Immigrant parent’s religiosity and the second-generation children’s adaptation

Abstract

Drawing on insights from social capital theory, this study empirically examined the association between immigrant parent’s religiosity and the second-generation immigrant children’s adaptation in the United States, which was measured by the second-generation children’s preference of American way of doing things. Applying ordinal regression analysis to data from the Children of Immigrant Longitudinal Study (CILS), this study finds (1) parental religiosity is positively related to their second-generation children’s adaptation; (2) immigrant family’s socialization with people from other different ethnic groups is positively associated with the second-generation children’s adaptation and (3) parental educational level is positively associated with the second-generation immigrant children’s adaptation. These findings highlight the ‘bridging’ role of parental religiosity and the importance of intercultural contacts for the second-generation immigrant children’s positive adaptation.