Intergenerational adjustment theories suggest that immigrant adolescents may be particularly influential in their families, as they take on family obligations and serve as language brokers. Empirical research in this regard is, however, scarce. One aim of this study was to test whether adolescents' linguistic competence in German adds to the explanation of maternal socio-cultural adaptation difficulties in Germany. Another aim was to investigate whether the association between adolescents' linguistic competence and maternal socio-cultural adaptation difficulties differs depending on adolescents' involvement in family obligations. The sample comprised 185 ethnic German immigrant mother-adolescent dyads from the former Soviet Union (15.7 years old; 60% female). Results of Actor-Partner Interdependence Models, which were developed for dyad data analysis, indicated that mothers of adolescents with a good command of German indeed report fewer socio-cultural adaptation difficulties. The transmission effect from adolescent to mother was particularly pronounced when the adolescent was heavily involved in family obligations. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled Explaining Positive Adaptation of Immigrant Youth across Cultures. © 2017 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents

Acculturative gap Intergenerational transmission Family dynamics Acculturation

communication barrier Germany Communication Barriers immigrant Registries social change register human USSR language ethnology Intergenerational Relations human relation Humans migrant psychology Adolescent model male Emigrants and Immigrants Acculturation female Mothers cultural factor Family Relations Adolescent Behavior major clinical study mother family relation data analysis Child