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SPEAKING OUT: LATINO YOUTH ON DISCRIMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES
and maturity, but can also remove children from valuable school experiences or activities, or negatively impact family dynamics. Despite these similarities, there are some important distinctions to be made between foreign- and native-born children of immigrants. Indeed, although second-generation children of immigrants fare better than foreign-born youth on a number of key socioeconomic and educational outcomes as described above, recent studies have also found that Latino immigrant children often arrive in the United States with valuable protective factors—high educational aspirations, traditional family values that reinforce social cohesion and classroom skills, and a strong degree of resiliency and emotional well-being, all cultural assets that are less prominent among their U.S.-born peers—that unfortunately often erode with time and acculturation to the mainstream.²⁴ Clearly, then, the integration of Hispanic children and youth is variable, and researchers have attempted to understand the different factors that lead to either positive or negative patterns of incorporation. Positive outcomes for Latino youth are often related to strong parental, peer, and social support, cohesive family bonds, encouraging school environments, and interventions that address the particular needs of English language learners (ELLs), at-risk youth, and immigrant families. In addition, research has shown that maintaining a bicultural, bilingual orientation is an important adaptive strategy and one that contributes to a strong sense of identity for many Latino youth; in today’s multicultural environment, retaining the protective elements of one’s parents’ culture or home culture while establishing a positive relationship with the dominant U.S. culture instills multiple skills and values that promote resiliency.²⁵, ²⁶ A worst-case scenario, conversely, occurs when youth are marginalized and feel alienated from both the culture of origin and the host culture; for these adolescents, the additional pressures of poverty, weakened families, and poor educational opportunities can sometimes leave them vulnerable to risky circumstances and behaviors that result in negative outcomes. Interestingly, a majority of today’s Latino children and youth, unlike many past generations, have espoused bicultural orientation rather than adopting more linear assimilation strategies; recent research shows that a significant share of Latino youngsters today identify with both their family’s culture of origin and the host culture, and maintain Spanish proficiency while attaining fluency in English as well. For example, among U.S.-born Latino youth ages 16 to 25, 98% say that they can speak English very well or pretty well; a full 79% of second-generation and 38% of third-generation youth simultaneously report that they are proficient in speaking Spanish, which demonstrates the buoyancy of the mother tongue for several generations after immigration.²⁷ Nonetheless, the bicultural orientation of Latino youth should not be overstated, as many also feel strong pressures to assimilate rapidly but lack the resources or language skills to do so. Maintaining