Is bilingualism linked to well-being?: Evidence from a big-data survey
-
Jing Wang [1] ; Rining Wei [2]
-
[1] Nanjing Xiaozhuang University, Nanjing, China
-
[2] Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou, China
-
- Localización: Bilingualism: Language and cognition, ISSN 1366-7289, Vol. 27, Nº 4, 2024, págs. 546-556
- Idioma: inglés
- Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
- Dialnet Métricas: 1 Cita
-
Resumen
In applied linguistics generally and bilingualism research in particular, psychological variables remain a much under-investigated sub-category of individual differences compared with cognitive ones. To better understand the under-researched psychological effects of bilingualism, this study investigated well-being, a psychological construct, based on a big-data survey. Drawing upon a national survey (N = 12,582), we examined the influence of bilingualism (operationalised as foreign language (FL) proficiency) and 13 sociobiographical variables (e.g., socio-economic status, SES) on well-being. Among these 14 initial independent variables, perceived social fairness, SES, and health emerged as important predictors for well-being, with FL proficiency and national language (NL) proficiency as potentially important predictors; crucially, FL proficiency was more important than NL proficiency. As the first systematic attempt to link bilingualism with well-being, our study advocates (1) a more holistic perspective towards language (including NL and FL(s)) in any bilingual context and (2) fuller use of effect sizes.
