Neighborhood variations in Latin American-origin adolescents' language brokering trajectories

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

3-24-2026

Journal

Child development

DOI

10.1093/chidev/aacag038

Keywords

immigrant families; language brokering; neighborhood

Abstract

Addressing developmental-contextual understandings of Latino/a adolescents' language brokering, we estimated language brokering changes from early to middle adolescence and their variation by neighborhood ethnic-racial compositional characteristics (e.g., % Latino/a residents). Data were collected among 485 Latino/a adolescents (Wave 1: Mage = 13.33 years; 57% girls; 88.7% U.S.-born) from immigrant families in suburban Atlanta, Georgia. Two-level growth models across 10 timepoints (6-month intervals) showed that, on average, language brokering remained stable for everyday and school situations but increased for official situations. Adolescents living in neighborhoods with stronger Latino/a presence and lower out-group exposure, however, showed higher language brokering during early adolescence and increases in everyday and official brokering over time. Findings underscore the context-dependent nature of language brokering development, suggesting gaps in dual-language infrastructure for some families in emerging immigrant areas.

Department

Prevention and Community Health

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