Ethnic enclaves, early school leaving, and adolescent crime among immigrant youth.

This study examines how the socioeconomic characteristics of ethnic neighbourhood environments during adolescence influence immigrant youth's criminal behavior and early school leaving in Norway. Using administrative data on 43,891 immigrant youth from 155 national-origin groups across 1,457 neighbourhoods, the analysis finds that exposure to better-educated coethnic neighbours (immigrants from the same country of origin) is associated with modestly lower risks of adolescent crime and higher rates of upper-secondary education completion. These effects are stronger in larger coethnic communities and among youth from disadvantaged family backgrounds, while educational resources of immigrant neighbours from other origins or native majority residents show weaker associations. The findings support assimilation theories emphasizing the role of ethnic social capital within local enclaves but caution that effect sizes are modest and that unobserved neighbourhood sorting and policing practices may influence results.