Immigrants, Assimilation, and Perceived School Disorder: An Examination of the "Other" Ethnicities

• NCJ Number: 229195
• Journal: Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 37 Issue: 6 Dated: November-December 2009 Pages: 627-635
• Author(s): Adam M. Watkins; Chris Melde
• Date Published: December 2009
• Length: 9 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Using data from the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study (CILS), the current study examined first-generation and second-generation Latino and Asian immigrant students' experiences with school disorder (safety at school, classroom disruptions by other students, interracial or ethnic disputes, and a gang presence).

Abstract

The findings indicate that Latino and Asian immigrant students reported significant differences in their experiences of school disorder, with Asian immigrants reporting significantly higher levels of school disorder, even though they outperformed Latino students academically. Asian students reported higher disorder at school than similarly assimilated Latino students across every measure of school disorder. In an examination of the association between generational status, language proficiency, and perceptions of school disorder, first-generation immigrants who had been in the United States less than 10 years reported a higher degree of school disorder than those in the second-generation of immigrants, even after controlling for language capabilities. Current findings, coupled with the recent legislative action in New York and California, suggest that research on the experiences of Asian immigrants in U.S. schools is needed. Qualitative inquiry into this problem may be particularly fruitful, given the paradox found between strong perceptions of school disorder and high levels of academic performance among Asian students. Data were used from the first and second waves of the CILS. The CILS baseline survey was administered in 1992 to 5,262 eighth and ninth graders who were enrolled in 49 schools throughout the Miami/Ft. Lauderdale and San Diego metropolitan areas. The second wave of the CILS was conducted from 1995 to 1996. The dependent variable was immigrant students' perceptions of schools disorder, as measured by perceptions of feeling safe at school, disruptions by other students that interfered with learning, frequent fights between racial/ethnic groups, and the presence of many gangs in school. 3 tables, 9 notes, and 69 references