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Language Brokering Contexts and Behavioral and Emotional Adjustment Among Latino Parents and Adolescents
Charles R. Martinez*,
Heather McClure,
and
John Eddy
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: charlesm{at}oslc.org.
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Abstract |
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This study examined behavioral and emotional adjustment in family contexts in which there was high versus low demand for adolescents to serve as language brokers in a sample of 73 recently immigrated Latino families with middleschool-aged adolescents. Language brokering was conceptualized as a family process rather than merely an individual phenomenon. Multiple agents were used to assess language brokering and parent and youth adjustment. Results indicated that those in high language brokering contexts, compared with those in low language brokering contexts, demonstrated higher levels of family stress, lower levels of parenting effectiveness, and poorer adolescent adjustment in terms of academic functioning, socioemotional health, and substance use. The findings are particularly important given the limited and mixed findings from formative research on language brokering, particularly in areas within the United States with emerging immigrant populations. Findings suggest the need for advancing practices that increase language and cultural supports for immigrant families and support parents efforts to foster positive youth and family adjustment.
First published on November 5, 2008, doi:10.1177/0272431608324477
The Journal of Early Adolescence 2009;29:71.
A more recent version of this article appeared on February 1, 2009

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