Home   |   Welcome   |   About   |   People   |   Events   |   Research   |   Data Archive   |   Working Papers



 

The Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study (CILS)

CILS is a longitudinal study designed to study the adaptation process of the immigrant second generation which is defined broadly as U.S.-born children with at least one foreign-born parent or children born abroad but brought at an early age to the United States.  The original survey was conducted with samples of second-generation children attending the 8th and 9th grades in public and private schools in the metropolitan areas of Miami/Ft. Lauderdale in Florida and San Diego, California.

The first survey, conducted in 1992, had the purpose of ascertaining baseline information on immigrant families; children’s own demographic characteristics; language use; self-identities; and academic attainment.  The total sample size was 5,262.  Respondents came from 77 different nationalities, although the sample reflects the most sizable immigrant nationalities in each area.  Thus, the largest concentrations include Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and West Indians in South Florida; and Mexicans, Filipinos, Vietnamese, Laotians, and Cambodians in California.  The sample is evenly divided by sex, year in school (8th, 9th) and birth status (foreign-born/U.S.-born).  Fifty-four percent of the interviews were conducted in Miami/Ft. Lauderdale and 46 percent in San Diego.

Three years later, corresponding to the time in which respondents were about to graduate from high school, the first follow-up survey was conducted.  Its purpose was to examine the evolution of key adaptation outcomes, including language knowledge and preferences; ethnic identity; self-esteem; and academic attainment over the adolescent years.  The survey also sought to establish the proportion of second-generation youths who dropped out of school before graduation.  This follow-up survey retrieved 4,288 respondents or 81.5 percent of the original sample.  A series of statistical tests indicated that this follow-up is not seriously biased with respect to the original survey, although there is some overrepresentation of children from higher-status families.

Together with this follow-up survey, a parental survey was conducted.  For reasons of cost, this survey targeted half of the total universe of parents, selecting them on a random basis.   Unlike the student surveys, which were conducted mostly via self-administered questionnaires in school, the parental interviews were conducted face-to-face and mostly at home.  Since many immigrant parents did not understand English, the questionnaire was translated and administered in six different foreign languages.  The purpose of this interview was to establish directly characteristics of immigrant parents and families and their outlooks for the future, including aspirations and plans for the children.  In total, 2,442 parents or 46 percent of the original student sample were interviewed.  Their national origins closely resemble, in proportional terms, those of the student sample.

The third survey was conducted when respondents had reached early adulthood, at average age 24. This survey was conducted using a combination of mailed questionnaires, telephone, and in-person interviews. By then, most respondents had left their parents' home, requiring a nationwide tracking effort. In total, this follow-up survey retrieved 3,613 respondents representing 69 percent of the original sample and 84 percent of the first follow-up. There is evidence of sampling bias in the second follow-up requiring statistical corrections. This is explained in detail in Portes and Rumbaut (2005).

All CILS surveys were jointly directed by Alejandro Portes, initially at Johns Hopkins and now at Princeton University, and by Rubén G. Rumbaut, initially at San Diego State University and subsequently at Michigan State University and the University of California - Irvine. 


Data Description

The data in this archive include the three CILS surveys.  In addition to the codebook, the three questionnaires are included so that users can refer to the original questions.  Some discrepancies exist in responses to factual questions, such as citizenship, in waves 1 and 2 of the student survey.  There are also some discrepancies between student and parental responses to the same factual question.  These discrepancies do not reflect coding errors, but actual differences in the ways respondents answered the same question at different times.  For additional information about the study, variable coding, and index construction, please refer to Legacies.

Notes for Combined Data Files for the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study (CILS)

Separate data files are provided in Stata and SPSS formats.  The data file in Stata 6.0 format is cils12n3.dta.  Because Stata does not include missing values in its calculations, in most instances the reported sample size will not total the overall sample size of the study.  Stata does not support user-defined missing values. 

We have also provided two SPSS versions of the data file.  The SPSS for Windows is cils12n3.sav and there is also an SPSS portable file, cils12n3.por, which can be read into SPSS running on any platform using the IMPORT command. 

In these data files all personal identifiers for the respondents have been removed and new project case identification numbers have been added to protect confidentiality. 

