BALTIMORE, Md. (CBSDC) – A new study finds that children of immigrants have an advantage in academics and school participation.

The study involved over 10,000 teenagers between the ages of 13 and 17. Researchers used databases to track the the participants’ health and achievement and followed them until they reached between the ages of 25 and 32. They found that children of immigrants had an academic advantage over native-born children.

“Children of immigrants, when compared to children of native-born parents, are actually at an advantage on some key early adult outcomes,” study leader Lingxin Hao, a professor of sociology at John Hopkins University in Baltimore, said in a press release, according to The Courier-Journal. “Our findings challenge pessimistic views that having immigrant parents places children at a disadvantage at the point of transitioning to adulthood.”

The study concluded that in terms of mental health, children of immigrants had no difference in depression compared to children of native-born Americans.

The study was published in the journal Child Development.