Places of Opportunity? The Role of Neighbourhood Socioeconomic Advantage on Upper Secondary Education Attainment Among Young Descendants of Immigrants in Denmark

ABSTRACT

The integration of immigrants and their descendants has long been central to European and OECD policy agendas, with educational attainment considered a key indicator of integration success. Yet, persistent native‐immigrant gaps in educational attainment remain evident, including in the Nordic countries. Understanding how social determinants such as neighbourhood conditions may shape educational outcomes is therefore important. While neighbourhood‐effects research has traditionally mainly focused on the negative consequences of poverty and deprivation, growing attention has been directed towards the potential role of concentrated socioeconomic resources and neighbourhood advantage. However, relatively little research has examined these associations among descendants of immigrants. This study investigates the association between neighbourhood socioeconomic advantage during adolescence (ages 10–15) and upper secondary education attainment in emerging adulthood (ages 20–25) among descendants of immigrants in Denmark. Using longitudinal population register data on 26,697 individuals nested within 2701 neighbourhoods and analyzed using multilevel logistic regression, we examine whether adolescents living in more socioeconomically advantaged neighbourhoods are more likely to complete upper secondary education. The findings indicate that descendants of immigrants from the most socioeconomically advantaged neighbourhoods are more likely to complete upper secondary education than those from less advantaged neighbourhoods. The association is substantially attenuated but remained after adjustment for a wide range of individual, family and neighbourhood covariates. Overall, the findings suggest that neighbourhood socioeconomic resources may contribute to educational attainment among descendants of immigrants and should be considered alongside family and individual factors when addressing educational inequalities.