Doctororal Dissertation Research: Transition Out of School and Into Young Adulthood: The Role of Neighborhoods in Education and Work Outcomes of Mexican American Youth

提案标题：博士论文研究：过渡出学校和进入青年成年期：在教育和墨西哥裔美国青年的工作成果邻里的作用。主要研究者：Mary Waters，哈佛大学提案号：0703221本研究调查了第二代墨西哥裔青年的学习和工作前景和决定是如何被他们的社区环境所塑造的。它比较了洛杉矶两个同样处于不利地位的社区的青年/年轻成年男性，年龄在17-22岁之间，他们的民族/种族构成和移民集中度不同。一个主要是墨西哥人和移民，另一个是黑人和墨西哥人的混合社区。通过社区观察和对青年及其父母的反复深入访谈，本研究分析了这些高度贫困的背景如何影响青年的生活和他们在成年后从学校到工作的决策过程。通过关注社会关系和调查被认为对他们的学校和工作模式有贡献的其他社区机制，本研究将宏观层面上关于社区如何重要的论点与微观层面上关于社会关系（特别是对美国出生的本土少数民族和移民）如何影响第二代年轻人对学校和工作的看法和结果的论点联系起来。从理论上讲，本研究是为了反驳分段同化理论，该理论认为，在拥有大量美国出生的少数民族的社区背景下，移民的孩子更有可能经历“向下同化”，并且一些研究认为移民集中可能会减弱贫困集中的影响。本研究试图通过揭示当代城市语境中的同化过程，重新认识移民和城市社会学的疏离文献。合并这些文献的需要反映在对第二代的前景的日益关注，特别是那些在内城长大的人，以及需要理解新的城市环境，更多的移民和拉丁裔，如何促进或抑制流动性。这项研究不仅与美国拉丁裔人口的增长有关，而且对男性的关注尤其重要，因为最近的趋势表明，拉丁裔男性在追求高等教育方面落后于同种族的女性。这项研究将揭示男性青年对学校和工作的看法和决策过程，以及导致他们走向积极或消极方向的环境因素。因此，这项研究应该吸引从业人员，如教育工作者或为这些高危人群服务的人，以及有兴趣了解城市环境哪些方面可以改变以改善青年的结果的政策制定者。

Proposal Title: Doctoral Dissertation Research: Transition Out of School and Into Young Adulthood: The Role of Neighborhoods in Education and Work Outcomes of Mexican American Youth.Principal Investigator: Mary Waters, Harvard UniversityProposal Number: 0703221This study investigates how school and work outlooks and decisions of second-generation Mexican-origin youth are shaped by their neighborhood context. It compares youth/young adult males, ages 17-22, in two equally disadvantaged neighborhoods in Los Angeles that differ in their ethnic/racial composition and immigrant concentration. One is predominantly Mexican and immigrant and the other is a mixed Black and Mexican neighborhood. Through neighborhood observations and repeated in-depth interviews with youth and their parents, this study analyzes how these high poverty contexts matter in the lives of youth and their decision-making process as they transition into adulthood and from school to work. By focusing on social ties and investigating other neighborhood mechanisms believed to contribute to their school and work patterns, this study bridges macro-level arguments about how neighborhood matters with micro-level arguments about how social ties, particularly to US born native minorities and immigrants, influence second-generation outlooks and outcomes related to school and work in young adulthood. Theoretically, this study is conducted to speak to the segmented assimilation thesis which argues that children of immigrants are more at risk of experiencing "downward assimilation" in a neighborhood context with large numbers of US born minorities, and, the contention by some research that immigrant concentration may attenuate the effects of poverty concentration. This study reacquaints the estranged literatures on immigration and urban sociology by trying to shed light on the assimilation process in the contemporary urban context. The need to merge these literatures is reflected in the growing concern over the prospects of the second-generation, particularly those growing up in the inner-city, as well as, the need to understand how the new urban context, which is more immigrant and Latino, functions to promote or inhibit mobility. Not only is this study relevant given the increase of Latinos throughout the United States, but the focus on males is particularly crucial given recent trends showing Latino males are falling behind their female co-ethnics in pursuing higher education. This study will shed light on male youths' views and decision-making processes towards school and work and the contextual factors that lead them towards a positive or negative direction. As such, the study should appeal to practitioners, such as educators or those serving this at-risk population, and policy makers interested in understanding what aspects of the urban context may be changed to improve outcomes for youth.