Children of immigrants do better in school

Children of immigrants and children who immigrated to the United States do better in academics and school engagement, researchers found. "Our findings challenge pessimistic views that having immigrant parents places children at a disadvantage at the point of transitioning to adulthood," study leader Lingxin Hao, professor of sociology at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, said in a statement. "Children of immigrants, when compared to children of native-born parents, are actually at an advantage on some key early adult outcomes." The researchers analyzed data of 10,795 children ages 13-17 who were tracked to ages 25-32 from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health and the Adolescent Health and Academic Achievement study. The study, published in the journal Child Development, found children of immigrants have an advantage over children of native-born Americans when it comes to the transition to adulthood. Among children of similar socioeconomic backgrounds, school conditions and other characteristics, those born abroad to immigrant parents who came to the United States before their teen years were more likely to follow the best trajectory in academic achievement and school engagement, followed by those born in the United States to immigrant parents, the study said.