3-079 - Antecedents, Mechanisms, and Consequences of Child Language Brokering in Immigrant Families

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Children and adolescents in immigrant families play key roles in the healthy functioning of the families, such as their roles as “language brokers” or informal translators for their English-limited family members. However, the antecedents, mechanisms, and consequences of language brokering remain understudied. Thus, this symposium of three papers aims to provide a more comprehensive and more nuanced understanding of young people’s language brokering experiences. For example, a mix-methods study with racially/ethnically diverse young adult language brokers not only qualitatively documented adolescents’ use of technology as a tool for language brokering, but also quantitatively identified positive associations between using technologies and language brokering for relatives. In addition, using longitudinal survey data with Chinese American adolescents, the second study identified two distinct subgroups of language brokers—efficacious versus burdened ones, with the latter being more vulnerable over the long term. Further analyses identified bilingual proficiency as a key predictor of being in the efficacious group. The last experimental study sampled Mexican American early adolescents and directly assessed their acute salivary cortisol responses to a difficult translation task. Findings suggested that positive appraisals (brokering efficacy) were linked to an adaptive stress response, while negative appraisals (parental dependence) were linked to a maladaptive one. Employing various methodologies and sampling diverse groups of language brokers, both in terms of their races/ethnicities and developmental periods, these three papers further our knowledge about the antecedents and mechanisms of language brokering, as well as the complex implications of language brokering for young people’s development.

Sub Unit

• Race, Ethnicity, Culture, Context

Chair

• Yishan Shen, Texas State University

Discussant

• Robert S Weisskirch, California State University, Monterey Bay

Individual Presentations

• Immigrant Internetworks: Language Brokering and Technology - Presenting Author: Shu-Sha Angie Guan, California State University, Northridge

• Burdened or Efficacious? Chinese American Language Brokers’ Long-Term Adjustment and the Role of Bilingual Proficiency - Presenting Author: Yishan Shen, Texas State University; Su Yeong Kim, Univeristy of Texas at Austin; Aprile Benner, University of Texas

• Acute Salivary Cortisol Response to a Translating Activity in Mexican-American Adolescent Language Brokers - Presenting Author: Lester Sim, The University of Texas at Austin; Su Yeong Kim, Univeristy of Texas at Austin; Minyu Zhang, The University of Texas at Austin; Katharine Zeiders, University of Missouri