Periodic Reporting for period 3 - REFU-GEN (A Better Life for the Children of Exile: Intergenerational Adaptation of the Descendants of Refugees)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2024-01-01 al 2025-06-30
More than 2.5 million refugees have been granted residence in Europe over the last ten years and their long-run adaptation to life in a new destination is a fundamental societal challenge. Adaptation can only be evaluated over the long-run by making intergenerational comparisons between immigrants and their descendants, yet research has almost entirely overlooked this topic for refugees, not least because most countries lack both data and significant numbers of descendants of refugees.
This project represents the first comprehensive intergenerational study of refugees and their descendants. It uses quantitative research methods to analyse longitudinal register data for the whole population of Sweden. Our aim is to compare and contrast four domains of life: socio-economic status, health, family formation and residential context. We examine inequalities within and between each of these domains, and the factors that determine the existence and magnitude of inequality. We focus on inequalities that are experienced by refugees, their children, and their grandchildren. In order to compare, contextualise, generalise and understand our findings, we also study non-refugee immigrants and their descendants, as well as the Swedish-born population and their children and grandchildren. The project's results represent a holistic evidence base concerning the long-run adaptation of refugees and their descendants, which enables us to develop theories and evidence that can be shared with other European countries.
This project represents the first comprehensive intergenerational study of refugees and their descendants. It uses quantitative research methods to analyse longitudinal register data for the whole population of Sweden. Our aim is to compare and contrast four domains of life: socio-economic status, health, family formation and residential context. We examine inequalities within and between each of these domains, and the factors that determine the existence and magnitude of inequality. We focus on inequalities that are experienced by refugees, their children, and their grandchildren. In order to compare, contextualise, generalise and understand our findings, we also study non-refugee immigrants and their descendants, as well as the Swedish-born population and their children and grandchildren. The project's results represent a holistic evidence base concerning the long-run adaptation of refugees and their descendants, which enables us to develop theories and evidence that can be shared with other European countries.
Over the first 54 months of the project, we have carried out a range of scientific activities that have developed new knowledge about the lives of refugees and their descendants. Our research has been facilitated by one of our most important achievements, which has been to establish—via collaboration with Swedish government agencies—the most comprehensive collection of longitudinal data on refugees and their descendants that exists for any refugee-receiving country in the world. Having made significant progress in obtaining access to these Swedish data in the first half of the project, we have cemented this progress by developing the knowledge and procedures that are required to maximise their potential and facilitate high-quality analysis. A large part of this work has involved organising, coding, and harmonising the data, as well as expanding its coverage via a series of updates.
Using these data, we have studied the lives of refugees’ children and grandchildren. In general, our results show that children of refugees are more likely to experience inequalities, not only compared with Swedish-born children of Swedish-born parents, but also compared with children of non-refugee immigrants. However, these inequalities are extremely heterogeneous, by age, sex, parental migration background, and the domain of life that is considered. Swedish-born children of refugees typically experience inequalities in earnings, unemployment and the receipt of social allowances in early adulthood, but these inequalities vary considerably by parental country of birth. Also, patterns of health inequalities and segregation are markedly different from those for socioeconomic inequalities. Our findings highlight the benefits of comparing outcomes across multiple domains of life, not least because we show how difficult it is to make generalisations about the adaptation of refugee’s children. Counter to theoretical expectations, we also show that those with two refugee parents are sometimes less likely to experience inequality as compared with those with one refugee parent and one Swedish-born parent, suggesting that a native-born parent is not necessarily protective against inequality.
We have also gone beyond the state-of-the-art by studying inequality for the grandchildren of refugees, with surprising findings. Not only do we reveal some signs of entrenched socioeconomic inequalities, but we also show that these inequalities are determined to a large extent by parental socioeconomic inequality. As such, it appears that the grandchildren of refugees have yet to achieve parity with descendants of the Swedish-born, at least for some groups in some domains of life. Considering all research so far, we find clear evidence that adaptation is not a uniform process for the descendants of refugees, with some groups much more likely to experience disparities, and these disparities varying across the domains of health, socioeconomics, residential context, and family dynamics. At the same time, we show across a range of studies that the children of refugees often exhibit patterns of adaptation, and that these patterns are similar to children of non-refugee immigrants, for example with respect to childbearing and partnership behaviour. These studies include several international collaborations, which have helped us to establish that some of our findings appear to generalise to other contexts.
