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Immigrant Children’s Proficiency in the Host Country Language is More Important than Individual, Family and Peer Characteristics in Predicting Their Psychological Well-Being

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Abstract

Immigrant children are exposed to high levels of psychological distress, leading to an increased risk of mental and physical health problems. In the present study we investigated the impact of first and second generation immigrant children’s proficiency in the host country language on their psychological well-being one year later. The effects of gender, family SES, and classmates’ characteristics were also examined. A structural equation model was tested on 2334 immigrant children in a representative sample of 561 Italian primary schools taking measurement errors into account. Children’s language proficiency significantly predicted their psychological well-being one year later, both in first and second immigrant generations (B = .23; p < .001). None of the other variables had a significant impact. Improving the language skills of immigrant children could promote their mental health, regardless of their backgrounds and whether they were born in the host country or not.

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Notes

  1. Following a Reviewer’s suggestion, we have also tested a model without the control variables. In this model the standardized path coefficient of language proficiency on psychological well-being was .190 (p < .001) and R2 was .036 (p < .001).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute for the Evaluation of the Education System (INVALSI), Via Ippolito Nievo 35, Rome, 00153, Italy

    Elisa Cavicchiolo, Sara Manganelli & Fabio Alivernini

  2. Department of Human, Philosophical and Educational Sciences, University of Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II 132, Fisciano (Salerno), 84084, Italy

    Laura Girelli

  3. Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Via dei Marsi 78, Rome, 00185, Italy

    Andrea Chirico & Fabio Lucidi

Authors
  1. Elisa Cavicchiolo
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  2. Sara Manganelli
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  3. Laura Girelli
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  4. Andrea Chirico
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  5. Fabio Lucidi
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  6. Fabio Alivernini
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Correspondence to Sara Manganelli.

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Cavicchiolo, E., Manganelli, S., Girelli, L. et al. Immigrant Children’s Proficiency in the Host Country Language is More Important than Individual, Family and Peer Characteristics in Predicting Their Psychological Well-Being. J Immigrant Minority Health 22, 1225–1231 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-020-00998-4

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