Language Brokering Contexts and Behavioral and Emotional Adjustment Among Latino Parents and Adolescents

• Published in: The Journal of early adolescence Vol. 29; no. 1; pp. 71 - 98
• Main Authors: Martinez, Charles R., McClure, Heather H., Eddy, J. Mark
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01-02-2009; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Academic Achievement; Acculturation; Adolescents; Emotional Adjustment; Emotions; English (Second Language); Family (Sociological Unit); Family Environment; Hispanic Americans; Immigrants; Incidence; Intervention; Language; Mental Health; Middle School Students; Parent Child Relationship; Parenting Skills; Second Language Learning; Social support; Stress Variables; Studies; Substance Abuse; Teenagers; language brokering; acculturation; Latino families; parenting; adolescent adjustment
• ISSN: 0272-4316; 1552-5449
• DOI: 10.1177/0272431608324477

This study examined behavioral and emotional adjustment in family contexts in which there was high versus low demand for adolescents to serve as language brokers in a sample of 73 recently immigrated Latino families with middle-school-aged adolescents. Language brokering was conceptualized as a family process rather than merely an individual phenomenon. Multiple agents were used to assess language brokering and parent and youth adjustment. Results indicated that those in high language brokering contexts, compared with those in low language brokering contexts, demonstrated higher levels of family stress, lower levels of parenting effectiveness, and poorer adolescent adjustment in terms of academic functioning, socioemotional health, and substance use. The findings are particularly important given the limited and mixed findings from formative research on language brokering, particularly in areas within the United States with emerging immigrant populations. Findings suggest the need for advancing practices that increase language and cultural supports for immigrant families and support parents' efforts to foster positive youth and family adjustment.