THE INTEGRATION OF IMMIGRANT CHILDREN INTO THE ITALIAN SOCIETY: DOES PARENTAL EDUCATION MATTER?

The degree of integration of immigrants into the majority group’s culture is the result of various personal and societal characteristics. Not only are the social and psychological implications of high interest, the economic consequences of the integration of immigrants become more and more meaningful. Due to our current political context, immigrants are a constantly growing share of the European population. In this research I investigate if parental education affects the integration of immigrant children. I use the amount of friends and the language spoken at home of the children as measures of integration. Through analyzing historical backgrounds and antagonistic findings of the literature, I predict that a higher parental education engenders a higher amount of friends and a higher probability of speaking Italian at home for the child. This paper provides a summary of previous inquiries by exploring a broad literature, discussing the “Immigrant paradox” and showcasing the obtained predictions in the case of Italian 5th grade primary education students.