Variable naming conventions follow v1, v2; and instances of associated questionnaire items and subordinate questionnaire items add subscripts (e.g., v39a and v39b, or v323 and v323a).  These are organized in alphanumerical order; however, there are occasional skips in the sequence (e.g., there is no v3).  Variables in the parental interview are indicated with “p” in place of “v” (e.g., p1, p2) and constructed variables derived from one or more questionnaire items are indicated with a “c” (e.g., c1, c2).  The original 1992-93 survey is covered by the variables ranging from v1 to v148, the 1995-96 follow-up is covered by variables ranging from v203 to v358, and the variables from the parental interviews range from p1 to p144.  Twenty constructed variables (c1 to c20) are appended at the end of the file. 

In the variables for the original survey and the follow-up (v1-v358), the respondent is referred to with the abbreviation “r”.  In the parental interviews (p1-p144) the respondent is referred to as “p” because he or she is the parent of a study respondent.

Notes for Specific Variables

v2: v2 to v149 come from first survey of respondents conducted in 1992-93.

v79: v79 to v84 are components of Portes and Bach's Perceptions of Society and Discrimination Index (PSDI) (Portes and Bach 1985:  284).

v88: see questionnaire for full wording of these and subsequent attitudinal items.

v97: see questionnaire for full wording of these and subsequent attitudinal items.

v101: v101 to v110 are components of Rosenberg's Self-Esteem scale (Rosenberg 1979; Rosenberg et al. 1995). 

v114: v114 to v118 are components of the CES-D Depression scale (Center for Epidemiological Studies, Short-Form.  See Portes and Rumbaut 2001:  207-209).

v132:  v132 to v135 are the national percentiles and the total scores on the Stanford math and reading achievement tests.  These tests were administered by the schools and the data were provided by the school system. 

v148: this variable is a unit-weighted standardized scale of father's and mother's education, and occupational SEI scores, plus family home ownership.  Scores were computed for all cases with valid measures in three or more of the component variables.

END OF FIRST SURVEY.

v203: v203 to v358 come from the follow-up survey. 

v207: see follow-up questionnaire for full wording of these and subsequent attitudinal items. 

v279: v279 to v284 are components of Portes and Bach's Perceptions of Society and Discrimination Index (PSDI).  (Portes and Bach 1985:  284.) 

v288: v288 to v290 are components of the Family Cohesion scale (Portes and Rumbaut 2001:  200-202). 

v291: v291 to v293 are components of the Familism scale (Portes and Rumbaut 2001:  200-202). 

v297: see follow-up questionnaire for full wording of these and subsequent attitudinal items. 

v301: v301 to v310 are components of Rosenberg's Self-Esteem scale.  (Rosenberg 1979; Rosenberg et al. 1995.) 

v314: v314 to v318 are components of the CES-D Depression scale.  (See Portes and Rumbaut 2001:  207-209.) 

p1: all "p" variables refer to items in the parental questionnaire. 

p74a: p74a to p74c are components of Portes and Bach's Perceptions of Society and Discrimination Index (PSDI).  (Portes and Bach 1985:  284.) 

p75a: p75a to p75c are measures of social distance derived from Portes and Bach (1985:  Ch. 8). 

c1: all "c" variables are transformed or computed variables based on prior data.  C1 is derived from v4. 

c3: c3 is constructed from v9, v15 and v21a; if father and mother are from different countries, mother's national origin is assigned.

Codebook Questionnaires Data (Stata-6) Data (SPSS/Windows) Data (SPSS/Portable)
codebook1n2nP.pdf
codebook3.pdf
cils1.pdf
cils2.pdf
cils3pdf
cilsprnt.pdf
cils12n3.dta cils12n3.sav cils12n3.por

 

Bibliography

Portes, Alejandro and Robert L. Bach.  1985.  Latin Journey:  Cuban and Mexican Immigrants in the United States.  Berkeley:  University of California Press.

_____ and Rubén G. Rumbaut.  2001.  Legacies:  The Story of the Immigrant Second Generation.  Berkeley:  University of California Press.

_____. 2001. Ethnicities: Children of Immigrants in America. Berkeley: University of California Press.

_____. 2005. "The Second Generation and the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study." Ethnic and Racial Studies 28 (November): 983-999.

Rosenberg, Morris.  1979.  Conceiving the Self.  New York:  Basic Books.

_____, Carmi Schooler, Carrie Schoenbach, and Florence Rosenberg.  1995.  “Global Self-esteem and Specific Self-esteem:  Different Concepts, Different Outcomes.”  American Sociological Review 60:  141-156.


