Ambitious, misaligned, or uncertain? The occupational and educational aspirations of immigrant-origin youth in Germany

References

• Andrew, M., and R. M. Hauser. 2011. “Adoption? Adaptation? Evaluating the Formation of Educational Expectations.” Social Forces 90 (2): 497–520. https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/sor005.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Beal, Sarah J., and Lisa J. Crockett. 2010. “Adolescents’ Occupational and Educational Aspirations and Expectations: Links to High School Activities and Adult Educational Attainment.” Developmental Psychology 46 (1): 258–265. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0017416.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Becker, Gary S. 1962. “Investment in Human Capital: A Theoretical Analysis.” Journal of Political Economy 70:9–49. https://doi.org/10.1086/258724.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Becker, Birgit, Cornelia Gresch, and Thomas Zimmermann. 2022. “Are They Still Aiming High? The Development of Educational Aspirations of Lower Secondary School Students With Immigrant Backgrounds in Germany.” International Migration Review 57:1216–1248. https://doi.org/10.1177/01979183221112404.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Birkelund, Jesper Fels. 2020. “Aiming High and Missing the Mark? Educational Choice, Dropout Risk, and Achievement in Upper Secondary Education among Children of Immigrants in Denmark.” European Sociological Review 36 (3): 395–412. https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcz064.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Breen, Richard, and John H. Goldthorpe. 1997. “Explaining Educational Differentials: Towards a Formal Rational Action Theory.” Rationality and Society 9 (3): 275–305. https://doi.org/10.1177/104346397009003002.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Brinbaum, Yaël, and Hector Cebolla-Boado. 2007. “The School Careers of Ethnic Minority Youth in France: Success or Disillusion?” Ethnicities 7 (3): 445–474. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468796807080237.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• CHE (Centre for Higher Education). 2023. “Number of Students Without Abitur has More than Doubled in Ten Year.” Accessed March 10, 2024. https://www.che.de/en/2023/number-of-students-without-abitur-has-more-than-doubled-in-ten-years/.
   Google Scholar
• Côté, James, and John M. Bynner. 2008. “Changes in the Transition to Adulthood in the UK and Canada: The Role of Structure and Agency in Emerging Adulthood.” Journal of Youth Studies 11 (3): 251–268. https://doi.org/10.1080/13676260801946464.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Dicks, Alexander, and Bram Lancee. 2018. “Double Disadvantage in School? Children of Immigrants and the Relative Age Effect: A Regression Discontinuity Design Based on the Month of Birth.” European Sociological Review 34 (3): 319–333. https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcy014.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Dochow, S., and S. Neumeyer. 2021. “An Investigation of the Causal Effect of Educational Expectations on School Performance. Behavioral Consequences, Time-Stable Confounding, or Reciprocal Causality?” Research in Social Stratification and Mobility 71: 100579. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.rssm.2020.100579.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Dollmann, Jörg, Konstanze Jacob, and Frank Kalter. 2014. “Examining the Diversity of Youth in Europe: A Classification of Generations and Ethnic Origins Using CILS4EU Data (Technical Report).” Arbeitspapiere – Mannheimer Zentrum Für Europäische Sozialforschung 156:45.
   Google Scholar
• Dollmann, Jörg, Jan O. Jonsson, Carina Mood, and Frida Rudolphi. 2023. “Is “Immigrant Optimism” in Educational Choice a Problem? Ethnic Gaps in Swedish Upper Secondary School Completion.” European Sociological Review 39:384–399. https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcad023.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Dollmann, Jörg, and Markus Weißmann. 2020. “The Story after Immigrants’ Ambitious Educational Choices: Real Improvement or Back to Square One?” European Sociological Review 36 (1): 32–47. https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcz042.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Domina, Thurston, AnneMarie Conley, and George Farkas. 2011. “The Link between Educational Expectations and Effort in the College-for-All Era.” Sociology of Education 84 (2): 93–112. https://doi.org/10.1177/1941406411401808.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Engzell, Per. 2019. “Aspiration Squeeze: The Struggle of Children to Positively Selected Immigrants.” Sociology of Education 92 (1): 83–103. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038040718822573.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Feliciano, Cynthia. 2020. “Immigrant Selectivity Effects on Health, Labor Market, and Educational Outcomes.” Annual Review of Sociology 46 (1): 315–334. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-121919-054639.
