 229 classrooms across 55 Belgian secondary schools with low (10%) to high minority presence (60%+). On average ethnic and national identifications were not significantly associated. In support of the protective role of minority peers, multilevel modeling revealed that national and ethnic identifications were more compatible in classrooms with more minority peers; while school discrimination undermined compatibility only in classrooms with fewer minority peers. We conclude that minority peers are key agents in the socialization of compatible ethnic and national identities.

RETRACTED: “Adolescents who feel depressed are rejected but do not withdraw: A longitudinal study of ethnically diverse friendship networks in England, Sweden, and Germany”

Adolescents who feel depressed are likely to experience social isolation from friends. Previous studies have put forward at least four hypotheses that can account for the association between felt depression and social isolation. The hypotheses are: (1) adolescents who are rejected tend to feel more depressed, (2) adolescents who feel depressed tend to become rejected, (3) adolescents who withdraw from friends tend to feel more depressed, and (4) adolescents who feel depressed tend to withdraw from friends. The present study aims to test these four hypotheses in ethnically diverse contexts in three countries. Two waves of data from England (n = 515), Sweden (n = 1,228), and Germany (n = 869) were obtained from the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey in Four European Countries (CILS4EU). One separate stochastic actor-oriented model of the longitudinal coevolution of friendship networks and felt depression was estimated for each of the three countries using the statistical package RSiena. The results consistently indicated that, in all three countries, adolescents who felt depressed were rejected by their peers. Also, the results consistently indicated that adolescents who felt depressed sought more friends, and the results therefore refuted the suggestion that adolescents who feel depressed withdraw from their friends. The findings of the study can inform health-promotion interventions that attempt to limit the social isolation of adolescents who feel depressed in ethnically diverse contexts. More specifically, the study suggests that the social isolation of adolescents who feel depressed may be limited through interventions that reduce the rejection that these adolescents experience from their peers.

Ethnic inequality in choice- and performance-driven education systems: A longitudinal study of educational choices in England, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden.

The motivation for this article was the main finding of an earlier study, which concludes that choice-driven education systems-in the study represented by England and Sweden-are particularly beneficial for immigrants in that they provide them with many opportunities to pursue their generally high educational ambitions. We extend this analysis by including two countries with performance-driven education systems: Germany and the Netherlands. Our study specifically aims to explore whether it is true that choice-driven systems are more beneficial for immigrants or whether immigrants can also succeed in more stratified and selective education systems. Using longitudinal data from the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey in Four European Countries (CILS4EU), we show that there are no differences in (gross) transition rates between immigrants and natives in Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden, but immigrants' optimistic choices are more pronounced in England. However, these differences diminish once we account for achievement and students' socioeconomic background in the analyses. Regarding the underlying mechanisms, we find that educational aspirations have an (equally) strong, universal impact, while anticipated discrimination plays a minor role.

Aiming High, No Matter What?

Abstract The authors examine cross-national variation in the ethnic gradient in aspirations among 14-year-olds in England, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden by using data from the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey in Four European Countries, collected in 2009/2010. Results show that most ethnic minority groups are more likely to have university aspirations than ethnic majority youth. The most consistent minority advantage is found in England and Sweden, consistent with the interpretation that the ample scope for choice in progression through these school systems allows high ambitions of minorities to play out well. However, minority advantage of some groups is also present in the Netherlands and Germany, where transitions are more heavily conditional on previous performance. The pattern for immigrant generational status varies across countries and ethnic origins. There is no consistent empirical evidence indicating that aspiration differences between ethnic minority and majority youth will diminish due to assimilation processes across the generations.

In the Ear of the Listener: The Role of Foreign Accent in Interethnic Friendships and Partnerships

This article examines the association between accented speech and the formation of friendships and partnerships among immigrants and native-born majority residents in Germany. Drawing on the sixth wave of the German extension of the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey in Four European Countries, we analyze a neglected aspect of language — pronunciation — and find that speaking with a foreign accent is a more important correlate of the incidence of interethnic partnerships than of interethnic friendships. We argue that beyond its primary function of understandability, accented speech possesses socially communicative power. Accent transmits signals of an individual’s foreignness and cultural differences and, thus, becomes an additional marker of social distance. Such signals serve as a greater obstacle to more consequential intimate interethnic relations such as partnerships. Our findings extend the scholarly debate on the role of symbolic boundaries in social interactions between ethnic groups by yet another important boundary maker — accent.

The educational divide over feelings about ethnic minorities: does more education really lead to less prejudice?

ABSTRACT Virtually all studies on inter-ethnic attitudes in Western Europe and North America find that higher educated individuals report greater tolerance towards migrants and ethnic minorities. The overwhelming evidence on this link has even led scholars to call for educational expansion as a policy measure to increase social cohesion in today’s ever more diverse societies. But most of this evidence comes from cross-sectional correlations, and it is still unclear whether increasing education actually causes greater levels of tolerance. In this study, we follow a cohort of students aged 15 years over a period of 8 years from the German Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey (CILS4EU-DE). We focus on students who change from lower tracks into upper secondary and later tertiary education (the ‘treatment’ group) and compare them to a control group of similar students who stay in the lower track and leave school without entering university. Matching and fixed-effects panel regressions provide no evidence for a causal effect of changing into a higher educational track on subsequent prejudice towards ethnic minorities. We conclude that the descriptive difference between educational groups in their attitudes towards ethnic minorities is evident, but attending higher education per se does not seem to cause this difference.