Selected Publications

Fernandez-Kelly, Patricia and Lisa Konczal. 2005. "Murdering the Alphabet: Identity and Entrepreneurship among Second Generation Cubans, West Indians, and Central Americans." Ethnic and Racial Studies 28 (November): 1153-1181.

Portes, Alejandro and R. G. Rumbaut (co-editors). 2005. The Second Generation in Early Adulthood. Special issue of Ethnic and Racial Studies 28 (November).

Ports, Alejandro, Patricia Fernandez-Kelly, and William Haller. "Segmented Assimilation on the Ground: The New Second Generation in Early Adulthood." Ethnic and Racial Studies 28 (November): 1000-1040.

Rumbaut, Ruben 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 (November): 1041-1086.

Portes, Alejandro and Lingxin Hao. "The Schooling of Children of Immigrants: Contextual Effects on the Educational Attainment of the Second Generation." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 101 (August): 11920-11927.

Spanish Translation: MIGRACIONES (Spain) 17 (2005): 7-44.

Rumbaut, Ruben G. 2004. "Ages, Life Stages, and Generational Cohorts: Decomposing the Immigrant First and Second Generations in the United States." International Migration Review 38 (Fall): 1160-1205.

Fernandez-Kelly, Patricia and Sara Curran. 2001. "Nicaraguans: Voices Lost, Voices Found." Pp. 127-155 in R. G. Rumbaut and A. Portes (eds.), Ethnicities: Children of Immigrants in America. Berkeley: University of California Press and Russell Sage Foundation.

Portes, Alejandro and Ruben G. Rumbaut. 2001. Legacies: The Story of the Immigrant Second Generation. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press and Russell Sage Foundation.

Rumbaut, Ruben G. and Alejandro Portes. 2001. Ethnicities: Children of Immigrants in America. Berkeley: University of California Press and Russell Sage Foundation.

Zhou, Min. 2001. "Straddling Different Worlds: The Acculturation of Vietnamese Refugee Children." Pp. 187-227 in R. G. Rumbaut and A. Portes (eds.), Ethnicities: Children of Immigrants in America. Berkeley: University of California Press and Russell Sage Foundation.

Portes, Alejandro and Dag MacLeod. 1999. "Educating the Second Generation: Determinants of Academic Achievement among Children of Immigrants in the United States." Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 25 (July): 373-396.

Portes, Alejandro and Lingxin Hao. 1998. "E Pluribus Unum: Bilingualism and Loss of Language in the Second Generation." Sociology of Education 71 (October): 269-294.

Zhou, Min. 1997. "Growing up American: The Challenge Confronting Immigrant Children and Children of Immigrants." Annual Review of Sociology 23: 63-95.

Portes, Alejandro and Dag MacLeod. 1996. "Educational Progress of Children of Immigrants: The Roles of Class, Ethnicity, and School Context." Sociology of Education 69 (October): 255-275.

Portes Alejandro and Dag MacLeod. 1996. "What Shall I Call Myself? Hispanic Identity Formation in the Second Generation." Ethnic and Racial Studies 19 (July): 523-547.

Portes, Alejandro. 1995. "Children of Immigrants: Segmented Assimilation and its Determinants." Pp. 248-280 in A. Portes (ed.) The Economic Sociology of Immigration. New York: Russell Sage.

Portes, Alejandro. 1994. (Editor.) The New Second Generation. Special Issue of International Migration Review Vol. 28 (Winter).

Rumbaut, Ruben G. 1994. "The Crucible Within: Ethnic Identity, Self-Esteem, and Segmented Assimilation among Children of Immigrants." International Migration Review 28: 748-94.

Portes, Alejandro and Min Zhou. 1993. "The New Second Generation: Segmented Assimilation and its Variants." Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences 530 (November): 74-96.

Reprinted: THE PUBLIC INTEREST 116 (Summer 1994): 18-33.
Reprinted: ANNUAL EDITIONS: URBAN SOCIETY. Guilford, CT: Dushkin, 1996.
Reprinted: N. R. Yetman (ed.), MAJORITY AND MINORITY. Boston: Alyn and Bacon (1998): 348-363.
Reprinted: C. G. Ellison and W. A. Martin (eds.) RACE AND ETHNIC RELATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. Los Angeles: Roxbury Publishing Co. (1999): 494-503.

 


 
   

 

Department of Sociology

Woodrow Wilson School

Princeton University