Children who interpret for their immigrant parents are referred to as language brokers. The present study examines the relationship of language brokering to academic performance, biculturalism, academic self-efficacy, and social self-efficacy. The many adultlike experiences of children who broker on a regular basis suggest that their cognitive and socioemotional development may be accelerated relative to children of immigrant families who broker infrequently or not at all. Latino adolescents (n = 122) from immigrant families were participants in the study. Results showed that, as expected, language brokering was positively related to biculturalism, and in turn, both of these variables were positively related to academic performance. In addition, the strongest predictor of academic performance was academic self-efficacy. Results also indicated that, to some degree, language brokering is a gendered activity, with females reporting more brokering than males.
The following is a preliminary report of the psychometric characteristics of a modified version of the Societal, Attitudinal, Familial, and Environmental Acculturative Stress Scale (SAFE). The modified version, the SAFE-C, was designedfor use with school-age children. To assess its reliability and validity, the SAFE-C was administered to Latino and Euramerican children between the ages of 8 and 1O years. Cronbach s alpha revealed an internal consistency of .86. In addition, a multivariate analysis of variance found significant differences between the Latino and Euramerican groups, with Latino children scoring higher on the SAFE-C, thereby helping to establish the validity of the measure. It is suggested that the SAFE-C will facilitate more meaningful research into the acculturative process for Latino children.
The authors examined the contributions of economic status (ES) and citizenship status to health differences between European Americans, Latino Americans, and noncitizen Latinos. The investigation was framed using social identity and comparison theories. Southern California residents (N = 2,164) were randomly selected to complete a telephone interview. Increases in ES predicted health improvements for European Americans across ES levels. For Latino citizens and noncitizens, ES improvements had no effect on objective health. For subjective health, the Latino paradox existed at the lowest ES level for Latino Americans and did not exist for noncitizens. For objective health, the paradox existed in both Latino groups at low ES and additionally for Latino Americans at mid-ES. The study findings suggested that compared to Latinos, improvements in ES have a stronger positive impact on the health of European Americans, which is likely due to the social comparisons being made by each cultural group.
This project analyzed multimodel student archival data to address the relationship between academic achievement, acculturative stress, and coping factors. Participants were 126 children between 8 and 11 years of age (59 White and 67 Latino). Measurements included demographics, SAFE-C, A-COPE, SelfPerception Profile for Children, and Harter Teacher's Rating Scale. Latinos used more social support and religious coping strategies than Whites (p < .001). A general model of achievement for both groups accounted for 33% of the variance in academic achievement (p < .001). Ethnically specific models accounted for a greater amount of the variance: 57% for a model for Whites and 64% for a model for Latinos (p < .001). This study demonstrates the importance of investigating ethnic differences independently when conducting cross-ethnic research.
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