Where You at? Using GPS Locations in an Electronic Time Use Diary Study to Derive Functional Locations

Smartphones enable passive collection of sensor data alongside survey participation. Location data add context to people’s reports about their time use. In addition, linking global positioning system data to self-reported time use surveys (TUSs) can be valuable for understanding how people spend their time. This article investigates whether and how passive collection of geographical locations (coordinates) proves useful for deriving respondents’ functional locations. Participants of the ongoing Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey in the Netherlands were invited to participate in a TUS administered with a smartphone app that also unobtrusively tracked respondents’ locations. Respondents reported their activities per 10-min interval in a smartphone diary app ( n = 1,339) and shared their geographical location data ( n = 1,264). The correspondence between the functional locations derived from the time use data and those derived from the geographical location data was assessed by calculating the percentage of intervals in which both measures are similar. Overall, results show that home locations can be automatically assigned reliably but that respondent information is required to reliably assign work or school locations. In addition, location tracking data contain many measurement errors, making it difficult to record valid locations. Multilevel models show that the variability in correct classifications is intrapersonal and largely predicted by phone type, which determines location measurement frequency.

Determinants of identity: the influence of generational status, religiosity, and school context on immigrant identity in Europe

ABSTRACTThis paper examines determinants of identity through examining the generational status, religiosity, and school context of migrant youth in Europe. The first part of this study focuses on the presumptions of assimilation theory for identity by testing for generational differences and evidence of ethnic revival in acculturation identity. This study also explores the influence of religion- which has often been perceived as a hindrance to integration- and school context on the types of identities students express. The questions are explored using the migrant sample of the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey in Four European Countries (CILS4EU; England, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden). Results of multilevel logistic regressions challenge previous presumptions of identity among migrant youth and find no strong evidence for either assimilation or ethnic revival among second generation students compared with their first generation peers. However, evidence of assimilation is observed among students with a foreign-born and native parent. Religious salience, perceived discrimination, and high share of migrants at the school-level are also associated with a lower likelihood of assimilated identity and higher likelihood of integrated and separated identities, suggesting the social and contextual nature of identity formation and highlighting the role of ethnic diversity in facilitating dual identities.

Does identity matter for adaptation? The influence of acculturation identity on the well-being and delinquency of adolescent students in Europe

ABSTRACT This study examines the implications of identity for the adaptation of immigrant children in the European context. Using the migrant sample from the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey in Four European Countries (CILS4EU), this study examines how identity is related to the outcomes of well-being and delinquency of high school students. Results from multilevel models lend partial support to the theorized role of acculturation identity. Integrated students had higher well-being compared with assimilated students, challenging the notion that sole national affiliation is the most advantageous strategy for adaptation and thereby supporting a selective acculturation perspective. In addition, separate analyses of European and non-European immigrant students produced divergent results. While the ethnic identity of students with non-European backgrounds was negatively associated with delinquent behavior, separated students of European background reported higher delinquency compared with their assimilated counterparts, suggesting that acculturated identity works in different ways between immigrant groups and that the protective effect of ethnic identity against delinquency is only present for migrants students of non-European backgrounds.

Statusübergang im Bildungssystem und Wohlbefinden von Migranten-Jugendlichen im internationalen Vergleich

This paper investigates the well-being of adolescent migrants compared to their native counterparts during the status transition at the end of lower secondary school in England, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden. We use data from wave 1 and 3 of the CILS4EU-Project (Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey in Four European Countries) and analyze well-being (life satisfaction and problem behavior) as a function of the welfare systems, their institutionalized educational trajectories and the cultural distance between the country of origin and the host society. We find that during the transition, the well-being of all students increased in those countries where well-being scored lowest (England and Germany) and decreased where it scored highest (the Netherlands and Sweden) in advance. The greater the distance to the culture of the host society was, the stronger the decrease in well-being was. Interestingly, while the well-being of native students decreased with upward track mobility, it increased for culturally distant students (vice versa effects are shown for downward track mobility). This result remained stable even after controlling for personal characteristics.

De sociale opleidingskloof op school

Summary The education gap in school. The effect of school context on adolescent inter-educational track friendshipsUsing data from the first wave of the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey in Four European Countries (CILS4EU) and data from the Dutch Dienst Uitvoering Onderwijs (DUO) this article tests to what extent different organizational characteristics of schools influence friendships between adolescents in different educational tracks. There being multiple educational tracks within the same school, instead of only one track, adolescents from different tracks being in the same classroom (‘brugklas’) and, relatively speaking, a small number of students in the same track have a positive effect on the number of friends an adolescent has in a different track. The descriptive analyses show that the friendship networks of adolescents are relatively homogenous within their school, most friends that go to the same school are in the same track. The friendship networks outside of the school are more heterogeneous. The opportunities an adolescent has to meet others who are in a different educational track thus strongly influence the number of friends an adolescent has in an educational track different from their own track.