Previous research has found that bilingual speakers' first (L1) and second languages (L2) are differentially associated with their emotional experiences. Moreover, bilinguals appear to code-switch (alternate between two or more languages in a single conversation) during emotional episodes. However, prior evidence has been limited to clinical case studies and self-report studies, leaving open the specificity of the link between code-switching (CS) and emotion and its underlying mechanisms. The present study examined the dynamic associations between CS and facial emotion behavior in a sample of 68 Chinese American parents and children during a dyadic emotion-inducing puzzle box task. Specifically, bilingual parents' language use (L1 Chinese or L2 English), CS behavior (L1¡L2 or L2¡L1 switches), and facial emotion behavior (positive and negative valence) were coded at each 5-s interval. Multilevel modeling was used to analyze whether facial emotion behavior predicted later CS and vice versa. We found that negative facial emotion predicted higher subsequent CS in both L1¡L2 and L2¡L1 directions, with stronger associations for the L2¡L1 direction. On the other hand, positive facial emotion was associated with lower contemporaneous L2¡L1 CS. CS did not predict later facial emotion behavior, suggesting language switching may not have an immediate effect on emotion. The present findings are consistent with the idea that emotional arousal, especially negative arousal, reduces cognitive control and may trigger spontaneous CS. Together, these findings provide insight into why bilingual speakers switch languages during emotional episodes and hold implications for clinical interventions serving bilingual individuals and families.

This study examined the concurrent relations of English (EL) and heritage language (HL) proficiency to executive functions (EF) among low-income dual language learners (DLLs) from immigrant families. In a sample of 90 children (age = 38 to 70 months) from Chinese-speaking Chinese American and Spanish-speaking Mexican American families recruited from Head Start preschools, children’s EL and HL proficiency was assessed using receptive and expressive vocabulary tests, and EF was assessed using behavioral tasks measuring response inhibition and attention shifting. Multiple regressions were conducted to test the unique and interactive relations of EL and HL vocabulary to EF, controlling for family socioeconomic status and other demographic characteristics. Higher EL and higher HL vocabulary were uniquely associated with higher attention shifting. By contrast, neither EL nor HL vocabulary was uniquely associated with response inhibition. Interaction effects of EL × HL in relation to EF were also found. The results provided some evidence for the dual benefits of EL and HL proficiency on EF (especially attention shifting) among DLLs from low-income, immigrant families.

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Bilingualism has been associated with executive functioning (EF) advantages while EF is commonly impaired in ADHD. The present study tested applied EF skills (organizational skills and academic competence) in bilingual and monolingual children who exhibit ADHD symptoms pre-and posttreatment. A total of 159 children (M age = 8.32) and their parents participated in multicomponent intervention targeting ADHD impairment in home and school settings. Parents and teachers completed EF and impairment rating scales and teachers completed academic competency scales. Linear mixed effects models were used to compare bilingual and monolingual groups while controlling for income and clustering effects by school. At pretreatment, the monolingual group scored higher on academic engagement, reading, and study skills than their bilingual counterparts; however, these differences diminished when income was controlled. No between-group differences were found on organizational skills pretreatment. While reductions in impairment were found for both groups following treatment, some evidence showed greater reduction in impairment for bilingual children compared to monolingual. Our findings demonstrate that bilingualism per se does not appear to hinder applied EF skills (organizational skills and academic competence) or response to treatment among children with ADHD. Instead, socioeconomic status may play an important role in the bilingualism-EF link in applied settings. Future studies are warranted to explore interventions delivered in multiple languages for children with ADHD with increased attention on environmental resources for these children.What is the significance of this article for the general public?Bilingualism does not appear to hinder applied EF skills (organizational skills and academic competence) among children with ADHD. Bilingual and monolingual children with ADHD benefited equally from treatment, with some trends for greater treatment response among bilingual children with ADHD. Understanding the link between bilingualism and ADHD is critical in serving our school-age population with rapidly diversifying linguistic profiles.

Previous studies of emotion regulation in young children commonly used between-person approaches, which limit our understanding of dynamic and temporal relations between emotion expressions and strategy use. Further, previous work has mainly focused on temperamental reactivity among White children, and it is unclear whether these findings can generalize to children of Asian and Latinx origins. In the current study, we examined the within-person temporal associations between emotion expressions and strategy use among 3- to 5-year-old children in low-income Chinese American (CA) and Mexican American (MA) families. Children’s emotion expressions (positive and negative) and strategy use (gaze aversion, self-soothing, fidgeting, and language) during an unfair social interaction task were coded by 10-s epoch. Executive functions were examined as between-person level predictors of strategy use. Multilevel modeling was conducted to examine whether positive and negative emotion expressions at one epoch (t − 1) predicted strategy use at the following epoch (t). The results indicate that positive emotion expressions predicted an increase in fidgeting at the next epoch (β = .34, p < .01). Executive functions were unrelated to strategy use. Cultural group differences were found: CA children displayed lower intensity of positive emotion and fewer strategy use compared with MA children. The present findings inform theories on the dynamics of emotion regulation in young children and have implications for interventions with underrepresented immigrant populations.