   Google Scholar
• Feliciano, Cynthia, and Rubén G. Rumbaut. 2005. “Gendered Paths: Educational and Occupational Expectations and Outcomes among Adult Children of Immigrants.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 28 (6): 1087–1118. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870500224406.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Fernández-Reino, Mariña. 2016. “Immigrant Optimism or Anticipated Discrimination? Explaining the First Educational Transition of Ethnic Minorities in England.” Research in Social Stratification and Mobility 46:141–156. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rssm.2016.08.007.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Ferrara, Alessandro. 2022. “Aiming Too High or Scoring Too Low? Heterogeneous Immigrant–Native Gaps in Upper Secondary Enrollment and Outcomes Beyond the Transition in France.” European Sociological Review 39:366–383. https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcac050.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Ferrara, A., and C. Brunori. 2024. “Immigrant Generation, Gender, and Citizenship: Evidence on Educational Track Choices from Italy.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 50 (6): 1549–1571. http://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2023.2218047.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Fishman, Samuel H. 2019. “Do Plans Really Matter?: Re-Assessing the Role of Adolescent Expectations in Educational Attainment.” Research in Social Stratification and Mobility 62:100407. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rssm.2019.05.002.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Fishman, Samuel H. 2022. “College-for-Some or College-for-All?: Inequality in the Relationship Between Educational Expectations and Educational Attainment Across Academic Achievement.” Social Science Research 107:102747. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2022.102747.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Gil-Hernández, Carlos J., and Pablo Gracia. 2018. “Adolescents’ Educational Aspirations and Ethnic Background: The Case of Students of African and Latin American Migrant Origins in Spain.” Demographic Research 38:577–618. https://doi.org/10.4054/DemRes.2018.38.23.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Goyette, Kimberly A. 2008. “College for Some to College for All: Social Background, Occupational Expectations, and Educational Expectations Over Time.” Social Science Research 37 (2): 461–484. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2008.02.002.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Haller, Archibald O. 1968. “On the Concept of Aspiration.” Rural Sociology 334 (4): 484–487.
   Google Scholar
• Heath, Anthony, and Yaël Brinbaum. 2007. “Explaining Ethnic Inequalities in Educational Attainment.” Ethnicities 7 (3): 291–304. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468796807080230.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Jonsson, Jan O., and Frida Rudolphi. 2011. “Weak Performance–Strong Determination: School Achievement and Educational Choice among Children of Immigrants in Sweden.” European Sociological Review 27 (4): 487–508. https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcq021.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Kaas, Leo, and Christian Manger. 2012. “Ethnic Discrimination in Germany’s Labour Market: A Field Experiment.” German Economic Review 13 (1): 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0475.2011.00538.x.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Kalter, Frank, Irena Kogan, and Jörg Dollmann. 2021. Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey in Four European Countries – Germany (CILS4EU-DE) – Reduced Version. Reduced Data File for Download and Off-Site Use. ZA6656 Data file Version 6.0.0. Cologna: GESIS Data Archive.
   Google Scholar
• Kao, Grace, and Marta Tienda. 1995. “Optimism and Achievement: The Educational Performance of Immigrant Youth.” Social Science Quarterly 76 (1): 1–19.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Kao, Grace, and Marta Tienda. 1998. “Educational Aspirations of Minority Youth.” American Journal of Education 106 (3): 349–384. https://doi.org/10.1086/444188.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Khattab, Nabil. 2015. “Students’ Aspirations, Expectations and School Achievement: What Really Matters?” British Educational Research Journal 41 (5): 731–748. https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.3171.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Koopmans, Ruud, Susanne Veit, and Ruta Yemane. 2019. “Taste or Statistics? A Correspondence Study of Ethnic, Racial and Religious Labour Market Discrimination in Germany.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 42 (16): 233–252. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2019.1654114.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• McCulloch, Andrew. 2017. “Educational Aspirations Trajectories in England.” British Journal of Educational Studies 65 (1): 69–85. https://doi.org/10.1080/00071005.2016.1197883.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Mood, Carina. 2010. “Logistic Regression: Why We Cannot Do What We Think We Can Do, and What We Can Do About It.” European Sociological Review 26 (1): 67–82. https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcp006.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Morgan, Stephen L. 2004. “Methodologist as Arbitrator: Five Models for Black-White Differences in the Causal Effect of Expectations on Attainment.” Sociological Methods & Research 33 (1): 3–53. https://doi.org/10.1177/0049124104263657.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Morgan, Stephen L. 2005. On the Edge of Commitment: Educational Attainment and Race in the United States. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
   Google Scholar
• Morgan, Stephen L., Theodore S. Leenman, Jennifer J. Todd, and Kim A. Weeden. 2013. “Occupational Plans, Beliefs about Educational Requirements, and Patterns of College Entry.” Sociology of Education 86 (3): 197–217. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038040712456559.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Portes, Alejandro, Rosa Aparicio, William Haller, and Erik Vickstrom. 2010. “Moving Ahead in Madrid: Aspirations and Expectations in the Spanish Second Generation.” International Migration Review 44 (4): 767–801. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-7379.2010.00825.x.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Rosenbaum, James E. 2011. “The Complexities of College for All: Beyond Fairy-Tale Dreams.” Sociology of Education 84 (2): 113–117. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038040711401809.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Rudolphi, Frida, and Z. Salikutluk. 2021. “Aiming High, No Matter What?” Comparative Sociology 20:70–100.
