Vietnamese America high school dropout rates: Ethnicity as insulation

Abstract

This article addresses the question ofwhyVietnamese Americans show much lower high school dropout rates than the American population in general. It looks at two of the major explanations for failure to complete high school: family economic situation and family structure.ltconsiders how the difference in dropout rates between VetnameseAmericans and the two large American racial groups (blacks and whites) may be related to differences in family income and family structure. The findings suggest that the low dropout rates among the VIetnamese do not result from economic or family structure characteristics of individual Vietnamese families. The findinds suggest, instead, support for the position that an immigrant culture, understood as a distinctive pattern of SOCial relations, can insulate young people from disadvantages in American society at large.