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Foiled Aspirations: The Influence of Unauthorized Status on the Educational Expectations of Latino Immigrant Youth

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Abstract

Latino immigrant adolescents have the highest high school dropout rates of any race-ethnic or nativity group in the United States. One potential reason for high dropout rates among Latino immigrant youth is that many are unauthorized entrants. These unauthorized Latino immigrant youth have few opportunities to attend college, and, as they become aware of barriers to their educational progress and employment, they may lower their educational expectations. Using data from the Latino adolescent migration, health, and adaptation project (N = 275), we examine the association of unauthorized entry into the U.S. with the educational expectations of Latino immigrant youth. We find that adolescents entering the U.S. without authorization have lower educational expectations than those who enter with authorization. These differences in their expectations persist after controlling for differences in their pre-migration, migration, and post-migration experiences. Policies and programs that reduce barriers to higher education and labor market opportunities can potentially help to foster higher educational expectations among unauthorized immigrant youth and may promote their high school completion.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Alejandro Portes for his review and advice on early versions of this paper. The Latino Adolescent Migration, Health, and Adaptation Project (LAMHA) was funded by a Grant from the William T. Grant Foundation and directed by Krista M. Perreira and Mimi V. Chapman. This research was also supported by Grant, 5 R24 HD050924 awarded to the Carolina Population Center at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Persons interested in obtaining LAMHA restricted use data should see http://www.cpc.unc.edu/projects/lamha for further information. The authors would also like to express their appreciation to Paula Gildner for her management of the data collection process; Stephanie Potochnick for her assistance with data cleaning; and all the schools, immigrant families, and adolescents who participated in our research project.

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  1. Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina, 260 West Franklin St, CB #8120, Chapel Hill, NC, 27516, USA

    Krista M. Perreira & Lisa Spees

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  1. Krista M. Perreira
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Correspondence to Krista M. Perreira.

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Perreira, K.M., Spees, L. Foiled Aspirations: The Influence of Unauthorized Status on the Educational Expectations of Latino Immigrant Youth. Popul Res Policy Rev 34, 641–664 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11113-015-9356-y

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