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1. Bilingual language broker profiles and academic competence in Mexican-origin adolescents.

   https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0001010  

   Kim, S. Y. ; Zhang, M. ; Chen, S. ; Song, J. ; Lopez, B. G. ; Rodriguez, E. M. ; Calzada, E. J. ; Hou, Y. ; Yan, J. ; Shen, Y. ( January 2020 , Developmental psychology)

   null (Ed.)

   We advance a tripartite framework of language use to encompass language skills, the practice of language skills, and the subjective experiences associated with language use among Mexican-origin adolescents who function as language brokers by translating and interpreting for their English-limited parents. Using data collected over 2 waves from a sample of 604 adolescents (Wave 1: Mage = 12.41, SD = 0.97), this study identified 4 types of bilingual language broker profiles that capture the tripartite framework of language use: efficacious, moderate, ambivalent, and nonchalant. All 4 profiles emerged across waves and brokering recipients (i.e., mothers, fathers), except for Wave 1 brokering for mother, in which case only 3 profiles (i.e., efficacious, moderate, and ambivalent) emerged. Three profiles emerged across time: stable efficacious, stable moderate, and other. The efficacious and stable efficacious profiles showed the most consistent relation to adolescents' academic competence. Improving bilingual language proficiency, together with fostering more frequently positive brokering experiences, may be an avenue to improving academic competence among Mexican-origin adolescents in the United States. 

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2. Acute salivary cortisol response among Mexican American adolescents in immigrant families

   Kim, Su Yeong ; Zhang, Minyu ; Zeiders, Katharine H. ; Sim, Lester ( January 2018 , Cultural diversity & ethnic minority psychology)

   Objectives: Though previous research has indicated that language brokering can be stressful, the findings are mixed, pointing to potential moderators of the association. Guided by an ecological perspective, we examined the role of individual, family, and environmental factors in Mexican American adolescents’ acute cortisol responses to language brokering. Method: The study consisted of 46 Mexican American adolescents recruited around a metropolitan city in Central Texas. Participants translated a difficult medical document from English to Spanish for their parents, followed by an arithmetic task (modeled after the Trier Social Stress Test [TSST]). Participants’ perceptions (perceived efficacy and parental dependence), parental hostility, and discrimination experiences were assessed via self-report and were examined as moderators of adolescents’ responses to the task. Results: Results revealed differential responses to the task based on individual, family, and environmental factors. High efficacy and low dependence−parental hostility−discrimination related to stress responses characterized by low baselines, steeper reactivity, and faster recovery. Low efficacy and high dependence related to greater baseline stress and a slower recovery. High levels of parental hostility related to a slower recovery. High levels of discrimination related to greater baseline stress. Conclusions: The study demonstrates that the modified TSST task can elicit an acute hypothalamic−pituitary−adrenal axis response, but the nature of this response is dependent upon participants’ perceptions of language brokering (parental dependence and efficacy), parental hostility, and discrimination experiences. Adolescents’ individual characteristics and contextual demands remain important considerations in understanding their acute stress responses. 

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3. Stress of Language Brokering and Mexican American Adolescents’ Adjustment: The Role of Cumulative Risk

   https://doi.org/10.1177/0272431619847526  

   Shen, Yishan ; Seo, Eunjin ; Walt, Dorothy Clare ; Kim, Su Yeong ( March 2020 , The Journal of Early Adolescence)

   This study focused on early adolescents’ stress of language brokering and examined the moderating role of family cumulative risk in the relation of language brokering to adjustment problems. Data came from self-reports of 604 low-income Mexican American adolescent language brokers (54% female; [Formula: see text]= 12.4; SD = 0.97; 75% born in the United States) and their parents (99% foreign-born) in central Texas. Path analyses revealed that brokering stress, but not frequency, was positively associated with adolescents’ adjustment problems, including depressive symptoms, anxiety, and delinquency. We also found that the relation between stress of brokering for mothers and adolescents’ depressive symptoms was stronger among families with a high cumulative risk. Further, with a high cumulative risk, adolescents exhibited delinquent behaviors regardless of the levels of stress from translating for fathers. Current findings underscore the importance of examining family contexts in assessing the consequences of language brokering for Mexican American early adolescents’ well-being. 

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4. Prospective Effects of Discrimination, Depressive Symptoms, and Cognitive Control Among Mexican-Origin Women

   https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbad042  

   Muñoz, Elizabeth ; Yan, Jinjin ; Tse, Hin Wing ; Zavala, Daisy ; López, Belem G. ; Kim, Su Yeong ; Gamaldo, ed., Alyssa ( March 2023 , The Journals of Gerontology: Series B)

   Cognitive control predicts functional independence and cognitive health outcomes, but is yet to be known the extent to which social stress, like discrimination, may diminish cognitive control capacities in Mexican-origin women. We evaluated the prospective associations between everyday and ethnic discrimination on cognitive control and examined the mediating effects of depressive symptoms on these links. We further examined the extent to which associations varied by age and financial strain.

   We used data from 596 Mexican-origin women (average age = 38.89, standard deviation = 5.74) who participated in a 3-wave longitudinal study spanning 8 years (from 2012 to 2020). Participants completed measures of everyday and ethnic discrimination at Wave 1, depressive symptoms in Waves 1 and 2, and completed computer-based tasks of cognitive control at Wave 3. Self-reported assessments of financial strain were completed at Wave 2. Moderated mediation structural equation models were implemented to test hypotheses.

   Depressive symptoms significantly mediated the prospective association between everyday/ethnic discrimination to cognitive control. Higher levels of everyday and ethnic discrimination at baseline were associated with more depressive symptoms at Wave 2, which were then related to poorer cognitive control (i.e., longer reaction time in congruent and/or incongruent trials) at Wave 3. There was no significant moderation of age. Among those with low financial strain, higher levels of everyday discrimination were related to faster response times.

   Results revealed the long-term consequences of experiences with discrimination on cognitive control that operate through increased depressive symptoms and that may have some subtle differential effects across levels of financial strain.

    

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5. Mexican‐origin youths’ language brokering for fathers and mothers: Daily experiences and youths’ diurnal cortisol slopes

   https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13768  

   Kim, Su Yeong ; Wen, Wen ; Chen, Shanting ; Yan, Jinjin ; Song, Jiaxiu ; Zhang, Minyu ; Zeiders, Katharine H. ( April 2022 , Child Development)

   This study examined the associations of language brokering stressintensityandexposurewith Mexican‐origin youths’ cortisol responses when brokering for fathers and mothers, and the moderating role of youths’ brokering efficacy in these relations. Participants were 289 adolescents (M_age = 17.38,SD = .94, 52% girls) in immigrant families. When brokering for mothers, stressexposurewas related to flatter (less healthy) same‐day diurnal slopes in youth. When brokering for fathers, daily brokering efficacy buffered the detrimental link between stressintensityand youths’ same‐day cortisol slopes. When brokering for fathers/mothers, stressintensityandexposurewere related to flatter (less healthy) next‐day diurnal slopes. Although daily brokering stress can relate to youth physiologic functioning, feeling efficacious about brokering may buffer the negative ramifications of stress.

    

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