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Language brokering is a prevalent phenomenon in ethnic minority immigrant populations. Although accruing evidence points to the beneficial impacts of healthy role identity development, research investigating the formation of a language broker role identity in language brokering adolescents is lacking in the literature. In a sample of 604 Latinx adolescents (54.3% female; Mage at Time 1 = 12.41, SD = .97), structured equation modeling was conducted with maternal warmth and hostility examined as antecedents and adolescents’ life meaning as a mediator for language broker role identities. Results revealed that life meaning mediated the positive association from maternal warmth to language broker role identity. However, the negative association from maternal hostility to language broker role identity was no longer significant when accounting for maternal warmth. Corroborating extant findings, reciprocal relations were observed between maternal parenting practices, life meaning and language broker role identity. The results attest to the importance of investigating culturally specific role identity development in immigrant populations and demonstrates the role of maternal parenting practices in affecting adolescents’ role identity formation, albeit with contrasting gender effects. 

Language brokering is a prevalent phenomenon in ethnic minority immigrant populations. Although accruing evidence points to the beneficial impacts of healthy role identity development, research investigating the formation of a language broker role identity in language brokering adolescents is lacking in the literature. In a sample of 604 Latinx adolescents (54.3% female; Mage at Time 1 = 12.41, SD = .97), structured equation modeling was conducted with maternal warmth and hostility examined as antecedents and adolescents’ life meaning as a mediator for language broker role identities. Results revealed that life meaning mediated the positive association from maternal warmth to language broker role identity. However, the negative association from maternal hostility to language broker role identity was no longer significant when accounting for maternal warmth. Corroborating extant findings, reciprocal relations were observed between maternal parenting practices, life meaning and language broker role identity. The results attest to the importance of investigating culturally specific role identity development in immigrant populations and demonstrates the role of maternal parenting practices in affecting adolescents’ role identity formation, albeit with contrasting gender effects. 

Previous research suggests that cultural adaptation is associated with Mexican‐origin couples' marital outcomes, including marital distress and rates of dissolution. However, research on the marital implications of different types of spousal differences in cultural adaptation often omits important dyadic dynamics (i.e., incongruence between couples and with their partners); this, coupled with existing methodological issues, might contribute to the pattern of mixed findings in the literature.

Using data from 273 Mexican‐origin couples, we conducted response surface analyses to examine how spousal congruence in four adaptation domains (acculturation, enculturation, English proficiency, Spanish proficiency) is associated with wives' and husbands' marital warmth, hostility and satisfaction.

Higher, versus lower, levels of couple matches (except for enculturation) were associated with better marital quality. Mismatches in American (acculturation, English) and Mexican (enculturation, Spanish) orientations were also associated with higher, and lower, marital quality, respectively.

Our findings highlight the importance of examining couple matching, which has historically been understudied. We also suggest that inconsistencies in prior work can be explained by discrepant associations between mismatches in American versus Mexican orientation and relationship outcomes.

 

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.