Citizenship and Educational Attainment amongst the Second Generation – An Analysis of Children of Immigrants in Finland

Abstract

<p> Citizenship acquisition is often viewed as an indicator of immigrant integration as&nbsp;well as an event that spurs integration further. Relatively little is known about&nbsp;the relationship between citizenship and integration for children of immigrants. This&nbsp;article examines the relationship between citizenship and educational attainment&nbsp;at approximately age 16 in Finland using register data. Results suggest that children of&nbsp;immigrants who are Finnish citizens have better educational outcomes than noncitizens,&nbsp;measured with three indicators of educational attainment. However, the Finnish&nbsp;citizens come from families with higher levels of educational and economic resources than&nbsp;non-citizens and this explains much of the relationship between citizenship and&nbsp;education. After controlling for intervening variables, second-generation students with&nbsp;Finnish citizenship are found to be more likely to choose general rather than vocational&nbsp;upper secondary education compared to their peers who have another citizenship. It is&nbsp;argued that this reflects a difference in educational attitudes between the two groups.</p>