Dual language competences and psychosocial wellbeing of children of immigrants

Language competence has been identified as a critical contributor to the emotional and behavioral wellbeing of children. For dual language children, who have varying levels of competences in their first and second language, it is not yet clear, empirically, how competences in each language contribute to their psychosocial wellbeing. The overarching goal of this study is to better understand the dual language development of Latino children of immigrants as they enter into kindergarten and how their first and second language competences are associated with their emotional and behavioral wellbeing at kindergarten and second grade. The present analyses are conducted on a data set which includes extensive longitudinal data on a sample of 228 Latino children of immigrants. The dissertation is comprised of two studies. Descriptive statistics followed by a combination of person-centered and variable-centered analyses relevant to the specific aims of each study are used to examine significant associations between language profiles, linguistic environments, child and contextual factors and psychosocial outcomes. In the present study, the majority of children entered school with low L1 and L2 competences, however, overtime made substantial gains in each language. Language competence in kindergarten accounted for moderate to large proportions of variance in all wellbeing dimensions at kindergarten and for small to moderate amounts of variance in connection to family and school functioning at second grade. The contributions of child or contextual variables to wellbeing was either smaller than that of language competence or non-significant in our models. Our findings suggest that both L1 and L2 competence is critically associated with the wellbeing and school functioning. Longitudinal analyses indicate that children who enter school with age-appropriate competences in either or both languages demonstrate stronger school functioning over time than children who enter with low competences in both languages. Dual language strengths/weaknesses limited to one language may go undetected if assessment does not take place in both languages. These findings underscore the need to assess and support the development of both L1 and L2. Findings are relevant to education, communicative studies, developmental psychology, and mental health fields, and provide a deeper understanding of the development of children of immigrants, the fastest growing segment of the U.S. child population.