Daily and ethnic discriminatory experiences and cognitive control in Mexican-origin bilingual language brokers

ABSTRACT

Few studies have considered bilingualism’s impact on cognitive development within the sociolinguistic and cultural context of the immigrant communities where bilingualism is commonly practiced. In the United States, many Mexican-origin bilingual youth practice their bilingual skills by brokering (i.e. translating/interpreting between languages) for their immigrant parents who have low English proficiency. Meanwhile, these youth may also experience discrimination in their daily life. The present study focuses on Mexican-origin bilingual youth brokers (N = 334) in order to examine how discriminatory experiences (i.e. daily and ethnic discrimination) and bilingual brokering experiences captured by profiles are related to cognitive control performance (i.e. attentional control and inhibition). We found no significant direct influence of either bilingual broker profiles or discriminatory experiences on cognitive control. However, the associations between discriminatory experiences and cognitive control performance depended upon brokering experiences. Specifically, greater discrimination was associated with lower cognitive control performance among moderate brokers (with moderate bilingual experiences), but the association was attenuated among efficacious brokers (with positive bilingual experiences). Findings highlight the need to consider the sociolinguistic heterogeneity of both discriminatory experiences and language use when investigating cognitive control performance in bilinguals.

KEYWORDS:

• Bilingualism
• Mexican-origin youth
• language brokering
• discrimination
• cognitive control

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Funding

Support for this research was provided through awards to Su Yeong Kim from (1) National Science Foundation, Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences, 1651128 and 0956123, (2) National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities 1R21MD012706-01A1 and 3R21MD-012706-02S1, (3) Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development 5R03HD060045-02, (4) Russell Sage Foundation, 2699 (5) Spencer Foundation, 10023427 (6) Hogg Foundation for Mental Health JRG-102, (7) Office of the Vice President for Research and Creative Grant and Special Research Grant from the University of Texas at Austin, (8) College of Natural Sciences Catalyst Grant from the University of Texas at Austin, and (9) Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development 5P2CHD042849-20 grant awarded to the Population Research Center at The University of Texas at Austin. These funding sources had no role other than financial support. Dr. López contributed to this article in her personal capacity. The views expressed are her own and do not necessarily represent the views of the National Institutes of Health or the United States government. Correspondence concerning this article should be sent to Wen Wen.

Notes on contributors

Su Yeong Kim

Su Yeong Kim, Ph.D.: Dr. Kim is a professor in the department of human development and family sciences at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research interests include the role of cultural and family contexts in shaping the development of adolescents in immigrant and minority families in the U.S.

Jinjin Yan

Jinjin Yan, Ph.D.: Dr. Yan is a postdoctoral fellow in the department of psychology at Fordham University. She focuses her research on exploring the well-being of ethnic-racial minoritized families within cultural contexts, while also identifying the risk and resilience factors in these settings.

Wen Wen

Wen Wen: Wen is a Ph.D. candidate in the department of human development and family sciences at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research interests include the influence of contextual stress on adolescent physiological and psychological well-being in family contexts.

Jiaxiu Song

Jiaxiu Song, Ph.D.: Dr. Song received her Ph.D. from the department of human development and family sciences at the University of Texas at Austin. She works for System 3 Consulting Group as a senior manager of Insights and Analytics. Her research interests include exploring factors promoting health and health behaviors among adolescents.

Shanting Chen

Shanting Chen, Ph.D.: Dr. Chen is an assistant professor in the department of psychology at the University of Florida. Her research interests have broadly centered on the intersection of stress, family, and cultural contexts in understanding the development of ethnic/racial minoritized adolescents.

Minyu Zhang

Minyu Zhang, Ph.D.: Dr. Zhang is a database coordinator at the Latino Research Institute, at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research interests include understanding chronic and daily contextual stressors on sleep and psychosocial well-being among minority adolescents.

Belem G. Lopez

Belem G. Lopez, Ph.D.: Dr. López is a health scientist administrator at the National Institutes of Health. Previously, she was in the department of Mexican American and Latina/o Studies at The University of Texas at Austin. Her research focused on how early linguistic and cultural experiences (e.g., language brokering) can affect cognitive, linguistic, and health outcomes. Work completed on this paper was in her personal capacity.

Maria M. Arredondo

Maria M. Arredondo, Ph.D.: Dr. Arredondo is an assistant professor in the department of human development and family sciences at the University of Texas at Austin. As a developmental cognitive neuroscientist, Dr. Arredondo studies the cognitive and socio-cultural mechanisms that support bilingual children's language development.

Marci E. J. Gleason

Marci E. J. Gleason, Ph.D.: Dr. Gleason is an associate professor in the department of human development and family sciences at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research focuses on stress and coping, with a focus on romantic relationship partners during significant life transitions and events.

Ka I. Ip

Ka I Ip, Ph.D.: Dr. Ip is an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota Institute of Child Development. His research focuses on typical and atypical emotion regulation development and how early adversity and social determinants of health may ‘get under the skin’ to confer risk and resilience for developmental psychopathology and health disparities.