Are violence and disorder at school placing adolescents within immigrant families at higher risk of dropping out?

Violence and disorder occurring within schools have received increased attention and scrutiny over the years; however, few have explored how violence and school disorder are influencing the children of immigrants’ likelihood of dropping out. The current study draws from a segmented assimilation framework to explore if and how the associations between violence, disorder, and school dropout vary across immigration generations. Data are drawn from the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002, and the sample for this study consists of 9,870 first- (N = 1,170, 12%), second- (N = 1,540, 16%), and third-plus (N = 1,117, 73%) generation public school students (N = 5,050; 51% female) in 580 public schools. Results indicate that school violence and disorder disrupt the educational progress of adolescents within immigrant families. Additionally, there are distinct racial and ethnic patterns in the link between school violence, disorder, and dropping out. The nuances of these findings and the implications for future research are discussed.