Educational Aspiration Among Children of Immigrant Families: Assets As Protective Factors in the Assimilation Process

Background and Purpose: Educational aspiration is considered as one of the strengths of children of immigrant families, which motivates them to spend more time in homework and protects them from various negative influences in American society (Shield & Behrman, 2004). However, for many children of immigrants, though entering school with high aspirations, attitudes toward education can diminish with their time in school and may finally turn negative (Portes & Zhou, 2001). Asset theory suggests that assets holding changes attitudes and creates an orientation toward future (Sherraden, 1991). Also, research has indicated that parents’ asset holding is positively associated with children’s educational outcomes (Elliott & Sherraden, 2013; Zhan & Sherraden, 2011), and this asset effect may be mediated by children’s own educational aspirations (Destin & Oyserman, 2009). Current research focuses mostly on non-immigrant populations (Fang, Huang, & Curley, & Birkenmaier, 2018; Grinstein-Weiss, Shanks, & Beverly, 2014). Little is known about how immigrant parents’ asset holding may affect their children’s educational aspirations, especially the role assets may play in forging family strengths during the assimilation process. This study examines the role of immigrant parents' asset ownership in maintaining children’s educational aspirations, and how these effects may vary by immigrant home countries.

Methods: This study uses data on parents and school-age children from the New Immigrant Survey (N=1051). The dependent variable is children’s educational aspiration. Independent variables of primary interest are asset ownership (i.e. homeownership, bank account ownership, investment account ownership, and retirement account ownership) and the country of origin. Covariates include children’s gender, English proficiency, school years in the United States, academic performance, parent’s school involvement, and the school environment. This study employs ordinal logit regressions.

Results: While children of immigrants in general report high educational aspirations, children with Latino parents are less likely to expect a college degree (75.89%) compared to children whose parents come from non-Latin countries (88.08%). However, when parents’ asset ownership is introduced, significance of home country effect disappears, suggesting that part of the variation of educational aspiration between immigrant groups could be explained by household wealth status. Findings show that homeownership is the only significant and positive asset predictor of children’s educational aspirations. Children’s school year in the U.S. is negatively associated with an aspiration of college degree or above. Model predicted probabilities indicate that for those whose parents have a home, college degree aspiration is reduced by 30% after 12 years of U.S. school experience, while the aspiration is reduced nearly by half (-48%) for those whose parents do not own a home, with the largest decrease found in Latino immigrant families who do not have homeownership (-52%).

Conclusion and Implications: This study shows that homeownership is a protective factor that helps children of immigrants maintain their high educational aspirations as the assimilation process is taking place, and regardless of where their parents came from. Results of this research can inform policy intervention and social work programs that build home purchase knowledge and expand financial access for immigrant homeownership, especially among those coming from disadvantaged backgrounds.