Immigrant Integration: Assessing Education, Health, and Social Ties by Migration Status and Immigrant Generations

The U.S. immigrant-origin population is diverse not only in their sociodemographic characteristics and auspices of migration, but also in their integration outcomes. Each of the empirical studies that make up this dissertation focuses on how migration statuses, with their accompanying policies and social dynamics, affect the education, health, and social ties of immigrants and their descendants. The first empirical study, Chapter 2, explores how refugee status and levels of governmental assistance at arrival affect refugee children’s adult educational outcome by comparing the years of schooling completed by refugees and non-refugee immigrants who arrived as children across three periods that cover the years between 1980 and 1995. The second study, Chapter 3, explores the health statuses of refugees and non-refugee immigrants in comparison to the U.S.-born, how their health trajectories change across duration of residence, and whether healthcare access mediates the relationship between duration of residence and health. The last study, Chapter 4, examines the school friendship networks of youth to better understand whether and how immigrant generations affect friendship choices and intergroup dynamics. Findings from the studies suggest that immigrants, both refugees and non-refugees, experience better integration outcomes when they receive sufficient governmental assistance and healthcare access. In addition, the immigrant-origin population demonstrates greater social integration across generations, but this process may be limited by patterns of friendship segregation demonstrated among more long-standing native-born groups. Chapter 5, the conclusion chapter, highlights the theoretical and policy implications of the research findings by re-emphasizing how reception factors at both the policy and social levels may shape pathways to integration for the U.S. immigrant-origin population