A Longitudinal Assessment of Acculturative Stressors on Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms among Latino/a Children

Background and Purpose: The purpose of the present study is to explore the relationship between limited English proficiency (LEP) status at school entry, and internalizing and externalizing symptoms at third grade among Latino/a children. While factors such as poverty, immigration status, and gender have been established as contributing to depression, anxiety, aggression and risky behavior among Latino/a adolescents (Suarez-Orozco & Suarez-Orozco, 2001); less attention has been given to LEP status and its association with externalizing and internalizing symptoms among school age Latino/a children (Vega, Khoury, Zimmerman, Gil, & Warheit 1995). Because of discrimination, language status in the United States (U.S.) can be a source of stigma for non-English speaking individuals, especially for racially and ethnically marginalized populations (Cummins, 1994). Therefore, in the present study we hypothesized that LEP status would be positively associated with internalizing and externalizing symptoms; and that LEP status at school entry (kindergarten) would have long term negative affects on internalizing and externalizing symptoms for Latino/a students due to the accumulation of stress associated with their LEP status.

Methods: This study of 2,840 Latino/a children from the U.S. Department of Education's Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten (ECLS-K) data set, is a panel study with four waves of data. We examined language proficiency via the English OLDS (Duncan & DeAvila, 1998) at kindergarten, externalizing and internalizing behaviors (Social Rating Scale, adapted by ECLS-K with permission from Gresham & Elliot, 1990), and controlled for demographic variables (e.g. age, poverty, gender and parental education). The sample consisted of 51.2% male (n=1,454) and 48.8% female (n=1,386). The average age of participants at baseline was 65.5 months. At school entry, almost 29% (n=815) of the participants were identified as lacking in English proficiency. Analyses include cross-sectional multiple regression and Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM).

Results: Findings suggest a positive relationship between LEP status and externalizing symptoms (t=2.09, p<.05), particularly by third grade. Additionally, being male sex and being born outside the U.S. were significantly associated with externalizing behavior at various time points in the models. Place of birth (t= -2.45, p<.05) and family poverty (t=-3.06, p<.01) were significantly associated with internalizing symptoms. Our HLM analyses revealed significant increases in both externalizing and internalizing behaviors from kindergarten to third grade; though we did not find support, at the multivariate level, for the relationship between English proficiency status at school entry and internalizing and externalizing behaviors at third grade.

Conclusions and Implications: The present findings support the bivariate association between LEP status and externalizing behaviors, as well as the long-term prevalence of internalizing and externalizing behavior among Latino/a children. These findings have implications for further research on the trajectories of externalizing and internalizing behavior among school age Latino/a students as they matriculate into higher grades, and as additional waves of ECLS-K data become available. Such evidence also has practice and policy implications for school mental health professionals and teachers in understanding the impact of language barriers on internalizing and externalizing behaviors among Latino/a children.