Project leader: Carina Mood, Stockholm University, Sweden
Project duration: 2020-2024
Participating countries: Sweden, Norway, the United Kingdom
Funding from NordForsk: 12,995,948 NOK
Project website: IntegrateYouth
The IntegrateYouth project aimed to describe and understand the fundamentals of integration of youth and young adults, and its variation across five countries in Norway, Sweden, England, Germany and the Netherlands using large-scale Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey in Four European Countries (CILS4EU) and CILS-NOR data on immigrant and majority-origin youth. The study adopted a multidimensional approach, considering structural, cultural, social, and psychological aspects, and framed integration as the intersection of origins, destinations, and exposure. Covering eight scientifically and policy-relevant themes—including gendered integration, ethnic inequalities, selective acculturation, and Muslim/non-Muslim divides—the project aimed to provide a holistic perspective. By addressing gaps in knowledge, it informed evidence-based policy and advanced understanding of youth integration across multiple contexts.
Key Findings
- Young people of immigrant background often have higher educational ambitions than majority peers, and in Norway and Sweden they are more likely to enter into and progress quickly in higher education. Outcomes are especially strong for secondgeneration women.
- High ambitions can support integration but also lead to challenges: many apply to demanding academic tracks even with average grades, which lowers completion rates. Later tracking systems, like in Sweden and Norway, help ambitions translate into higher attainment, while early tracking (Germany, Netherlands) reduces opportunities.
- Labour market integration remains uneven. Men of immigrant background, especially from Middle Eastern and African origins, face greater barriers to employment after vocational training, which may be due to discrimination or reliance on informal hiring networks.
- School segregation does not generally mean worse school quality for immigrant students in Sweden, but segregation matters for social integration.
- Cultural integration tends to be slow. Youth across backgrounds become more liberal over time, but religiosity slows this shift and there are large differences in attitudes between those with majority background and foreign background also in the second generation. Normative context matters: youth in Norway and Sweden tend to embrace gender equality ideals more than peers in Germany and the Netherlands.
Key outputs'
Mood, C & Jonsson, J.O. (2025). Persistent boundaries. Partnership patterns among children of immigrants and natives in Sweden. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2025.2478215
Borgen, S.T. & Hermansen, A.S. (2023). Horizontal advantage: Choice of postsecondary field of study among children of immigrants. Demography. 60 (4): 1031–1058. https://doi. org/10.1215/00703370-10823537
Bracegirdle C, Jonsson J.O, Spiegler O. (2023). Neither Friend nor Foe: Ethnic Segregation in School Social Networks. Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World. https://doi. org/10.1177/23780231231214956
Engzell, P., & Raabe, I. J. (2023). Within-school achievement sorting in comprehensive and tracked systems. Sociology of Education, 96(4), 324-343. https://doi.org/10.1080/136918 3X.2023.2287404
Friberg, J. H., & Jahanlu, D. (2023). Navigating new gender roles: impacts of cultural origins, context of settlement, and religious beliefs on gender attitudes among immigrant origin youth across five European countries. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 1-21. DOI: 10.1080/1369183X.2023.2287404
Diemer, A. (2022). Endogenous peer effects in diverse friendship networks: Evidence from Swedish classrooms. Economics of Education Review 89: 102269. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. econedurev.2022.102269