Using these data, we have studied the lives of refugees’ children and grandchildren. In general, our results show that children of refugees are more likely to experience inequalities, not only compared with Swedish-born children of Swedish-born parents, but also compared with children of non-refugee immigrants. However, these inequalities are extremely heterogeneous, by age, sex, parental migration background, and the domain of life that is considered. Swedish-born children of refugees typically experience inequalities in earnings, unemployment and the receipt of social allowances in early adulthood, but these inequalities vary considerably by parental country of birth. Also, patterns of health inequalities and segregation are markedly different from those for socioeconomic inequalities. Our findings highlight the benefits of comparing outcomes across multiple domains of life, not least because we show how difficult it is to make generalisations about the adaptation of refugee’s children. Counter to theoretical expectations, we also show that those with two refugee parents are sometimes less likely to experience inequality as compared with those with one refugee parent and one Swedish-born parent, suggesting that a native-born parent is not necessarily protective against inequality.
We have also gone beyond the state-of-the-art by studying inequality for the grandchildren of refugees, with surprising findings. Not only do we reveal some signs of entrenched socioeconomic inequalities, but we also show that these inequalities are determined to a large extent by parental socioeconomic inequality. As such, it appears that the grandchildren of refugees have yet to achieve parity with descendants of the Swedish-born, at least for some groups in some domains of life. Considering all research so far, we find clear evidence that adaptation is not a uniform process for the descendants of refugees, with some groups much more likely to experience disparities, and these disparities varying across the domains of health, socioeconomics, residential context, and family dynamics. At the same time, we show across a range of studies that the children of refugees often exhibit patterns of adaptation, and that these patterns are similar to children of non-refugee immigrants, for example with respect to childbearing and partnership behaviour. These studies include several international collaborations, which have helped us to establish that some of our findings appear to generalise to other contexts.
Many of our findings go beyond the state-of-the-art, not least thanks to the quality and uniqueness of our data, including its longitudinal coverage of multiple domains of life for the whole population and its detailed classification of migration background that enables us to link information on refugees, their children, and their grandchildren. These data have enabled us to study the lives of refugees’ descendants in far more detail than prior research in any context.
Our findings from the first 54 months provide a comprehensive evidence base and suggest various directions for our research in the remaining 6 months of the project, and beyond. The rest of the project will therefore not only seek to meet the remaining objectives of the grant agreement, but also seek to follow the most promising directions for producing high-impact science. For example, work is underway to examine the role of residential location in determining the persistence of multi-domain inequality across generations, comparing refugees with their children. Some of this research uses the initial quasi-random allocation of refugees as a means of isolating the impact of residential location, which enables us to generate robust findings that go beyond prior research on refugees and their descendants. We are also making use of recently updated data on housing—measuring both tenure and overcrowding—to extend our analyses of residential location and its interrelationships with other domains of life.
Another promising direction is to carry out further research on population heterogeneity, not least to clarify its intersectional role in determining adaptation. As part of this, we plan to draw upon our existing evidence and contribute to broader debates about migration by emphasising our findings that show the importance of heterogeneity for understanding the adaptation of refugees and their descendants, especially over the long-run and across generations. As part of this, we will continue our work using data on health across the life course, including birth outcomes, hospitalisations and causes of death. Rarely available in other contexts, these data enable us to examine whether health inequalities follow the same patterns as other domains of inequality, and whether health is a strong determinant of adaptation for the descendants of refugees, including comparisons between refugees and their descendants within the same family.
Our findings from the first 54 months provide a comprehensive evidence base and suggest various directions for our research in the remaining 6 months of the project, and beyond. The rest of the project will therefore not only seek to meet the remaining objectives of the grant agreement, but also seek to follow the most promising directions for producing high-impact science. For example, work is underway to examine the role of residential location in determining the persistence of multi-domain inequality across generations, comparing refugees with their children. Some of this research uses the initial quasi-random allocation of refugees as a means of isolating the impact of residential location, which enables us to generate robust findings that go beyond prior research on refugees and their descendants. We are also making use of recently updated data on housing—measuring both tenure and overcrowding—to extend our analyses of residential location and its interrelationships with other domains of life.
Another promising direction is to carry out further research on population heterogeneity, not least to clarify its intersectional role in determining adaptation. As part of this, we plan to draw upon our existing evidence and contribute to broader debates about migration by emphasising our findings that show the importance of heterogeneity for understanding the adaptation of refugees and their descendants, especially over the long-run and across generations. As part of this, we will continue our work using data on health across the life course, including birth outcomes, hospitalisations and causes of death. Rarely available in other contexts, these data enable us to examine whether health inequalities follow the same patterns as other domains of inequality, and whether health is a strong determinant of adaptation for the descendants of refugees, including comparisons between refugees and their descendants within the same family.