Introduction & Purpose: Acculturation gap (AG) occurs when immigrant parents acculturate slower than their children (Bazanez et al., 2014). Due to differences in values and preferred behaviors, greater AG is likely to increase conflicts and affect parent-child relationship quality (PCRQ), which in turn may lead to poorer psychosocial outcomes for children of immigrants. Additionally, higher AG may result in greater occurrence of language brokering (LB) served by children, which in turn may negatively impact their psychological wellbeing (PW). The influences of AG, LB, and PCRQ on PW of adult children from immigrant families have not been thoroughly studied. The current study aimed to explore the indirect effects of AG on PW of adult children with immigrant parents via LB frequency and PCRQ.
Method: A total of 228 (M=21.12; SD=3.43) adult children of immigrants completed online surveys. The following measures with adequate psychometric properties were used: Acculturation Gap Conflict Inventory (Basaenz et al., 2014), Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995), Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale (Schwarzer & Jerusalem, 1995), Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1979), three questions assessing language brokering frequency, and Parental Environment Questionnaire (Elkins et al., 1997).
Results: Findings of the PROCESS Model 4 (Hayes, 2017) indicated significant indirect effects of AG on psychological distress (95%CI [.62, 1.91], self-esteem (95%CI [-.11, -.04]), and self-efficacy (95%CI [-.08, -.01]) via PCRQ. However, the indirect effect of AG through LB frequency was not significant on any of the PW variables.
Conclusions: The results indicated that for adult children of immigrants, AG was negatively associated with PCRQ, which in turn led to greater psychological distress, lower self-efficacy and self-esteem. However, LB frequency was not a significant mediator. Findings highlight the importance of facilitating dialogue about acculturation processes and its relational impact when working with immigrant families. Further implications and limitations will be discussed.