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Family Environment, Heritage Language Profiles, and Socioemotional Well-being of Mexican-origin Adolescents with First Generation Immigrant Parents

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Abstract

Although Mexican-origin youth with first-generation immigrant parents are relatively good at retaining their heritage language of Spanish, limited research has been conducted on their Spanish language development during adolescence. From three-wave longitudinal data across six years (Nwave1 = 604, Mage.wave1 = 12.91, 54% female), distinct groups of adolescents with consistently high, improved, declined, and consistently low Spanish proficiencies were identified. Family relationship quality was more predictive of adolescents’ Spanish proficiency than family language environment. The benefits of Spanish proficiency were consistent across adolescents’ ethnic identity, resilience, and life meaning. More research and practical attention to parent–adolescent relationships is needed to capitalize on the continued plasticity of adolescents’ Spanish language development and to promote consequent positive outcomes.

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Notes

  1. This study focuses on Spanish language, as it is the most common of various heritage languages shared in Mexican-origin individuals.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported through awards to Su Yeong Kim from (1) National Science Foundation, Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences, 1651128 and 0956123, (2) National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities 1R21MD012706-01A1 and 3R21MD-012706-02S1, (3) Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development 5R03HD060045-02, (4) Russell Sage Foundation, 2699, (5) Spencer Foundation, 10023427, (6) Hogg Foundation for Mental Health JRG-102, (7) Office of the Vice President for Research and Creative Grant and Special Research Grant from the University of Texas at Austin, (8) College of Natural Sciences Catalyst Grant from the University of Texas at Austin, and (9) Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development 2P2CHD042849-19 grant awarded to the Population Research Center at The University of Texas at Austin.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA

    Jun Wang & Xin Li

  2. University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA

    Wen Wen, Jinjin Yan & Su Yeong Kim

  3. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Lester Sim

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Contributions

JW conceived of the study, drafted the manuscript, and provided critical review and editing of the manuscript; WW conducted the data analyses, draft portions of the manuscript, and provided critical review and editing of the manuscript; LS drafted portions of the manuscript and provided critical review and editing of the manuscript; LX drafted portions of the manuscript and provided critical review and editing of the manuscript; JY drafted portions of the manuscript and provided critical review and editing of the manuscript; SYK created the design of the larger project and was responsible for data collection and curation, project management, and supervision of the current research. She also participated in the conceptualization of the current study and interpretation of the results, and provided critical reviews of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Jun Wang.

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Wang, J., Wen, W., Sim, L. et al. Family Environment, Heritage Language Profiles, and Socioemotional Well-being of Mexican-origin Adolescents with First Generation Immigrant Parents. J Youth Adolescence 51, 1196–1209 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-022-01594-5

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