Unpacking the factors related to flourishing among bilingual adults in the U.S.

ABSTRACT

Using a positive psychological framework, Broaden-and-Build Theory, we investigated whether and how positive and negative emotions (affective factors) and cognitive flexibility are related to flourishing. Participants are 151 bilingual adults from diverse backgrounds enrolled in a local community college. Results showed that both positive and negative emotions and cognitive flexibility were significantly related to flourishing. More importantly, mediation effects from emotions to flourishing through cognitive flexibility occurred only from positive emotions. These findings are the first to explore how affective factors are related to flourishing in a sample of bilingual adults residing in a predominantly monolingual country. Practical implications are discussed with regards to the cultivation of positive emotions and fostering cognitive flexibility among bilinguals in and out of school.

KEYWORDS:

• Bilingualism
• positive psychology
• emotions
• cognitive flexibility
• flourishing

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Data is available on request subject to privacy or other restrictions.

Ethnical statement

This study was approved by the Research and Development Administration Office of the community college and by the Human Subjects Review committee of the sponsoring university.