Neighbourhood Effects on Immigrant Educational Attainment: Evidence from 2nd Generation Polish and Turkish Immigrants in Sweden

Gebrenegus Ghilagaber, Stockholm University

This study tests for the existence of community effects on educational attainment among some 2000 young indigenous Swedes and 2nd generation Polish and Turkish immigrants to Sweden born in 1972 and 1976. It links data from two surveys with area data and uses Sequential Probit to model educational progress. Two community-level constructs (indicating economic deprivation and immigrant concentration) are used along with three family-level and four individual-level variables as correlates of educational attainment. Preliminary results show that individuals from economically deprived neighbourhoods have lower educational achievement, while those from high immigrant concentration have better educational attainment. Further, we find that children from highly educated families make educational advancement while children from divorced families and those of Turkish origin lag behind. More importantly, except for parental education, which continues to be an important factor throughout all educational levels, the importance of the other factors is limited only to lower educational levels.