Erik Vickstrom

Moving Ahead in Madrid: Aspirations and Expectations in the Spanish Second Generation

This paper examines determinants of aspirations and expectations among children of immigrants based on a statistically representative sample of 3,375 second generation youths interviewed in 101 public and private secondary schools in metropolitan Madrid. We review the past literature on status attainment in general and aspirations and expectations, in particular, and draw from it a set of six hypotheses to guide the analysis. Most theoretical statements in this field have been developed on the basis of U.S. data; studies in other immigrant-receiving countries, especially outside the Anglophone world, have been scarce. The study thus provides an opportunity to test and refine existing hypotheses in a different national context. We present breakdowns of educational and occupational aspirations and expectations by gender, parental education and type of school attended. This is followed by multivariate regressions of all four dependent variables on these three plus other predictors suggested by the research literature. This analysis ends with structural equation models – recursive and non-recursive – that provide an integrated theoretical statement of the causal structure of ambition in the Spanish context. Implications of our findings for theory and policy are examined. Suggestions for future research in this field are discussed.

Coming of Age in Spain: The Self-identification, Beliefs and Self-Esteem of the Second Generation

We review the literature on determinants of ethnic/national self-identities and self-esteem as a prelude to examining these outcomes among a large, statistically representative sample of second generation adolescents in Madrid and Barcelona. While these psycho-social outcomes are malleable, they still represent important dimensions of immigrant adaptation and can have significant consequences both for individual mobility and collective mobilizations. Current theories are largely based on data from the USA and other Anglophone countries. The availability of a new large Spanish survey allows us to test those theories in an entirely different socio-cultural context. The analysis concludes with a structural equations model that summarizes key determinants of national identities and self-esteem among children of immigrants in Spain. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Determinants of Psycho-Social Adaptation in the Spanish Second Generation: A Fixed-Effects Analysis

This analysis seeks to establish the key causal determinants of four psycho-social outcomes of children of immigrants — educational aspirations, educational expectations, perceptions of discrimination, and national self-identity — through first-differencing fixed-effects models. Using longitudinal data from the Spanish ILSEG study, we find that both increased identification with the host country and reported experiences of discrimination in it significantly increase educational ambition over time. Reduced experiences of discrimination facilitate increased identification with the host society, while such identification leads to less perceived hostility. Birthplace proves to be the strongest predictor of national self-identity.