Proficiency in the host-country language predicts psychological well-being among immigrant children: A study based on an Italian national sample

The study investigated the impact of proficiency in the host-country language on psychological well-being at school one year later, in first and second-generation immigrant children, controlling for the effects of gender, SES, and classroom composition. The sample is composed by 2334 immigrant children (49% females; 65% second-generation immigrants) attending to the fifth-grade. Gender, family SES, classmates’ characteristics, and school psychological well-being were assessed. Proficiency in the national language was measured with the grades in the Italian language at the end of the previous academic year. The hypothesized structural equation model fitted the data well: CFI = .97; RMSEA = .03; SRMR = .02. Findings revealed that greater linguistic proficiency corresponded to higher levels of psychological well-being at school the subsequent year (beta= .23, p < .001), and this positive relationship was equally valid for first and second immigrant generations (S-Bχ2(1)= 1.74; p= .19). The study identified the unique role of language competency in predicting psychological well-being, whereas other individual variables were not significant, suggesting that previous research may have overestimated their importance in predicting immigrants’ psychological well-being. These findings may have implications for education, prevention, and future research.