Immigrant Nonparticipation in School Activities: Isolation and Lowered Academic Expectations

Hua-Yu Sebastian Cherng, University of Pennsylvania
Grace Kao, University of Pennsylvania

Prior qualitative research suggests that immigrant youth are often not engaged in or unaware of opportunities in school. We use the ELS:2002, a nationally representative sample of high school sophomores, to document racial/ethnic and immigrant differences in nonparticipation in school sports and clubs. Then, we explore the relationship between nonparticipation in tenth grade and academic expectations in twelfth grade. We find that first-generation Hispanics and whites are much more likely not to participate than either their same-race second- and third-generation counterparts or white third-generation youth. Similarly, Asian Americans are more likely not to participate in any sports compared to white third-generations, although second generations are not disadvantaged in terms of nonparticipation in clubs. We also find that nonparticipation in activities is negatively associated with years of expected educational attainment. These findings suggest that a disproportionate number of immigrants may be isolated or marginalized in school and have less academic optimism.