Effects of Language Brokering on Psychological Well-Being. A Study on Latino Children in Italy

1. Introduction

Many children and adolescents worldwide are language brokers for their parents and families, operating as interpreters for their non-native-speaking relatives [1]. Migrant parents find it challenging to understand and speak the host country's Language, so they often rely on their offspring to communicate with the world outside the family. Children attend schools and obtain adequate knowledge of the host society's Language and culture, so they often take on typically adult responsibilities and family problems since they make decisions with native-language-speaking agents, which affect the entire family. The international literature regarding this topic [2-8] shows that sometimes children are asked to begin language brokering when they are only ten years old and to keep doing it even after leaving their families. Girls assume this role more often than boys (9, 10].

Acting as language brokers, these children may experience more rapid cognitive and social development than young people who are not asked to assume this role [11-13]. Moreover, they learn social skills that help them deal with the adult world and tackle daily contact situations with the host society. Halgunseth [14] emphasized many positive consequences of endorsing this task, such as having better language performance or earlier development of specific social skills. Shannon [15] noticed that those Central American immigrant children asked for language brokering for their parents and relatives learned adult sociolinguistic skills much faster. These children can use appropriate Language with professionals such as doctors or lawyers and stick up for their parents, respecting them and preserving their dignity. Valdes [16] noted that the parent and the child in a language-brokering situation represent a "team" whose goal is to evoke positive responses from most visuals.

Furthermore, Buriel, Perez, DeMent, Chavez, and Moran [17] remarked that adolescent language brokers feel more able to interact with adults and that their improvement at school is greater than that of high-school students who are not asked to be language brokers, because the more opportunities they have to use Language in diverse community situations, the greater the chance they develop the linguistic competencies required for school achievement. Antonini [18] highlighted this practice's impact on family life and the significant support these children give to help their families interact with the host society. Iqbal and Crafter [19] showed how these children play a vital role in protecting those for whom they broker, often navigating sophisticated social interactions and tactics (such as delay and selective modification). Equally, they are responsible for managing complicated, perhaps morally questionable, situations.

Nevertheless, many researchers note that language-brokering experiences can lead to developmental disadvantages and distress, especially for younger children. Weisskirch and Alva [20] reported that some children who begin language brokering at 11 years can feel intensely distressed. Wu and Kim [21] highlighted that an explanation still must be found about how language-brokering experiences can favor children's growth but may overload them with difficulties simultaneously. Moreover, clinical studies have suggested that family responsibilities from this role can become an undue burden and lead to mental health disorders. According to Baptiste [22], language brokering entails a high risk of being criticized and treated harshly by the family, given possible mistakes in delicate situations that may damage the daily life conditions of the whole family. Athey and Ahearn [23] argued that language brokering could lead sons and daughters to an inconsistent status and chronic anxiety, mainly because they must simultaneously hold two or more roles. These different roles usually concern clashing social expectations. Especially during adolescence, this situation could be challenging because trying to become independent from parents' conflicts with strengthening relationships with them is a consequence of the parents' dependence on the son or daughter in daily situations requiring language brokering. Jones, Trickett, and Birman [24] showed how the responsibilities requested by Language brokering to children may generate excessive stress. For adolescents, the psychological implications of language brokering remain controversial [25-27] and need further investigation, especially concerning the Italian context, where research on this topic is rare.

The main aim of this study was to examine the relations of language brokering with some psychological variables in a sample of Latino children living in Italy. In particular, the following hypotheses were examined: 1. males and females are differently represented in both language-brokering activities and evidence of anxiety, depression, and emotional weakness; 2. language brokering is negatively related to the son's or daughter's psychological well-being, as inferred from scores on tests of anxiety, depression, and emotional weakness.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Data Collection

The ISMU Foundation and the Psychology, Culture, Migration Research Unit of the Catholic University of Milan conducted this study. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of ISMU Foundation. Minor participants were required to provide informed consent signed by both parents. The psychological tests were administered to children with migratory background by child migration specialists, assisted by teachers. All data collected were entered into a dedicated database, with participants identified only by a unique ID number. The database was stored on a secure server, and access to the information was limited to research team members.

