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The main objective of this volume is to explore the methodological challenges and innovations in empirical research on second-generation residents—the children of migrants—including their transitions to adulthood and their integration into the societies in which they live. Although the number of studies on this topic has increased considerably in the last few decades, their focus has rarely been on the nuts and bolts of how to efficiently design and perform research on such populations. This volume elaborates on the centrality of a life-course perspective in research on second-generation residents in three ways: by dealing with challenges related to comparative research designs, by providing a rationale for and examples of mixed-methods approaches, and, finally, by evaluating the most appropriate research methods in the study of identity and of transnational lives. Particular attention is given to aspects such as notions of integration, the identity of people belonging to the second generation, and their relations with their countries of origin. The methodological discussion is enriched with new empirical material that illustrates the advantages of these methods and that advances knowledge on the life courses of the children of migrants.

Children of immigrants are becoming an important share in Europe’s population. Although most of them have not experienced immigration themselves, as many of them were born in the European country where they reside, their families have. This specific position might have an impact on how they fare across their life in the country they live in. In recent years, children of immigrants have become an increasingly important topic of study in Europe and the focus of many survey data collection projects. One of the main underlying goals of these endeavors has been to study the life outcomes (such as education, health, and employment) and understand the mechanisms behind the potential differences in these outcomes between children of immigrants and a predetermined ‘comparison group’. The main issues that arise from such comparative projects are (1) the definition of the population under study; (2) the levels at which those comparisons are made (e.g. local, provincial, national, cross-national, etc.); (3) the ‘benchmark’ for integration, or whom to compare the children of immigrants to; and (4) the various biases arising from this research. These issues have theoretical implications and important consequences on the types of analyses that can be performed as well as the conclusions that we can draw from those comparisons. By reviewing major studies including children of immigrants in Europe, we provide a comprehensive overview of the possible types, levels and benchmarks for comparison; their availability in current European data; and the advantages and disadvantages tied to using these.

This chapter studies the transition to the labor market in Switzerland of young adults who are children of immigrants. We focus on their ability to be employed in comparison to that of both first-generation immigrants and Swiss natives. We expect that those children of immigrants who were educated and socialized in Switzerland will benefit from the same opportunities as the Swiss natives. Using data from the Swiss Labor Force Survey, we first show that the employment situation for these children of immigrants is better than that of first-generation immigrants. We also show that, although the country of origin plays a smaller role for second-generation than for first-generation residents, origin-specific characteristics persist. From a methodological point of view, we suggest the preliminary use of data-mining tools to look more deeply into the research questions. Based on decision-tree modeling, this exploratory step highlights an interaction effect between the child’s and the father’s educational level. This interaction is established in a regression-based confirmatory step. We find that the educational level of the immigrant fathers plays a role in the labor-market integration of their children, particularly in the case of second-generation residents with low educational levels. Although our results tend to confirm the generation-as-leveler effect, both country of origin and individual resources significantly impact the second-generation young adults’ ability to access the Swiss labor market.

This paper examines the determinants and the effects of the presence of a third person in face-to-face interviews that were conducted with second-generation residents of Turkish parents and their non-migrant counterparts in six western European countries. The presence of a third person in social science interviews is assumed to influence the results of surveys in social sciences. Up to now, however, only a small number of studies have investigated the presence of a bystander in interviews with migrant descendants, its determinants, as well as its effects on other variables. We used data from the project on The Integration of the European Second Generation (TIES 2007–2008) for Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. The sample consisted of 5870 respondents, of whom 51% were descendants of Turkish immigrants, who had visited school in the respective country of residence. The respondents were 18–35 years old. Our results show that a much larger share of second-generation residents than of non-migrants were interviewed in the presence of a third person (33% and 21%, respectively). In addition, we found that women of Turkish descent were more likely to have been interviewed with a bystander present than men, whereas there was no gender effect among natives. These differences can only partly be explained by differences in the opportunity structures between the groups, which were mainly related to household composition. This finding may be attributable to culture-specific motivations for a bystander presence. Moreover, the effect of a third-party presence on attitudes was tested. The responses given in the presence of a bystander varied from those given in anonymity.

