they may have to discard some of their native attributes, habits, and cultural characteristics and take on new traits that improve their chances of integration and success in their new country. Changes may also occur to the hosting society, especially when the proportion of migrants is large. Migrants from some countries maintain the traditions of their home country more (or for longer) than others16. However, an inclusive and streamlined concept of integration increases the chances of a successful melting pot.
Sustainable development and migration: The children of migrants A key question linking sustainable development and migration is how the children of immigrants are accommodated by the host country’s education system and how they perform relative to native children. Human capital acquired through education plays a crucial role in the long-term integration process, affecting immigrants’ convergence to the native population. There are a number of good reasons why the integration of immigrants, and especially their children, matters. The more successful immigrants are in the labour market, the higher their net economic and fiscal contribution to the host economy will be. This, in turn, may be important in shaping the attitudes of the native population towards immigrants and can therefore impact immigration policy. By contrast, poor economic success may lead to the social and economic exclusion of immigrants and their descendants, which may result in social unrest, conflict and even terrorism. It is worth mentioning that the extreme acts of terrorism occurring in France, the UK, and Spain have almost always been perpetrated by second-generation migrants. Researchers in economics and sociology have investigated factors from all facets of social life, including educational access, interracial marriage, health outcomes and political participation, in order to understand the degree to which children of immigrants and their native peers are similar or different with respect to these indicators. In adolescents, the literature has examined friendship integration almost uniquely from the perspective of same- and cross-group friendships17. This area of research has demonstrated that youth tend to form more same-culture friendships, which tend to be stronger and more stable over time than cross-culture friendships, and that school-level factors tend to impact friendship choices. Studies from outside the US have confirmed similar experiences of exclusion among immigrants. Poorer youth tend to report fewer friendships and receive fewer friendship nominations, which may be related to fewer opportunities for participation in extracurricular
16 Giavazzi et al. (2019). 17 Doyle & Kao (2007), Goodreau et al. (2009).
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