2.2. Participants

Public schools in the Lombardy region with the highest numbers of students from South America were identified and contacted. Teachers were asked to indicate all the South American students able to understand and speak fluent Italian. The national backgrounds of the recommended students were Peru, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Colombia, Bolivia, and Honduras (Table 1).

As suggested in the literature [28] and according to the goals of this investigation, only those who reported being language brokers for their families for at least three years were included. A total of 212 (119 girls and 93 boys) children (M age = 12.9, SD = .9) decided to participate in the study. All participants were born in Italy to immigrant parents living in Milan or smaller towns in the Lombardy region. Questionnaires were administered in Italian.

2.3. Ethics

All study procedures were reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of ISMU-ETS Foundation (prot. no. 2020-020308). Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study. Data were collected in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki and in compliance with the IRB ethical guidelines.

2.4. Measures

Four measures were administered. One was the version of the Language Brokering Scale (LBS) created by Buriel et al. [17]. This 44-item scale measures four language-brokering dimensions, described below.

(a)

Persons for whom one brokers: This dimension is identified on ten questions asking how often students language brokers for family members, friends, neighbors, and strangers. The answer is chosen using options 1: Never, 2: Sometimes, 3: Often, and 4: Always. An example of a question is: "How often do you translate for your parents from Italian into Spanish?".

(b)

Places where they broker: This dimension is identified by asking students to indicate, among 12 places, each they broker (answering Yes or No). Because translating in some contexts is considered more difficult than in others, a positive answer was weighted on a scale of 1 to 3 by the difficulty involved. Thus, for example, a Yes response for translating at home scored 1, translating at school was 2, and translating at the hospital or doctor's office scored 3.

(c)

Texts – usually documents – to be translated: This dimension is identified by asking students to indicate which texts of 12 possible choices they are asked to translate. Since translating in some texts can be more complicated than in others, positive answers were weighted differently (1, 2, or 3), according to the text. For example, translating a flyer scored 1, a phone bill or credit card bills scored 2, and translating insurance forms or rental contracts scored 3.

(d)

Feelings related to language brokering: This dimension was scored on a 4-point scale with these options: Always, Often, Sometimes, or Never. The student would express specific emotions related to language brokering. Examples of items included: "Do you like translating from Italian to Spanish?" and "Do you feel embarrassed when you have to translate for your parents?"

The test showed a .81 test–retest reliability after a 3-week interval.

The other measures administered were the following: the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory - Y, by Spielberger, Gorsuch, Lushene, Vagg, and Jacobs [29], which measures the intensity of anxiety on a 40-item scale; the Beck Depression Inventory-II by Beck, Steer and Brown [30], that measures the risk of depression in the non-psychiatric population through 21 groups of sentences, evaluated on a 4-point scale, and identifies a Somatic-Affective factor and a Cognitive factor; a scale by Caprara, Perugini, Barbaranelli, and Pastorelli [31], based on the integration of the Emotional Susceptibility and Persecutory Feelings subscales, was used to measure emotional weakness; this scale has 30 items, 10 of which are control items.

2.4. Analysis

SPSS Statistics version 29.0 was used to analyze the data. In Hypothesis 1, a comparison of boys and girls, Hotelling multivariate analysis was applied to scores. For Hypothesis 2, hierarchical regression analysis was used to analyze the relations of language brokering with adolescents' psychological well-being as measured on the indices of anxiety, depression, and emotional weakness.

3. Results

In general, multivariate analysis showed significant overall differences between males and females in language brokering activities [F (13, 91) = 8.32, p < .001]. Considering each single variable, multivariate analysis showed that girls' language brokering activity was significantly greater than boys' with regards to the four LBS dimensions: persons, places, texts and feelings [F(13, 55) = 11.99; p < .005; F(13, 55) = 13.89; p < .005, F(13, 55) = 19.64; p < .001; F(13, 55) = 20.01; p < .001; respectively].

