Vitality, Language Use, and Life Satisfaction: A Study of Bilingual Hungarian Adolescents Living in Romania

This study examined the relationship between objective and subjective vitality, in-group language use, and life satisfaction among two groups of bilingual Hungarians adolescents living in Romania: a low objective vitality group from Cluj-Napoca/Kolozsvár, where Hungarians are the demographic minority, and a high objective vitality group from Sfântu Gheorghe/Sepsiszentgyörgy, where Hungarians are the demographic majority. Consistent with predictions, the high objective vitality group reported higher subjective Hungarian vitality, lower subjective Romanian vitality, more frequent use of the Hungarian language, and higher life satisfaction, compared with the low objective vitality group. The effects of objective vitality on language use were partially mediated by subjective Romanian (but not Hungarian) vitality. Conversely, the effects of objective vitality on life satisfaction were fully mediated by subjective Hungarian (but not Romanian) vitality.