CILS aimed to study the adaptation process of the immigrant second generation (children with at least one foreign-born parent or children born abroad but brought to the United States of America at an early age). In 1992, the baseline survey was conducted with over 5,000 second-generation children, who had an average age of 14 years and were attending the eighth and ninth grades in the metropolitan areas of Miami/Fort Lauderdale in Florida and San Diego, California (United States of America). In 1995 and 1996, the first follow-up survey was conducted when participants were about to graduate from high school. During this follow-up, approximately 2,500 parents of the student sample were also interviewed once. From 2001 to 2003, the third and final survey was conducted when participants had reached early adulthood, at an average age of 24 years.