Family socioeconomic status and emotional adaptation among rural‐to‐urban migrant adolescents in China: The moderating roles of adolescent's resilience and parental positive emotion

Abstract

Low family socioeconomic status (SES) is closely related to increased risk of emotional maladaptation among adolescents. Although previous studies have found that low family SES is a significant and common experience for most rural-to-urban migrant adolescents in China, little research has examined the association between family SES and emotional adaptation or identified the protective factors that may minimise emotional maladaptation among these adolescents. The present study examined the associations between family SES and three indices of emotional adaptation (emotion regulation, life satisfaction and depression) and the moderating effects of adolescents' resilience and parental positive emotion (PE) among 486 Chinese rural-to-urban migrant adolescents. The results suggest that family SES was significantly associated with migrant adolescents' emotional outcomes, to varying degrees. Moreover, both adolescents' resilience and PE moderated the associations between family SES and emotional outcomes, although the protective effects of the two moderators differed on the three emotional outcomes. These findings shed light into designing intervention and prevention programs to reduce emotional maladaptation among migrant adolescents.

<p>Direct and interactive effects of peer support and resilience on psychosocial adjustment in emerging adults with early left-behind experiences</p>

“…Specifically, in the context of higher levels of peer support, higher levels of resilience were found to enhance self-esteem. This pattern is congruent with previous research that higher levels of resilience interact with family resources to explain emotional adaption in rural-to-urban migrants 41. Also, our findings confirmed a risk and resilience perspective that the interaction between social contexts and personal traits can explain the variation in positive psychosocial adjustment 7.…”

Associations between stressful life events, non‐suicidal self‐injury, and depressive symptoms among Chinese rural‐to‐urban children: A three‐wave longitudinal study

“…Firstly, interventions aimed at reducing migrant girls’ stressful life events are important, given that more stressful life events may increase the level of depression, which could make them vulnerable to engaging in NSSI. Secondly, previous studies showed that an intervention designed to enhance resilience could facilitate protective factors among children with stress (Huang, Han, Sun, Zhang, & Li, 2019; Ye et al, 2016); therefore, resilience‐based interventions in school, designed for migrant children with high levels of stressful life events, may help them improve the ability to cope with daily stress, which, in turn, breaks the link between stressful life events and depressive symptoms. Thirdly, equipping migrant girls with alternative, healthy strategies to manage emotions may be an effective way to prevent them from using NSSI to cope with depressive emotions.…”

Family Socioeconomic Status and Learning Engagement in Chinese Adolescents: The Multiple Mediating Roles of Resilience and Future Orientation

“…For example, parental confidence in the future of an adolescent may infuse them with high hopes, optimism, and a sense of direction, which further promotes their positive adaption during stressful situations (Gao et al, 2020 ). However, research has found that Chinese parents with low SES are typically so busy working that they seldom communicate with their children (Huang et al, 2019 ). In addition, research shows that parents with a low family SES adopt more overprotective parenting styles (Hoffman, 2003 ; Zhang et al, 2017 ).…”