In the first phase of this follow-up study we investigated how the use of more than one
language affects mental wellbeing and school achievement among 320 school-aged Finnish-Swedish re-migrant children. Now, in the second phase, we screened the same series of
children 6 years after migration for psychiatric and psychosomatic symptoms. Out of five
groups distinguished in terms of patterns of language use, two had fared well and three
showed evident vulnerability. Both successful groups were marked by consistent use of the
two languages, Finnish and Swedish, whereas the risk groups were characterised by mixed
use of languages before re-migration or substantial language shift after re-migration.