Moreover, girls had significantly higher levels of depression than boys (F(13, 55) = 18.23; p < .005). On the other hand, boys showed higher levels of anxiety than girls (F (16, 18) = 9.03; p < .01).

A three-step hierarchical regression analysis was computed separately for boys and girls to test the hypothesis concerning the expected relationship among depression, anxiety, emotional weakness, and language brokering activities. Thus, when depression was used as a dependent variable, independent variables were included according to the following order: step 1, anxiety; step 2, emotional weakness; and step 3, language brokering. When anxiety was used as a dependent variable, independent variables were included in the following order: step 1, depression; step 2, emotional weakness; and step 3, language brokering. Last, when emotional weakness was the dependent variable, independent variables were included in the following order: step 1, anxiety; step 2, depression; and step 3, language brokering.

Results show that places for boys and feelings for girls were the only dimensions of language brokering that could predict anxiety, depression, and emotional weakness. The number of places where language brokering occurs was associated, for boys, with higher levels of depression (β = .29; R2 = .15; F Change = 4.31; p < .01), anxiety (β = .35; R2 = .19; F Change = 3.98; p < .01), and emotional weakness (β = .26; R2 = .13; F Change = 4.12; p < .05). The only variable that could explain a significant amount of variance in males' psychological well-being was the plurality of places where language brokering happens. As for females, the only variable that could explain their outcome was the emotional condition – feelings - with which they experienced language brokering activities. A girl's positive emotional state predicted lower anxiety (β = -.33; R2 = .14; F Change = 5.23; p < .05) and depression levels (β = -.41; R2 = .16; F Change = 4.98; p < .05), while it did not explain variance in terms of emotional weakness.

4. Discussion

Often, migration is characterized by rugged and stressful parent–child relationships, which influence the child's psychological well-being and, sometimes, even adolescents' personality development. As for sons and daughters of immigrant parents, the burden of these relationships can also increase because the children are needed as language brokers in the daily interactions between family members and the host society. And such responsibility can cause problems regarding parent-child relationships [32-34].

The current results confirm sex-specificities in language brokering, as highlighted by prior studies [10]. Girls reported significantly higher means on the four dimensions, which may reflect their earlier better verbal development than boys during infancy and adolescence. This feature peaks at age 11 but continues throughout adolescence [35]. In this period, girls begin to take on language-brokering responsibilities for their parents, perhaps because the South American parents consider daughters more "appropriate" for such a task. A second explanation concerns a cultural dimension related to gender behavior codes within South American families. Boys tend to adopt an "asymmetrical model" of conduct, as several studies on migrant families from Central and South America have highlighted [36, 37]. This characteristic means that boys have considerably more freedom in everyday life, while girls are asked to preserve and care for family values and traditions. Therefore, sons may be freer than daughters concerning several duties towards their parents, which is also common in other cultures [38-42]. Thus, daughters may be more willing and available than sons because they believe being next to their parents and helping them – for example, when they need someone who translates for them – is part of their role and duties. A certain "male pride" may be noted that would prompt sons to avoid anxiogenic situations, like those in which they merely have to broker, without real decision-making power [10].

Anxiety seems to be a specifically male trait in this Latino sample, confirming previous studies. According to Morales and Wang [43], frequent language brokers scored significantly higher on depression and anxiety compared to moderate and low language brokers. Moreover, being a language broker means being aware of the family's challenging conditions and the negative consequences of this situation, as pointed out [44]. This awareness could stimulate anxiety in sons, thus creating a stressful situation they prefer to avoid. In contrast, for girls, sharing daily family commitments means developing a greater sense of realism and avoiding unfeasible expectations [45].

