The role of adolescents' native language fluency on quality of communication and respect for parents in Chinese and Korean immigrant families.

Abstract

This study examines whether loss of the native or parental language among adolescents from immigrant families has consequences for their relationships with their parents. The study sample included 614 ninth-grade adolescents from Chinese and Korean immigrant families. All adolescents completed measures of native and English language fluency, parental respect, and quality of communication. Results indicated a positive association between adolescents' native fluency and parental respect, even after accounting for parents' English fluency. In addition, quality of communication mediated the association between adolescent native fluency and parental respect. The findings support the contention that maintaining native language fluency may facilitate parent-adolescent communication due to its linguistic component as well as through greater understanding and respect for the culture heritage.

Bilingualism in the family and child well-being: A scoping review

“…Perez, 2011; Tseng & Fuligni, 2000; Vuorenkoski et al, 2000), or sometimes both aspects are considered. Two articles used the term ‘subtractive bilingualism’ (Boutakidis et al, 2011; Tseng & Fuligni, 2000), defining it as when children ‘lose the native language at the same time they acquire English proficiency’ (Tseng & Fuligni, 2000, p. 474); other studies use the term ‘linguistic acculturation’ (Boutakidis et al, 2011; Choi et al, 2017; Perez, 2011) to describe the process by which individuals acquire the language of the majority culture. Vuorenkoski et al (2000), on the other hand, use the term ‘semilingual’ to describe children who spoke both Swedish and Finnish to their mothers before their re-migration and thus have ‘no true native language’ (p. 262).…”

The Effect of Positive Group Psychotherapy on Self-Esteem and State Anger Among Adolescents at Korean Immigrant Churches

“…Furthermore, communication problems between parents and children might have negative effects on mental health, and loss of native fluency among first-and second-generation adolescents may cause acculturative, communicative, and relational difficulties between immigrant parents and their children. In addition, immigrant children tend to acculturate faster than their parents, and this often creates a cultural gap (Boutakidis, Chao, & Rodríguez, 2011). Parent-Adolescent acculturation gaps, ethnic identity, and perceptions of a negative reception by the host population were found to predict compromised parent-adolescent communication in the U.S. (Schwartz et al, 2012).…”

Immigrant Bilingualism in Spain: An Asset or a Liability?

“…At the same time, immigrant youths’ knowledge of their ethnic languages increased their receptivity to parental guidance and decreased the probability of academic problems, parent–child conflict, and lower self‐esteem (Rumbaut ; Portes and Rumbaut ; Schecter and Bayley ; Zhang ). In a study of Chinese‐ and Korean‐origin adolescents, Boutakidis, Chao, and Rodriguez () found positive associations between youths’ ethnic language proficiency and respect for parents, as well as higher quality of communication with fathers, regardless of parental English proficiency. Zhou and Bankston () reported that in those Vietnamese American families where parents emphasized school success, adolescents’ ethnic language proficiency was associated with higher educational aspirations and better academic performance regardless of the family's socioeconomic status.…”

“…In their 1999 study of bilingualism and academic achievement of first‐ and second‐generation Asian Americans in the United States, Mouw and Xie indeed found no support for bilingual advantage and concluded that the benefits of youths’ ethnic language use — and, by extension, of bilingualism — are transitional and “almost entirely contingent on the parents’ lack of English‐language proficiency” (, 250). Although a number of studies — notably Portes and Hao () and Boutakidis, Chao, and Rodriguez () — challenged this conclusion and reaffirmed the importance of ethnic language maintenance and bilingualism, the question about the nature and extent of bilingual benefits merits further consideration.…”