BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Educational Psychology
This article is part of the Research TopicMental Health Challenges in Vulnerable Groups: Psychological Well-Being, Learning, and Support in Disadvantaged ContextsView all 9 articles
Language-Related Acculturative Hassles and their Association with Mental Health of Minors with Refugee Background Living in Germany
Provisionally accepted
Johanna Braig1*
Pia Schmees1Yasemin Kilinc1
Usama EL-Awad2Hannah Nilles2,3
Denny Kerkhoff2Jana-Elisa Rueth4
Arnold Lohaus2
Heike Eschenbeck1- 1Department of Educational Psychology and Health Psychology, University of Education Schwäbisch Gmünd, Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany
- 2Department of Psychology, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany
- 3Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Medical School Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- 4Department of Psychology, University of Muenster, Münster, Germany
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Abstract Introduction: The public debate on migration often focuses on refugees' cultural adaptation, with language barriers being a key concern. Previous research demonstrated associations of mental health with acculturative hassles but there is little longitudinal research. Therefore, this study examines the longitudinal relationship between the mental health of refugee minors and language-related acculturative hassles concerning the host country's language. We assume that internalizing symptoms are associated with language hassles and predict them over time, for externalizing symptoms no assumptions were made. Methods: A nonclinical sample of 11-to 19-year-old minors with refugee background living accompanied in Germany (n = 63) answered self-report questionnaires on mental health, language proficiency, and language related hassles twice at intervals of approximately one year. Results: Baseline language hassles and internalizing symptoms (ΔR²=.06) but not externalizing symptoms predicted follow-up language hassles. Discussion: Our study shows initial, longitudinal indications that impaired mental health may be a risk factor for language hassles. This is considered important for affected minors and their caregivers, e.g., for education and peer contact. Replication of the findings with a larger sample size is recommended.
Keywords: Language hassles, Mental Health, Refugee children and adolescents, Acculturation, language proficiency
Received: 25 Jul 2025; Accepted: 24 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Braig, Schmees, Kilinc, EL-Awad, Nilles, Kerkhoff, Rueth, Lohaus and Eschenbeck. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Johanna Braig, johanna.braig@ph-gmuend.de
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