A longitudinal study of immigrant mothers' destination-language proficiency and their children's psychological well-being: Evidence and mechanisms from a study in South Korea

Rationale: Despite the well-established link between an immigrant's destination-language proficiency and psychological well-being, little is known about the relationship between an immigrant's destination-language proficiency and well-being of their children.Objective: This study investigated whether and how immigrant mothers' Korean proficiency is associated with life satisfaction and depressive symptoms among their children in South Korea. A comprehensive set of potential underlying mechanisms was also examined.Methods: Using four waves of data from the Multicultural Adolescents Panel Study (MAPS), this study estimated fixed effects regression models to reduce the possibility of bias due to individual-level heterogeneity. To test for mediation formally, Sobel mediation tests were conducted.Results: Fixed effects estimates suggested that immigrant mothers' Korean proficiency is positively associated with their children's psychological well-being. Specifically, a one-standard-deviation increase in Korean proficiency was associated with an increase in life satisfaction by 13% of a standard deviation and a decrease in depressive symptoms by 9% of a standard deviation. Mediation tests revealed that this association is explained by a combination of social-psychological factors. Friend support was the most salient mediator, followed by lower acculturation stress, positive perceptions of local community, and teacher support.Conclusions: The findings of this study suggest that efforts to improve immigrant mothers' destination-language proficiency would also benefit their children's psychological well-being. Furthermore, promoting children's relationships with peers at school may mitigate the negative psychological consequences of immigrant mothers' limited language proficiency.