Integration of youth in Sweden in a multidimensional perspective (SEMI)

How is the integration among youth developing? This project will study different dimensions of integration among 14-22-year-olds in Sweden.

This project takes a multidimensional perspective on integration, following the evolution of its structural, cultural, social and psychological dimensions for young people over time (ages 14-22). We rely on large-scale longitudinal data (CILS4EU) collected from youth themselves, and matched to register data on educational and labour market outcomes. We include immigrant youth and youth who were born in the destination country to immigrant parents, but also youth with native-born parents, and we regard integration as a multi-sided process, which is dependent on the interaction between these groups and the majority. The focus is primarily on Sweden, but we will also draw on CILS4EU data from England, Germany, and the Netherlands, as well as Norway for international comparisons to provide leverage to our findings. Our large sample (N=5,025 in Sweden) allows us to do justice to the great diversity within the immigrant group, both in terms of characteristics such as origin country, gender, ethnicity, time of immigration and socioeconomic resources, but also in terms of integration experiences and aspirations.

 The over-arching aims are:

  1. To study the integration of youth of different origins in Sweden both as differences across generations (i.e., in relation to parents) and as change over individual life-time

  2. To do so by studying different dimensions of integration (structural, social, and cultural integration, as well as psychological adaptation)

  3. To take into account how integration is influenced by socioeconomic inequalities and segregation

  4. To address the theoretical questions why integration vary across origin and destination countries.

Previously Per Engzell and Chaïm la Roi have also participated in this project.

Duration

2020-2024

Principal Investigator

Jan O. Jonsson Professor, Sociology

Project members

Adam Altmejd PhD, Economics
Andreas Gustafsson MSc, Demography, BSc, Biology
Stephanie Plenty Associate Professor, Sociology; PhD, Psychology
Frida Rudolphi PhD, Sociology

Other project members

Funding

The Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet)