An Examination of Family Cohesion and Self-Esteem as Mediators of Bilingualism and Reading Achievement in Second-Generation Immigrant Students

Institutions in higher education have seen a rise in enrollment of second-generation Latino/a immigrant students due to the recent push to recruit more Latino/a students (Arbeit, Staklis, & Horn, 2016). As such, the purpose of the study is to examine family cohesion and self-esteem as possible mediators of the relationship between bilingual dominance and reading achievement. The study included 2,107 second-generation Latino youth participants enrolled in 8th and 9th grade who were born of immigrant parents. Regression and parallel mediation analyses were conducted to examine the study’s hypotheses. Findings revealed that both family cohesion and self-esteem mediated the relationship between bilingualism and reading score. The implications of this study can be used for faculty in K9-10 schools and institutions of higher education.