The Familial Context of Adolescent Language Brokering Within Immigrant Chinese Families in Canada

Abstract

Language brokering, whereby children of immigrants provide informal translation and interpretation for others, is considered commonplace. However, the research evidence remains inconsistent concerning how language brokering relates to the psychological health of child language brokers and their relationships with their parents. Furthermore, few studies have examined the familial context as an explanation source. This study evaluated the moderating effects of adolescents' support of family obligation values and their perceptions of parental psychological control on relationships between language brokering frequency and both adolescent psychological health and parent-child relationship quality. Adolescents from 182 immigrant Chinese families residing in Canada (average age 15 years, 52% females) reported the frequency with which they translated or interpreted various materials for their parents. More frequent language brokering was associated with poorer psychological health for adolescents who held strong family obligation values or who perceived parents as highly psychologically controlling. More frequent language brokering was also associated with more parent-child conflict. Contrary to some past findings, language brokering frequency was not significantly positively associated with self-esteem or with parent-child congruence (i.e., levels of understanding and satisfaction with parent-child relationships). The findings are discussed in relation to their support for theories of parent-child role reversals or independent-interdependent scripts in language brokering.

Language Brokering and Depressive Symptoms in Mexican‐American Adolescents: Parent–Child Alienation and Resilience as Moderators

“…Adolescents’ sense of alienation from parents intensified the effects of feelings about translating for parents on adolescent depressive symptoms. These results are in line with prior studies demonstrating the importance of the parent–child context in the association between language brokering and adolescent outcomes (Hua & Costigan, ; Love & Buriel, ; Weisskirch, ). In a parent–child relationship with a high sense of alienation, parents tend not to display empathy, warmth, and support toward the child (Chao, ).…”

“…In the case of language brokering, one important contextual factor may be the parent-child relationship context (Morales & Hanson, 2005;Weisskirch, 2007Weisskirch, , 2013Wu & Kim, 2009). For example, Hua and Costigan (2012) demonstrated that, in an especially unsupportive parent-child relationship context, adolescents are more susceptible to the negative effects of language brokering on their adjustment. As for personal attributes, the trait of resilience-the ability to bounce back from a negative experience-has been shown to be a key factor relating to how individuals go through adverse situations (Connor & Davidson, 2003;Fredrickson, Tugade, Waugh, & Larkin, 2003).…”

The Specificity Principle in Acculturation Science

“…Language brokering refers to assistance that children provide their immigrant parents in translating and interpreting written or spoken, formal or informal, cultural material from the culture of destination (Chao, 2006). Language brokering might benefit children’s cognitive and emotional development (Hua & Costigan, 2012) because it is associated with greater biculturalism and academic performance (Buriel, Perez, DeMent, Chavez, & Moran, 1998), higher ethnic identity and cultural value endorsement (Weisskirch et al, 2011), enhanced perspective taking and greater empathic concern (Guan, Greenfield, & Orellana, 2014), and greater respect for mothers and fathers (Chao, 2006). However, language brokering also confers risks on children by placing too much responsibility on them or exposing them to sensitive personal information about a parent or themselves.…”

Re-interpreting: Narratives of childhood language brokering over time

“…Much research has examined language brokering with an eye to how it affects child development (see, for example, Buriel et al, 2006; Chao, 2006; Dorner et al, 2007; Hua and Costigan, 2012; Orellana, 2009). This work makes clear the anxiety the practice provokes for adults about children somehow being “out of place,” in danger of being exposed to things beyond their years, and carrying burdens that children presumably should not assume.…”