NCJ Number
225956
Journal
Journal of Early Adolescence Volume: 29 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2009 Pages: 71-98
Date Published
February 2009
Length
28 pages
Annotation
This study examined behavioral and emotional adjustment in family contexts in which adolescents served as language brokers within recently immigrated Latino families.
Abstract
The literature on the effects of language brokering is sparse; the limited research that does exist presents a pattern of mixed results with some studies showing that brokering can enhance children’s cognitive ability, school performance, and ethnic identity, whereas other studies suggest deleterious effects of brokering on children’s anxiety, socioemotional adjustment, and parents’ effectiveness. This investigation furthers this discussion by moving from a consideration of language brokering as an individual psychological phenomenon among children to one that emphasizes the family constellation and regards brokering as a dialectical and dynamic interactional process. Through an emphasis on family process, this study viewed language brokering as a marker of differential acculturation within families. Findings suggest the value of interventions that address the needs of families in high language brokering. Data were collected from the Latino Youth and Family Empowerment project designed as a random efficacy trial of culturally specific parenting training preventive intervention; a total of 73 mothers, fathers, and focal youths residing in Eugene-Springfield, OR participated in the study. Tables and references