Immigrant-Origin Middle School Students in the U.S. and Switzerland: A Cross-National Case Study Comparing Contexts of Reception, Social Capital, and Vocational Aspirations

Immigrants and their descendants are vital to the fabric of the U.S. and Switzerland. Schools’ importance in fostering immigrant-origin students’ learning while considering their rich cultures, languages, and knowledge is well established. Therefore, this mixed-methods, cross-national, multiple-case dissertation study explores U.S. and Swiss students’ perspectives on their experiences and opportunities in school, social capital, the development of their vocational aspirations, and how the former shapes the latter two. Centering student voice, I draw on social network data and interview data with 22 immigrant-origin middle school students (interviewed 3-4 times each, resulting in 41 hours of interview data), 13 teachers (10.5 hours), and two principals (1.5 hours). Surveys were conducted with 259 students. Findings are presented in three articles focused on (a) immigrant-origin middle school students’ personal support networks and the mobilization of peer social capital, (b) the changes in peer interactions and friendships during the Covid-19 pandemic, and (c) the role of networks and contexts of reception on vocational aspirations. Paper 1 suggests that peers constituted more than half of participants’ personal support networks, whereas schools were critical contexts for adolescents to interact with peers and build friendships. Networks in the U.S. were more dynamic than networks in Switzerland. Shared social background, perceived integrity, and trustworthiness cultivated friendships, whereas those perceptions were shaped by the school contexts. Findings from Paper 2 describes U.S. students’ experienced changes in their peer interactions and friendships. Paper 3 shows how social networks and contexts of reception, including institutional, economic, political, and sociocultural factors, shaped vocational aspirations. However, the degree of different factors’ importance differed across the U.S. and Swiss contexts. The dissertation concludes by discussing implications