11-5-12: The Immigrant Paradox

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Hao-1105.mp3

About one in four children in America is from an immigrant family – at least one parent is an immigrant. 

A recent study compared kids from immigrant families with native-born children from similar socioeconomic backgrounds. The study found that immigrant children were more successful in school and in early adulthood than their native-born peers. The so-called 1.5 generation, immigrants who were born in another country, but came to America at a young age, fared the best, followed by second generation immigrants who were born in America to at least one parent who was not born here.

We spoke about the study with a co-author of the study, Lingxin Hao, a sociology professor at Johns Hopkins University.

You can find the Wall Street Journal article mentioned in this segment here.

And, here's more on the "immigrant paradox" from the New York Times.