Heritage Language Use and Proficiency: Acculturation, Identities and Psychological Health

The intricate links between heritage/home language (HL) use and heritage identity of heritage-bilinguals are well established. Less is known about the degree to which their proficiency or acculturation contributes host identities psychological health. present study investigated this with a diverse sample heritage-bilingual students (N = 220; Mage 25.43 years) across first, ‘1.5’ (resettled as minors) second generations in United Kingdom. Participants completed self-report measures on English HL that family members, use, linguistic acculturation, biculturalism, cultural involvement preference, group identification, self-esteem wellbeing. Data showed different groups differed those European HLs reported more bicultural orientations. Regression models uniquely contributed all outcomes members’ involvement. Cultural but not proficiency, while HL-oriented preference self-esteem. Findings discussed relation literature generation differences, distance, adaptive patterns.