The transition to adulthood is a phase marked by major life events and eventual turning points. This contribution addresses the methodological aspects related to the application of the life course approach for the study of the life trajectories of the children of immigrants in a cross-national comparative perspective. Since life trajectories are embedded in and determined by structural and institutional contexts, the school system and the labor market play a decisive role in the process of life course construction. In addition, life trajectories are also the result of personal orientations. Therefore studying life trajectories necessitates, as argued in this contribution, the combination of quantitative and qualitative data in order to capture both the role of institutions and personal orientations. We present selected results on the educational and labor market entry trajectories of immigrants’ descendants in France and Germany using analyses based on representative survey data and a qualitative analysis based on interview data. Finally, we discuss the benefits and limitations of such a research design.

This study considers migration as a family-based project in which parents as well as their children are involved. As a consequence, we collect data on the relations between generations, and especially on remittances and gifts that circulate between migrants and their offsprings. Differences in intergenerational exchanges exist depending on whether children lived in the country of origin or whether the family formation occurred after migration and children were born in the country of destination. We present two surveys in which respondents were migrants of the first generation. These surveys show that retirement represents a crucial event in migrant families. The results show that the place where children live is an important factor determining parents’ residence after retirement. We also find evidence that when parents remain in the host country rather than migrate back to the country of origin, intergenerational economic transfers go more often from children to parents.

Many studies have shown the difficult situations in which young second-generation residents from North Africa live in France: Many of them have no qualifications and are unemployed or in precarious positions. However, few researchers have focused specifically on the issue of these inequalities in the transition to adulthood. We therefore developed a cohort study of young people growing up in the suburbs in order to show the link between social inequalities and the manner in which these youngsters become autonomous adults. The chapter describes and discusses this research project – which mixes quantitative data with qualitative interviews – illustrating, through a short presentation, the principal findings resulting from this survey.

In this chapter, we develop a methodology to collect data on second-generation residents based on the combination of a life history calendar and in-depth biographical interviews. The first tool comes from the life course perspective, and the second comes from the biographical tradition. Our goal is to take into account the methodological benefits of both tools, such as a more systematic process and increased validity in the “objective” life course data gathered by using life event calendars as well as the in-depth exploration of subjective life stories obtained from in-depth biographical interviews. The combination of both tools is tested in the case of the transition to adulthood of the children of Albanian-speaking immigrants in Switzerland.

In this paper we present and examine the relevance, feasibility, results and limitations of a qualitative approach to the analysis of relations between generations, based on several earlier studies carried out on intergenerational relations and dynamics within migrant families. While situating this intergenerational analysis approach within a migratory context at the heart of broader contexts of qualitative research, we also identify the epistemological perspectives from which we have determined our methodological approach: participation, understanding, narrative and history. We will then critically review the tools used for the collection of data and the analytical methods employed in these different studies: individual and family interviews, genograms, network maps, individual and family trajectories, intergenerational transmission maps, oral and written narratives, and multi-authored diaries, for example. We will consider the importance of employing multicultural and multigenerational teams when carrying out this type of research and examine the effects of this on both the material obtained and the collective analysis. We will also look at the role of the different actors in this participatory type of approach. Throughout the text we will reflect on the hypothesis that a qualitative, participatory methodology, combined with quantitative methods, enables a new understanding of intergenerational and transnational processes during immigration. In this way broader trends can emerge and pathways to change can inform both actors on the ground and decision-makers and legislators. In these divers projects we considered intergenerational exchange as a central dimension of transmission processes, decision-making, support and mutual assistance. A complex methodology, synchronic and diachronic at the same time, is crucial if we are to understand how intergenerational exchanges within migration occur and acquire meaning in the life-course of both young people, their parents and their grandparents.

This chapter aims to identify the approach, interests, and specific contributions of biographical research in the case of the analysis of the second-generation transition into adulthood. It is based on a biographical study that looked at how second-generation residents experience and manage the transition from school to professional life and adulthood. A specificity of the study is that persons were interviewed twice, first at the end of the compulsory school (i.e., ninth grade) and second, three years later. Such a longitudinal design makes it possible to analyse changes and/or continuities in the biographical structure and in the subjective interpretation of his/her life particularly well.