Shared Language Erosion: Rethinking Immigrant Family Communication and Impacts on Youth Development

In this paper we make the case for Shared Language Erosion as a potential explanation for the negative outcomes described in the immigrant paradox for second- and third- generation immigrants (e.g., declines in physical, mental, and behavioral health). While not negating the important role of cultural adaptation, we posit that parent-child communication difficulties due to a process we are calling Shared Language Erosion is driving the observed affects previously attributed to changes in cultural values and beliefs. Shared Language Erosion is the process during which adolescents improve their English skills while simultaneously losing or failing to develop their heritage language; at the same time their parents acquire English at a much slower rate. This lack of a common shared language makes it difficult for parents and their adolescent children to effectively communicate with each other, and leads to increased parent-child conflict, reduced parental competence, aggravated preexisting flaws in parent-child attachment, and increased adolescent vulnerability to deviant peer influences

Hope for Latino immigrant youth: A longitudinal test of Snyder's Children's Hope Scale

Objective To examine the psychometric properties of Snyder's Children's Hope Scale (CHS) with first- and second-generation Latino immigrant youth, using item response theory, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, and measurement invariance tests. Background Stress experienced by youth in 2020 has heightened interest in resilience factors such as hope. The CHS is widely used to measure hope but has not been validated for longitudinal assessments with immigrant populations. Methods Participants were 233 low socioeconomic status first- and second-generation Latino immigrant youth (50.43% female, 62% U.S.-born, and 81% of Mexican heritage). Data were collected at two timepoints spanning 4 weeks. Results Rather than the original six-item two-dimensional scale, our results supported a four-item one-dimensional scale, with excellent model fit, strong invariance across time, by gender and generation status, good reliability (α = .81), and the expected negative association with stress. Conclusions The four-item Hope scale is suitable for longitudinal assessments with first- and second-generation Latino immigrant populations and can be used for examining differences by gender and generation status in research and practice to assess youth resilience. Implications This study underscores the need for practitioners and researchers to rigorously investigate the psychometric properties of a measure before its use with diverse populations.This accepted manuscript is published in Early View as Lin, H., Cox Jr., Ronald B., Sahbaz, S., Washburn, I.J., Larzelere, R.E., Greder, K.A., Hope for Latino immigrant youth: A longitudinal test of Snyder's Children's Hope Scale. Family Relations. 24 January 2022, Early View. https://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12651. Posted with permission.National Institute of Food and Agricultur

Shared Language Erosion: Rethinking Immigrant Family Communication and Impacts on Youth Development

In this paper we make the case for Shared Language Erosion as a potential explanation for the negative outcomes described in the immigrant paradox for second- and third- generation immigrants (e.g., declines in physical, mental, and behavioral health). While not negating the important role of cultural adaptation, we posit that parent-child communication difficulties due to a process we are calling Shared Language Erosion is driving the observed affects previously attributed to changes in cultural values and beliefs. Shared Language Erosion is the process during which adolescents improve their English skills while simultaneously losing or failing to develop their heritage language; at the same time their parents acquire English at a much slower rate. This lack of a common shared language makes it difficult for parents and their adolescent children to effectively communicate with each other, and leads to increased parent-child conflict, reduced parental competence, aggravated preexisting flaws in parent-child attachment, and increased adolescent vulnerability to deviant peer influences.This article is published as Cox, R.B., Jr.; deSouza, D.K.; Bao, J.; Lin, H.; Sahbaz, S.; Greder, K.A.; Larzelere, R.E.; Washburn, I.J.; Leon-Cartagena, M.; Arredondo-Lopez, A. Shared Language Erosion: Rethinking Immigrant Family Communication and Impacts on Youth Development. Children (2021)8;256 doi:10.3390/children8040256.</p

What is well-being? A scoping review of the conceptual and operational definitions of occupational well-being

Well-being is a multifaceted construct that is used across disciplines to portray a state of wellness, health, and happiness. While aspects of well-being seem universal, how it is depicted in the literature has substantial variation. The aim of this scoping review was to identify conceptual and operational definitions of well-being within the field of occupational health. Broad search terms were used related to well-being and scale/assessment. Inclusion criteria were (1) peer-reviewed articles, (2) published in English, (3) included a measure of well-being in the methods and results section of the article, and (4) empirical paper. The searches resulted in 4394 articles, 3733 articles were excluded by reading the abstract, 661 articles received a full review, and 273 articles were excluded after a full review, leaving 388 articles that met our inclusion criteria and were used to extract well-being assessment information. Many studies did not define well-being or link their conceptual definition to the operational assessment tool being used. There were 158 assessments of well-being represented across studies. Results highlight the lack of a consistent definitions of well-being and standardized measurements