Doctoral Dissertation Research: Theorizing the Sociolegal Incorporation of First Generation Immigrants and their Adult Children

这个项目研究了移民的孩子如何帮助他们的父母在美国的社会和法律制度中导航。一长串的研究表明，移民的孩子为他们的父母充当语言和文化经纪人。因此，年轻人可以通过翻译文件、找工作、学习新的规范和获得住房来帮助父母。然而，人们对移民身份在年轻人与父母之间的中介过程中所起的作用关注有限。本项目旨在解决三个相互关联的问题：成年1.5代和第二代移民子女（18岁以上）如何从事中介？中介过程中的差异如何塑造第一代移民父母及其1.5代和第二代子女的社会法律融合？移民身份和性别对社会法律结果有何影响？这项工作将对学者、教育工作者和政策制定者有重要的意义，他们有兴趣了解法律地位如何使移民家庭的融合复杂化。考虑到美国大量的无证和混合身份家庭，这尤其及时。调查结果还将揭示当这些家庭试图融入核心社会机构时所产生的积极和消极后果。为了解决研究问题，将对拉丁裔/非拉丁裔移民家庭进行深入访谈，这些家庭因受保护和不受保护的移民身份而有所不同（无证父母的无证年轻人，无证父母的公民年轻人，以及父母有永久移民身份的公民年轻人）。生活史访谈将探讨移民身份如何塑造中介和独特的整合过程，在父母和他们的成年子女之间展开。为此，探索移民身份对这一过程的影响，将揭示移民子女不仅是如何中介信息的，而且在促进进入重要的社会、法律和经济机构方面也具有独特的地位。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project examines how children of immigrants help their parents navigate social and legal institutions in the US. A long line of research demonstrates that children of immigrants serve as language and cultural brokers for their parents. As such, youth can assist their parents by translating documents, finding employment, learning new norms, and securing housing. However, limited attention has been dedicated to the role immigration status plays in the brokering process between young adults and their parents. This project aims to address three inter-related questions: How do adult 1.5 and 2nd generation children (age 18+) of immigrants engage in brokering? How do differences in the brokering process shape the sociolegal integration of 1st generation immigrant parents and their 1.5 and 2nd generation children? How do sociolegal outcomes differ by immigration status and gender? This work will have important implications for scholars, educators, and policy makers interested in understanding the ways in which legal status complicates the integration of immigrant families. This is particularly timely given the large-scale number of undocumented and mixed status families in the US. Findings will also reveal the positive and negative consequences that arise when these families attempt to integrate into core societal institutions. To address the research questions, in-depth interviews will be conducted with Latino/a immigrant families who vary across protected and unprotected immigration statues (undocumented young adults with undocumented parents, citizen young adults with undocumented parents, and citizen young adults with parents with permanent immigration status). Life history interviews will explore how immigration statuses shape the brokering and the unique integration processes that unfold among parents and their adult children. To this end, exploring the impact of immigration status on this process will unveil how children of immigrants not only broker information but are also uniquely positioned to facilitate access to vital social, legal, and economic institutions.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.