Latino Language-Minority College Going: Adolescent Boys' Language Use and Girls' Social Integration

This study explores the postsecondary pathways of Latino language-minority young adults in the United States. Using data from the Texas Higher Education Opportunity Project (THEOP) and controlling on background characteristics as well as high-school academic achievement, this study explores the social and linguistic integration of immigrant and native-born Latino linguistic-minority adolescents. Results suggest that home-language use positively predicts postsecondary involvement for Latino language-minority males. Alternately, social integration, either via extracurricular involvement or religious participation, predicts Latina girls' postsecondary participation, with variation in the patterns depending on girls' immigrant generational status.