In March, 2009 the Child Development in Context research lab at Brown University hosted a conference where researchers, educators, policy makers, came together to ask: “Is becoming American a developmental risk?” This conference was possible with the generous support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, the Wayland Collegium, the College Board and the Center for the Study of Human Development at Brown University.

Children of immigrants are the fastest growing sector of the American youth population—they currently make up nearly a quarter of the US youth population and are projected to comprise fifty percent by 2040. Despite the considerable developmental risks of growing up in an immigrant family (having a higher likelihood of having low SES, less educated parents with limited English and knowledge about schools), research has documented more positive behavioral ( less risk behaviors, lower levels of delinquency, and higher civic engagement ) and more positive academic outcomes ( higher GPAs and standardized test scores, higher levels of academic expectations and school behaviors ) in early generation (foreign-born and children of foreign-born parents) children and adolescents than in their later generation peers. In addition, many developmental outcomes deteriorate over time as the children a culturate to American culture. These trends have been termed the immigrant paradox.

Together, the conference presentations examine the paradox across the infancy, childhood, adolescence and young adulthood as well as across a variety of academic and behavioral outcomes. We look first at the ways in which the paradox has been evidenced in the developmental literature [link Cynthia’s presentation] and at the broader context of the paradox as seen through US census data. We look at longitudinal data, finding that while some groups of immigrant children (e.g. bilingual children) may start school performing at lower levels than their peers at the start of school by late elementary school by later grades they are surpassing these peers [ link to presentation on this topic ]. We find that within pan-ethnic groups there is considerable country of origin variability. And within country of origin groups we see variability across developmental outcomes; for example while first and second generation Mexican children have lower math scores than their 3rd generation peers they have higher levels of social competence (higher than 3rd generation Latinos and native Whites). While there is very little research on the transition from high school to college we investigate the routes to higher education for immigrant young adults and the specific obstacles that these youth may face when navigating this transition (ie. undocumented status ).We seek to not only understand how the paradox is evidenced and when we see it, but also why we are seeing these patterns. Looking at the influence of early parenting behaviors, immigration context, instrumental support, community capital, school climate, and neighborhood characteristics we begin to untangle the resources and processes that support immigrant youth.

By understanding the mechanisms behind the immigrant paradox we hope to uncover what fosters success in the lives of children of immigrants so we can (1) provide these supports for those who are beginning to deteriorate or are not showing resilient outcomes (2) foster the development of these supports in subsequent generations which have lost the initial protective factors. As we stand at the outset of a presidency that promises to renew a focus to education and services to children and adolescents, it has never been more critical to use these findings to inform practices and policies for the benefit of all American youth.

Questions or comments should be sent to ImmigrantParadox@gmail.com.