Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-31T22:19:08.188Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Transition to adulthood of refugee and immigrant children in Canada

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 November 2020

Yoko Yoshida Open the ORCID record for Yoko Yoshida [Opens in a new window]  and
Jonathan Amoyaw
Yoko Yoshida*
Affiliation:
Dalhousie University
Jonathan Amoyaw
Affiliation:
Dalhousie University
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The majority of refugees are children and youth and their integration and life-course transitions are a research priority. This paper examines the timing of refugee children and youths’ entrance into the labour market and family formation (marriage/common law union and parenthood). It does so by examining how admission category, knowledge of a host country’s official languages, and age at arrival shape their transition to adulthood. Using data from the Canadian Longitudinal Immigration Database and Heckman selection estimation, the paper finds minimal variation in refugee children and youths’ entry into the labour market compared to children of other immigrant streams. It also finds that refugee children and youth start forming families at a younger age than children of economic class immigrants, but at an older age than family class children. The analysis also shows limited effects of knowledge of official language prior to arrival while age at arrival has a robust impact on their adulthood transitions. These findings shed light on the unique patterns of life-course transition among refugee children and youth and contribute to a better conceptualization of their experiences relative to children and youth of other immigrants.

Keywords

administrative dataadulthood transitionCanadaintegrationrefugees
Type
Original Article
Information
Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 41 , Special Issue 6: The Language, Literacy and Social Integration of Refugee Children and Youth , November 2020 , pp. 1465 - 1495
Check for updates
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aydemir, A. (2011). Immigrant selection and short-term labor market outcomes by visa category. Journal of Population Economics, 24, 451–475.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baker, M., & Benjamin, D. (1997). Ethnicity, foreign birth and earnings: A Canada/US comparison. In Abbott, M. G., Beach, C. M., & Chaykowski, R. P. (Eds.), Transition and structural change in the North American labour market (pp. 281–313). Kingston, Ontario: Industrial Relations Centre Press.Google Scholar
Banerjee, R. (2009). Income growth of new immigrants in Canada: Evidence from the survey of labour and income dynamics. Relations Industrielles/Industrial Relations, 64, 466–488.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beaujot, R., & Kerr, D. (2004). Population change in Canada (2nd ed.). Toronto: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Beaujot, R., & Kerr, D. (2007). Emerging youth transition patterns in Canada: Opportunities and risks. PSC Discussion Papers Series, 21. Available at http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/pscpapers/vol21/iss5/1Google Scholar
Beiser, M. (1999). Strangers at the gate: The “boat people’s” first ten years in Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berlin, G., Furstenberg, F., & Waters, M. (2010). Introducing the issue. Future of Children, 20, 3–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bonikowska, A., & Hou, F. (2010). Reversal of fortunes or continued success? Cohortdifferences in education and earnings among children of immigrants. International Migration Review, 44, 320–353.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boyd, M. (2009). Social origins and the educational and occupational achievements of the 1.5 and second generations. Canadian Review of Sociology/Revue canadienne de sociologie, 46, 339–369.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boyd, M., & Tian, S. (2016). Educational and labor market attainments of the 1.5 and second-generation children of East Asian immigrants in Canada. American Behavioral Scientist, 60, 705–729.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DeVoretz, D. J., Pivnenko, S., & Beiser, M. (2004). The economic experiences of refugees in Canada. IZA Discussion Papers, No. 1088. Bonn: Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA),Google Scholar
Ferrer, A. M., & Riddell, W. C. (2003). The role of credentials in the Canadian labour market. Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue Canadienne d’économique, 35, 879–905.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldring, L., Berinstein, C., & Bernhard, J. K. (2009). Institutionalizing precarious migratory status in Canada. Citizenship Studies, 13, 239–265.Google Scholar
Gonzales, R. G. (2011). Learning to be illegal: Undocumented youth and shifting legal contexts in the transition to adulthood. American Sociological Review, 76, 602–619.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gonzales, R. G., & Roth, B. J. (2015). Immigrant children and the transition to adulthood. In Scott, R. & Kosslyn, S. (Eds.), Emerging trends in the behavioral sciences: An interdisciplinary, searchable, and linkable resource (pp. 1–15). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Heckman, J. J. (1976). The common structure of statistical models of truncation, sample selection and limited dependent variables and a simple estimator for such models. Annals of Economic and Social Measurement, 5, 475–492.Google Scholar
Hofferth, S. L., & Moon, U. J. (2016). How do they do it? The immigrant paradox in the transition to adulthood. Social Science Research, 57, 177–194.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hogan, D. P. (1978). The variable order of events in the life course. American Sociological Review, 573–586.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hou, F. (2017). The resettlement of Vietnamese refugees across Canada over three decades, WIDER Working Paper, No. 2017/188. Helsinki: United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNUWIDER).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hou, F., & Bonicowska, A. (2016). Educational and labour outcomes of childhood immigrants by admission class. Statistics Canada Research Paper, 11F0019MIE–No. 377. Ottawa: Statistics Canada.Google Scholar
Hou, F., & Bonikowska, A. (2017). Educational attainment of childhood immigrants: How does immigration type matter? Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 43, 1434–1452.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hum, D., & Simpson, W. (1999). Wage opportunities for visible minorities in Canada. Canadian Public Policy-Analyse de Politiques, 25, 379–394.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada. (2016). Rapid impact evaluation of the Syrian refugee initiative. Reference Number E1-2016. Ottawa: Author.Google Scholar
