Emotion Vocabulary in Bilingual Hispanic Children

Abstract

The relationship between emotion vocabulary and school adjustment was studied in 99 bilingual Hispanic children ranging from 6 to 11 years of age. Using the Bilingual Emotional Vocabulary Test (BEVT), students generated emotion words in English and Spanish on two occasions. Teachers, blind to the BEVT responses, completed the Conners Teachers Rating Scale for each student. Problems associated with acting out (e.g., conduct disorders, overindulgent behaviors) were most common among students with a large disparity in emotion word vocabularies between English and Spanish. Symptoms of withdrawal (passivity, daydreaming) were seen among students with weak English emotion vocabularies, irrespective of Spanish emotion word knowledge. All effects were independent of general, nonemotion word vocabulary abilities. Implications for bilingual education are discussed.