   Google Scholar
• Sabates, Ricardo, Angel L. Harris, and Jeremy Staff. 2011. “Ambition Gone Awry: The Long-Term Socioeconomic Consequences of Misaligned and Uncertain Ambitions in Adolescence: Socioeconomic Consequences of Adolescent Ambitions.” Social Science Quarterly 92:959–977. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6237.2011.00799.x.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Salikutluk, Zerrin. 2016. “Why Do Immigrant Students Aim High? Explaining the Aspiration–Achievement Paradox of Immigrants in Germany.” European Sociological Review 32 (5): 581–592. https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcw004.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Schmitt, Sara A., and Caitilin Faas. 2016. “Alignment of Educational and Occupational Expectations Influences on Young Adult Educational Attainment, Income, and Underemployment.” Social Science Quarterly 97 (5): 1174–1188. https://doi.org/10.1111/ssqu.12244.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Schneider, Barbara, and David Stevenson. 1999. The Ambitious Generation: America’s Teenagers, Motivated but Directionless. New Haven: Yale University Press.
   Google Scholar
• Sewell, William H., Archibald O. Haller, and George W. Ohlendorf. 1970. “The Educational and Early Occupational Status Attainment Process: Replication and Revision.” American Sociological Review 35 (6): 1014–1027. https://doi.org/10.2307/2093379.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Sewell, William H., Robert M. Hauser, Kristen W. Springer, and Taissa S. Hauser. 2003. “As We Age: A Review of the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, 1957–2001.” Research in Social Stratification and Mobility 20:3–111. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0276-5624(03)20001-9.
   Google Scholar
• Staff, J., A. Harris, R. Sabates, and L. Briddell. 2010. “Uncertainty in Early Occupational Aspirations: Role Exploration or Aimlessness?” Social Forces 89 (2): 659–683. https://doi.org/10.1353/sof.2010.0088.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Stocké, Volker. 2007. “Explaining Educational Decision and Effects of Families’ Social Class Position: An Empirical Test of the Breen-Goldthorpe Model of Educational Attainment.” European Sociological Review 23 (4): 505–519. https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcm014.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Thijssen, Lex, Bram Lancee, Susanne Veit, and Ruta Yemane. 2021. “Discrimination Against Turkish Minorities in Germany and the Netherlands: Field Experimental Evidence on the Effect of Diagnostic Information on Labour Market Outcomes.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 47 (6): 1222–1239. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2019.1622793.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Tjaden, Jasper Dag, and Christian Hunkler. 2017. “The Optimism Trap: Migrants’ Educational Choices in Stratified Education Systems.” Social Science Research 67:213–228. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2017.04.004.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• van de Werfhorst, Herman G., and Anthony Heath. 2019. “Selectivity of Migration and the Educational Disadvantages of Second-Generation Immigrants in Ten Host Societies.” European Journal of Population 35 (2): 347–378. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10680-018-9484-2.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Wicht, Alexandra. 2016. “Occupational Aspirations and Ethnic School Segregation: Social Contagion Effects among Native German and Immigrant Youths.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 42 (11): 1825–1845. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2016.1149455.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Yates, Scott, Angel Harris, Ricardo Sabates, and Jeremy Staff. 2011. “Early Occupational Aspirations and Fractured Transitions: A Study of Entry Into “NEET” Status in the UK.” Journal of Social Policy 40 (3): 513–534. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047279410000656.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Zhang, Yanyan, Eileen Haddad, Bernadeth Torres, and Chuansheng Chen. 2011. “The Reciprocal Relationships Among Parents’ Expectations, Adolescents’ Expectations, and Adolescents’ Achievement: A Two-Wave Longitudinal Analysis of the NELS Data.” Journal of Youth and Adolescence 40 (4): 479–89. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-010-9568-8.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar