Predicting relations between child language brokering and psychological adjustment within immigrant Chinese families
Date
2010-04-13T17:50:27Z
Authors
Hua, Josephine Mei
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Relations between language brokering and psychological adjustment were examined among 183 immigrant Chinese families residing in Canada. Adolescents (average age 15 years, 52% females) reported the frequencies with which they translated or interpreted materials for parents, with their materials varying in their levels of sensitivity. Mothers, fathers and adolescents also independently completed measures hypothesized to affect the emotional context in which language brokering takes place. and measures of individual and relational adjustment. Overall, more frequent language brokering appears to have stronger negative implications for adolescent adjustment and parent-child relationship quality, than for parents' adjustment. Material sensitivity, family obligation values, perceived parental psychological control, and parent versus friend orientation were found to moderate some of these relations. The findings are discussed in the context of the amount of pressure that is associated with language brokering, as well as vulnerabilities that may manifest from the parent-child role reversals inherent in language brokering.
Description
Keywords
Immigrants, Translating, Chinese Canadians