Understanding Latino/a language brokers’ identity goals in association with parent–child relational quality

Abstract

In the U.S., children of immigrant families often language broker—linguistically and culturally mediate for their family and members of U.S. mainstream culture. Previous research indicates that language brokering can have important implications for the parent–child relationship. Using survey data from 274 Latino/a sixth- to eighth-grade students, we examined how young brokers’ identity goals (i.e., “acting Latino/a” and “acting U.S. American”) and cultural identification are associated with parent–child relational closeness and parent–child destructive conflict management. Results showed that, in general, accommodating their parent by “acting Latino/a” was associated with higher relational quality for young language brokers who reported weak Latino/a cultural identification. Accommodating Latino/a parents’ cultural identity while language brokering might help improve parent–child relational quality for young Latino/a language brokers.