According to the South American culture, language brokering is more significant for daughters than sons, including as a source of satisfaction for helping parents [10]. Daughters of South American parents consider assisting parents an essential value that significantly increases their self-esteem and status within their community. The cultural variable measured in this study to explain sex differences in language brokering has often been highlighted by researchers trying to identify what makes brokering a positive or a negative experience. For example, Wu and Kim [20] suggested a series of psychological features, such as self-esteem and self-efficacy, that are interwoven with family variables and can make Language brokering a positive experience for one's own family, depending on one's cultural orientation, which can be bound to the traditions of the country of origin.

As for Hypothesis 2, places for the boys and feelings for the girls were the only variables predicting children's psychological well-being. For the boys, the importance they give to places where language brokering occurs can be explained through the significance of social reputation for South American boys [28, 46-48]. Since language-brokering means aiding and caring for parents, if boys experience this as a "female" task not intended for them, they may consider it a source of discredit to be seen by community members in this activity. Even if they agree to do it – something that happens as little as possible, as the results show – they try to limit social visibility by reducing places where brokering occurs. On the contrary, girls do not consider social visibility a problem because language brokering means fulfilling family and community expectations and thus earning respect and status. The emotions with which they tackle language brokering are relevant for girls. De Ment, Buriel, and Villanueva [49] noted ambivalent emotions emerging from stories shared by South American women who migrated to the USA and were engaged in language brokering during their childhood. On the one hand, this role was perceived with shame and a series of obstacles to a free and carefree life. On the other hand – and more notably – this role was a source of great personal satisfaction for those girls because they could support their parents, towards whom they felt somehow obligated because of their cultural background. Feelings of duty and obligation towards one's family consistently characterize South American culture, even in countries where parents migrated (50, 51).

Moreover, these feelings probably contribute to strengthening the ties between parents and children, many studies on Central and South American migrant families have claimed [8, 52]. It is also important to note that the sample's age may be related to the findings. Young children, including boys, may like to accompany their parents and help them as language brokers. However, as they reach adolescence, boys may become more self-conscious about language brokering and feel more distressed about doing it in public. On the other hand, adolescent girls may feel more comfortable about language brokering because they see it as being more in line with their gender role.

During normal development, language brokering may be risky for children and adolescents because they assume adult responsibilities, which may become stressful for adolescents [53]. Nevertheless, the present study did not identify any negative relationship between depression and language brokering activities, even if some prior researchers have reported possible adverse effects of brokering on children [25, 54-58]. If language brokering is risky, girls, who are the most engaged in this duty, should be more at risk than boys. In the current study, girls reported higher mean depression than boys. Still, we can hypothesize that South American daughters don't develop brokering-related depression because their gendered expectations lead them to anticipate – more than their brothers – a series of family duties. Even if brokering can be experienced as a burdensome task, girls consider it coherent with learned gender expectations and, therefore, something much less stressful than other cultures might view. Also, we suggest that gendered expectations could mean that possible behaviors that turn girls from these tacit rules could increase stress and anxiety in South American girls; therefore, language brokering might represent a remarkable aid in sticking to gender-specific cultural expectations and avoiding stress and anxiety.

On the other hand, as noted, language brokering becomes relevant for boys' risks of depression about where it occurs. Considering places of language brokering also means recalling the public dimension of this task. Because accompanying parents in public situations is not a part of South American boys' gendered expectations, language brokering in public places could be much more stressful for a boy than a girl and negatively influence his mood.

6. Limitations

Undoubtedly, notwithstanding some significant evidence, our results need further investigation because of the limited sample size and the partial tools used in the study. Moreover, the limitations of the present study are inherent in many, if not most, research involving only those minors who voluntarily agree to participate. Language broker children with greater mental health strains may not accept participating in this type of research due to the greater burden of distress they experience daily.

For future research, we need to investigate through cross-cultural comparisons the role of the culture of origin for brokering children and to analyze the consequences of language brokering on the psychological well-being of language brokers, paying attention to different ages.