Journal article
Shared Language Erosion: Rethinking Immigrant Family Communication and Impacts on Youth Development
Children (Basel), Vol.8(4), p.256
04/01/2021
DOI: 10.3390/children8040256
PMCID: PMC8064327
PMID: 33805964
Abstract
In this paper we make the case for Shared Language Erosion as a potential explanation for the negative outcomes described in the immigrant paradox for second- and third- generation immigrants (e.g., declines in physical, mental, and behavioral health). While not negating the important role of cultural adaptation, we posit that parent-child communication difficulties due to a process we are calling Shared Language Erosion is driving the observed affects previously attributed to changes in cultural values and beliefs. Shared Language Erosion is the process during which adolescents improve their English skills while simultaneously losing or failing to develop their heritage language; at the same time their parents acquire English at a much slower rate. This lack of a common shared language makes it difficult for parents and their adolescent children to effectively communicate with each other, and leads to increased parent-child conflict, reduced parental competence, aggravated preexisting flaws in parent-child attachment, and increased adolescent vulnerability to deviant peer influences.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Shared Language Erosion: Rethinking Immigrant Family Communication and Impacts on Youth Development
- Creators
- Ronald B. Cox - Oklahoma State UniversityDarcey K. deSouza - Oklahoma State UniversityJuan Bao - Iowa State UniversityHua Lin - Oklahoma State UniversitySumeyra Sahbaz - Oklahoma State UniversityKimberly A. Greder - Iowa State UniversityRobert E. Larzelere - Oklahoma State UniversityIsaac J. Washburn - Oklahoma State UniversityMaritza Leon-Cartagena - Oklahoma State UniversityAlma Arredondo-Lopez - Oklahoma State University
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Children (Basel), Vol.8(4), p.256
- DOI
- 10.3390/children8040256
- PMID
- 33805964
- PMCID
- PMC8064327
- NLM abbreviation
- Children (Basel)
- ISSN
- 2227-9067
- eISSN
- 2227-9067
- Publisher
- Mdpi
- Number of pages
- 15
- Grant note
- George Kaiser Family Foundation 2017-41520-26875 / Children Youth and Families at Risk program of the United States Department of Agriculture/National Institute of Food and Agriculture R15DA049232 / National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health; United States Department of Health & Human Services; National Institutes of Health (NIH) - USA; NIH National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 04/01/2021
- Academic Unit
- Public Policy Center (Archive)
- Record Identifier
- 9984283712302771
Metrics
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