School anxiety and depression among immigrant youth in America: Differences by region of birth and language proficiency

Abstract

AbstractThis study sought to examine school anxiety and depression by parents’ immigrant status and identify differences by region of birth and language proficiency. Data were used from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study‐Kindergarten Cohort, a nationally representative and longitudinal study of students in the United States. The analytic sample included 6,156 youth. Linear regression models predicted school anxiety and depression of American eighth grade students from English proficiency and parents’ region of birth. Controlling for demographic covariates, there was no significant difference in school anxiety or depression between youth with American‐born parents and those with parents born in any major world region. With the inclusion of an interaction between language proficiency and region of birth, children with limited English proficiency from Europe (B = 2.86, 95% CI = 2.16, 3.55), Central America (B = 1.52, 95% CI = 0.73, 2.31), Asia (B = 1.48, 95% CI = 0.55, 2.40), and South America (B = 0.85, 95% CI = 0.08, 1.61) had significantly heightened school anxiety compared to native‐English speakers with native‐born parents. When considering sources of school anxiety, it was revealed that over 60% of these youth worried about doing well in school. Future research should explore interventions to increase English proficiency and ease school‐related stress among children of immigrants.