Impicciatore, R. (2015). The transition to adulthood of the Italian second generation in France. European Journal of Population, 31, 529–560.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaida, L., Hou, F., & Stick, M. (2019). The long-term economic integration of resettled refugees in Canada: A comparison of privately sponsored refugees and government-assisted refugees. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 46, 1687–1708.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaplan, H. (1997). The evolution of the human life course. In Wachter, K. & Finch, C. (Eds.), Between Zeus and the salmon: The biodemography of longevity (pp. 175–211). Washington: National Academy Press.Google Scholar
Kyle, L., Macdonald, F., Doughney, J., & Pyke, J. (2004). Refugees in the labour market: Looking for cost-effective models of assistance. Report prepared by the Equity Research Centre Inc. and the Work and Economic Policy Unit, Victoria University, Australia. Accessed January 25, 2020, at http://library.bsl.org.au/bsljspui/bitstream/1/6121/1/refugees_in_labour_market.pdfGoogle Scholar
Li, P. S. (2003). Initial earnings and catch-up capacity of immigrants. Canadian Public Policy, 29, 319–337.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luthra, R., Waldinger, R., & Soehl, T. (2018). Origins and destinations: The making of the second generation. Los Angeles, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Marini, M. M. (1984). Age and sequencing norms in the transition to adulthood. Social Forces, 63, 229–244.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nakhaie, R. (2019). Youth newcomers’ educational resistance. Report for the Child and Youth Refugee Research Coalition (CYRRC). Accessed January 25, 2020, at https://dalspace.library.dal.ca//handle/10222/76393Google Scholar
Noack, A. M., & Vosko, L. F. (2011). Precarious jobs in Ontario: Mapping dimensions of labour market insecurity by workers’ social location and context. Toronto: Law Commission of Ontario.Google Scholar
Oppenheimer, V. K. (1988). A theory of marriage timing. American Journal of Sociology, 94, 563–591.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Picot, G., Zhang, Y., & Hou, F. (2019). Labour market outcomes among refugees to Canada. Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series, 11F0019M. No.419. Ottawa: Statistics Canada.Google Scholar
Portes, A., & Böröcz, J. (1989). Contemporary immigration: Theoretical perspectives on its determinants and modes of incorporation. International Migration Review, 23, 606–630.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Portes, A., & Rumbaut, R. G. (2001). Legacies: The story of the immigrant second generation. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Pritchard, P., Maehler, D. B., Pötzschke, S., & Ramos, H. (2019). Integrating refugee children and youth: A scoping review of English and German literature. Journal of Refugee Studies, 32(Special issue 1), i194–i208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ramos, V. (2018). Transitions to adulthood and generational change in Portugal. Societies, 8, 21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reitz, J. G. (2001). Immigrant skill utilization in the Canadian labour market: Implications of human capital research. Journal of International Migration and Integration/Revue de l’integration et de la migration internationale, 2, 347–378.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rumbaut, R. G. (2005). Turning points in the transition to adulthood: Determinants of educational attainment, incarceration, and early childbearing among children of immigrants. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 28, 1041–1086.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rumbaut, R. G., & Komaie, G. (2010). Immigration and adult transitions. Future of Children, 20, 43–66.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Statistics Canada. (2016a). 150 years of immigration in Canada. Canadian megatrends. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 11-630-X. Accessed January 11, 2020, at /pub/11-630-x/11-630-x2016006-eng.htmGoogle Scholar
Statistics Canada. (2016b). Census of population. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 98-400-X2016203.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Statistics Canada (2017a). Immigration and ethnocultural diversity in Canada: Key results from Census 2016. Statistics Canada. Accessed May 5, 2019, at https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/171025/dq171025b-eng.htmGoogle Scholar
Statistics Canada (2017b). Children with an immigrant background: Bridging cultures. Statistics Canada. Catalogue no. 98-200-X2016015. Accessed Mau 5, 2019 at https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/as-sa/98-200-x/2016015/98-200-x2016015-eng.cfmGoogle Scholar
Utomo, A., Reimondos, A., Utomo, I., McDonald, P., & Hull, T. (2013). Female migrants and the transition to adulthood in greater Jakarta. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 648, 70–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture (VFST) (1998). Rebuilding shattered lives. Melbourne, Australia: Author.Google Scholar
Wilkinson, L. (2002). Factors influencing the academic success of refugee youth in Canada. Journal of Youth Studies, 5, 173–193.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilkinson, L. (2008). Labor market transitions of immigrant-born, refugee-born, and Canadian-born youth. Canadian Review of Sociology, 45, 151–176.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilkinson, L., & Garcea, J. (2017). The economic integration of refugees in Canada: A mixed record? Washington, DC: Migration Policy Institute.Google Scholar
Wu, Z., Schimmele, C. M., & Hou, F. (2012). Self-perceived integration of immigrants and their children. Canadian Journal of Sociology, 37, 381–408.Google Scholar
Yoshida, Y., & Amoyaw, J. (2020). Looking beyond labour market integration: Household conditions surrounding refugee children in Canada. In Korntheuer, A., Maehler, D. B., Pritchard, P., & Wilkinson, L. (Eds.), Refugees in Canada and Germany: Responses in policy and practice. Manheim, Germany: GESIS-Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences.Google Scholar
Zhou, M. (1997). Segmented assimilation: Issues, controversies, and recent research on the new second generation. The International Migration Review, 3, 75–1008.Google Scholar