Burdened or Efficacious? Subgroups of Chinese American Language Brokers, Predictors, and Long-Term Outcomes

Abstract

Despite growing research on youth language brokering in immigrant families, evidence regarding its developmental outcomes remains mixed. This study took a person-centered approach, exploring subgroups of language brokers and identifying predictors and long-term outcomes of the subgroup membership. Participants were Chinese American adolescents (N = 350 at Time 1; M = 17.04; SD = 0.72; 59% female) followed over two waves spaced four years apart (longitudinal N = 291). Two distinct subgroups of adolescent language brokers were identified using latent profile analyses on language brokering feelings: efficacious and burdened brokers. Adolescents proficient in both English and Chinese were more likely to be efficacious brokers. Furthermore, burdened brokers reported higher parent-child alienation, and in turn, more depressive symptoms in emerging adulthood, compared to efficacious brokers and non-language-brokers. The current findings inform future interventions that burdened language brokers may be most at risk and that improving parent-child relationships may be one way to promote the well-being of young brokers.

The Role of Attachment in Language Brokering and Psychological Well-being among College Students

“…These findings point to the importance of how the negative subjective experience of the language broker in situ may relate to poor psychological outcomes. Our findings are similar to the work of Shen et al (2019) who found that brokers who felt burdened and continued to feel burdened reported greater parental relationship problems and psychosocial problems in emerging adulthood. Likewise, Weisskirch (2013) also found that burden when LB predicted self-esteem and self-efficacy.…”

“…Those with insecure attachments are likely to perceive LB as more problematic than those with secure attachments. Since the literature has supported the link between frequency and perceptions of LB and psychological outcomes (e.g., Shen, et al, 2019; Rainey et al, 2014), it is likely that the relationship of attachment to measures of psychological well-being is indirectly affected by frequency and perceptions of LB. We hypothesize that the relationship between attachment and psychological well-being will be mediated by frequency and perceptions of LB.…”

“…Children who have poorer attachment with their parent(s) may experience LB more negatively. Over time, then, these experiences of LB may take a toll on the individual’s psychological well-being (Shen et al, 2019; Tseng & Fuligni, 2000; van Leeuwen et al, 2014). EA college students may be particularly affected by ongoing LB because they are at a place, developmentally and socially, where there are pressures to individuate and separate from their families, and continued LB responsibilities at this time may become deleterious on their psychological well-being (Schwartz, et al, 2013).…”

“…Language brokering (LB) is a common practice for children (Dorner et al, 2008;Weisskirch & Alva, 2002), adolescents (Chao, 2006), and EAs (Weisskirch et al, 2011) from immigrant families. Given that most LB occurs for parents, the quality of the parent-child relationship-in the form of attachment-may shape the experience of LB for the child (Guntzviller & Wang, 2019;Shen et al, 2019). Children who have poorer attachment with their parent(s) may experience LB more negatively.…”

Stress of Language Brokering and Mexican American Adolescents’ Adjustment: The Role of Cumulative Risk

“…One study found that Latino language brokers who often translate in high-stakes contexts (i.e., stressful situations that require accurate translation; e.g., medical or legal documents) exhibit negative psychological outcomes, but those that frequently translate in low-stakes (e.g., at a restaurant) or everyday (e.g., notes from the school) contexts do not (Anguiano, 2018). Similarly, another recent study found that Chinese American adolescents who feel efficacious about brokering in adolescence exhibit fewer psychological and behavioral adjustment problems in emerging adulthood relative to those that are stressed and burdened about brokering, regardless of how often they engaged in language brokering (Shen, Kim, & Benner, 2019). Therefore, whereas language brokering stress is associated with developmental costs, providing frequent language brokering per se does not necessarily jeopardize adolescents' psychological and behavioral well-being and can even confer developmental benefits when adolescents do not perceive the practice as stressful.…”