Higher parental expectations, greater interest in school, and foreign-language use in early childhood are the “cultural capital” driving children of immigrants to attain a graduate education, says Cynthia Feliciano, UCI Chicano/Latino studies and sociology professor.

“While children of immigrants and native-born children now have similar expectations to earn a college degree, children of immigrants have a higher expectation to attain a graduate education due to these factors stemming from unique aspects of the immigrant experience that are common across immigrant families,” she says.

The study is the featured article in the International Migration Review’s fall issue, released earlier this week.