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

Su Yeong Kim, Yang Hou, Yolanda Gonzalez

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

40 Scopus citations

Abstract

This study aimed to untangle the mixed effects of language brokering by examining a contextual factor (i.e., parent–child alienation) and a personal attribute (i.e., resilience) that may relate to adolescents’ feelings during translating (i.e., sense of burden and efficacy) and that may moderate the association between such feelings and adolescent depressive symptoms. Participants included 557 adolescent language brokers (Mage = 12.96) in Mexican-American families. Results showed that adolescents with a strong sense of alienation from parents or low resilience (a) experienced more burden or less efficacy in translating and (b) were more susceptible to the detrimental effects of feeling a sense of burden and the beneficial effects of experiencing a sense of efficacy, as measured by depressive symptoms.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)867-881
Number of pages15
JournalChild Development
Volume88
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - May 1 2017

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 The Authors. Child Development © 2016 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Pediatrics, Perinatology, and Child Health
  • Education
  • Developmental and Educational Psychology

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