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Mother-Adolescent Language Proficiency and Adolescent Academic and Emotional Adjustment Among Chinese American Families

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Abstract

This study examined the role of adolescents’ and mothers’ self-reports of English and heritage language proficiency in youth’s academic and emotional adjustment among 444 Chinese American families. Adolescents who were proficient in English tended to exhibit higher reading achievement scores, math achievement scores, and overall GPA. Mothers who were English proficient tended to have children with higher academic achievement and fewer depressive symptoms. Results also indicated that adolescents’ heritage language maintenance was associated with positive adjustment, particularly amongst foreign-born youth and for youth whose parents were highly proficient in the heritage language. Mother-adolescent match in heritage language proficiency was related to higher math achievement scores and overall GPA. Additionally, higher heritage language proficiency was associated with fewer depressive symptoms for foreign-born but not U.S.-born youth. Overall, the findings suggest that proficiency in both the English and heritage language may confer advantages to Chinese American youth.

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Notes

  1. Semilingual adolescents were excluded from analyses due to limited sample size (n = 17).

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Acknowledgments

Support for this research was provided through awards to Dr. Su Yeong Kim from (1) Eunice Kennedy Shriver NICHD R03HD051629 (2) Office of the Vice President for Research Grant/Special Research Grant and Summer Research Assignment from the University of Texas at Austin (3) American Psychological Foundation/Council of Graduate Departments of Psychology, Ruth G. and Joseph D. Matarazzo Grant (4) California Association of Family and Consumer Sciences, Extended Education Fund (5) American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences, Massachusetts Avenue Building Assets Fund and (6) NICHD R24HD042849 grant awarded to the Population Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Clinical Psychology Program, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Lisa L. Liu

  2. Population Research Center, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA

    Aprile D. Benner

  3. Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Anna S. Lau

  4. Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, School of Human Ecology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA

    Su Yeong Kim

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  1. Lisa L. Liu
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Correspondence to Lisa L. Liu.

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Liu, L.L., Benner, A.D., Lau, A.S. et al. Mother-Adolescent Language Proficiency and Adolescent Academic and Emotional Adjustment Among Chinese American Families. J Youth Adolescence 38, 572–586 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-008-9358-8

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