NCJ Number
224240
Journal
Journal of Adolescent Research Volume: 23 Issue: 5 Dated: September 2008 Pages: 515-543
Date Published
September 2008
Length
29 pages
Annotation
This article examines the changes in translating responsibilities of Latino children as they grow older.
Abstract
Findings suggest that translating is a relational, interdependent activity in which adolescents both help and receive help from family members. As adolescents, they extend this helping orientation beyond their household, but in these public spaces, they sometimes meet up with other developmental scripts. This article examines how immigrant adolescent development is shaped by the cultural and linguistic practice of language brokering. Language brokering is defined as when youth interpret and translate between culturally and linguistically different people and mediate interactions in a variety of situations. This article's examination of the effect of brokering on immigrant adolescence leads to the discussion that one must consider the manner in which all adolescents and parents are negotiating independent and interdependent worlds. Framed by theories on interdependent/independent developmental scripts, the changing experiences and views of 12 Latino children of U.S. immigrants over 5 years were analyzed. The majority of participants were chosen based on their answers to a survey given to 280 fifth and sixth graders at an urban public elementary school in Chicago, with 6 participants identified from nearby communities through snowball sampling. The original group of case study participants included 12 girls and 6 boys who were observed by the authors for 2 years from 2000 to 2003. Table, notes, and references