IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v17y2020i7p2454-d341192.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Investigation on Life Satisfaction of Rural-to-Urban Migrant Workers in China: A Moderated Mediation Model

Author

Listed:
  • Qian Liu

    (School of Public Administration, Hunan Normal University, Changsha 410081, China)

  • Haimin Pan

    (School of Sociology and Anthropology, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China
    Department of Sociology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China)

Abstract

Given the large number of internal migrant workers in China and their contribution to the development of the society and country, their life satisfaction somewhat signifies the success of their integration into the new environment. This study is to explore the influence of subjective relative deprivation on life satisfaction among rural-to-urban migrant workers in China. Additionally, linking social capital was used as a mediator and friendship network size as a moderator. This study was designed as cross-sectional and 2442 rural-urban migrants in both Xiamen ( N = 1197) and Changsha ( N = 1245) were recruited by using a multi-stage stratified probability proportional to size sampling method. The results showed a significantly negative mediating effect of linking social capital with a negative association between subjective relative deprivation and life satisfaction. Moreover, the number of friends moderated the effect of linking social capital on life satisfaction. This study confirmed a moderated mediation model and highlighted the importance of linking social capital and subjective relative deprivation in deciding life satisfaction of Chinese rural-to-urban migrant workers. Polities and purposeful action for enhancing social integration (i.e., interaction with community members and taking part in social and political activities) are advised to build a well-off society in China.

Suggested Citation

  • Qian Liu & Haimin Pan, 2020. "Investigation on Life Satisfaction of Rural-to-Urban Migrant Workers in China: A Moderated Mediation Model," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-14, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:7:p:2454-:d:341192
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/7/2454/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/7/2454/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rongwei Chu & Henry Hail, 2014. "Winding Road Toward the Chinese Dream: The U-shaped Relationship Between Income and Life Satisfaction Among Chinese Migrant Workers," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 118(1), pages 235-246, August.
    2. Lofors, Jonas & Sundquist, Kristina, 2007. "Low-linking social capital as a predictor of mental disorders: A cohort study of 4.5 million Swedes," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 21-34, January.
    3. Xin Meng & Sen Xue, 2020. "Social networks and mental health outcomes: Chinese rural–urban migrant experience," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 33(1), pages 155-195, January.
    4. Ma, Lin & Tang, Yang, 2020. "Geography, trade, and internal migration in China," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    5. Stark, Oded & Jakubek, Marcin, 2013. "Integration as a catalyst for assimilation," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 62-70.
    6. Yiwen Zhang & Junfeng Jiang, 2019. "Social Capital and Health in China: Evidence from the Chinese General Social Survey 2010," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 142(1), pages 411-430, February.
    7. Arévalo, Sandra P. & Tucker, Katherine L. & Falcón, Luis M., 2015. "Beyond cultural factors to understand immigrant mental health: Neighborhood ethnic density and the moderating role of pre-migration and post-migration factors," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 91-100.
    8. Mishra, Sandeep & Carleton, R. Nicholas, 2015. "Subjective relative deprivation is associated with poorer physical and mental health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 144-149.
    9. Céline Bonnefond & Fatma Mabrouk, 2019. "Subjective well-being in China: direct and indirect effects of rural-to-urban migrant status," Review of Social Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 77(4), pages 442-468, October.
    10. Lubhana Malik Mental, 2019. "Mental Health in Adolescents," Global Journal of Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities, Juniper Publishers Inc., vol. 6(3), pages 45-46, March.
    11. Knight, John & Gunatilaka, Ramani, 2010. "Great Expectations? The Subjective Well-being of Rural-Urban Migrants in China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 113-124, January.
    12. Knight, John & Song, Lina, 1999. "The Rural-Urban Divide: Economic Disparities and Interactions in China," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198293309.
    13. Meng, Xin & Zhang, Junsen, 2001. "The Two-Tier Labor Market in Urban China: Occupational Segregation and Wage Differentials between Urban Residents and Rural Migrants in Shanghai," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 485-504, September.
    14. Natasha Altema McNeely & Elizabeth Maltby & Rene R. Rocha, 2019. "How the Link Between Social Capital and Migratory Duration Helps Us Understand Immigrant–Native Inequality," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 100(3), pages 749-761, May.
    15. Martijn Hendriks & Kai Ludwigs & Ruut Veenhoven, 2016. "Why are Locals Happier than Internal Migrants? The Role of Daily Life," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 125(2), pages 481-508, January.
    16. Sherman Folland & Eric Nauenberg, 2018. "Introduction to the Elgar Companion to Social Capital and Health," Chapters, in: Sherman Folland & Eric Nauenberg (ed.), Elgar Companion to Social Capital and Health, chapter 1, pages 1-8, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Liyan Huang & Rosli Said & Hong Ching Goh & Yu Cao, 2023. "The Residential Environment and Health and Well-Being of Chinese Migrant Populations: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-23, February.
    2. Wentao Si & Chen Jiang & Lin Meng, 2022. "Leaving the Homestead: Examining the Role of Relative Deprivation, Social Trust, and Urban Integration among Rural Farmers in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-28, October.
    3. Xia Sun & Juan Chen & Shenghua Xie, 2022. "Becoming Urban Citizens: A Three-Phase Perspective on the Social Integration of Rural–Urban Migrants in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(10), pages 1-19, May.
    4. Kuiyun Zhi & Qiurong Tan & Si Chen & Yongjin Chen & Xiaoqin Wu & Chenkai Xue & Anbang Song, 2022. "How Does Social Security Fairness Predict Trust in Government? The Serial Mediation Effects of Social Security Satisfaction and Life Satisfaction," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(11), pages 1-14, June.
    5. Wangnan Cao & Qingping Yun & Chun Chang & Ying Ji, 2022. "Family Support and Social Support Associated with National Essential Public Health Services Utilization among Older Migrants in China: A Gender Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-10, January.
    6. Zenghui Huo & Mei Zhang & Junhui Han, 2022. "Heterogeneity of Capability Deprivation and Subjective Sense of Gain: Analysis of Factor Mixture Models Based on 892 Rural Households in Six Provinces," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(7), pages 1-16, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Liang Chi, 2022. "How Does Migration Working Experience Change Farmers’ Social Capital in Rural China?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(20), pages 1-17, October.
    2. Knight, John & Deng, Quheng & Li, Shi, 2011. "The puzzle of migrant labour shortage and rural labour surplus in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 585-600.
    3. Xiaobing Wang & Jenifer Piesse, 2009. "Welfare Effects of Regressive Taxation and Subsidies in China," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series 10809, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    4. Appleton, Simon & Song, Lina, 2008. "Life Satisfaction in Urban China: Components and Determinants," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(11), pages 2325-2340, November.
    5. Guojun He & Jeffrey M. Perloff, 2013. "Does Customer Auditing Help Chinese Workers?," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 66(2), pages 511-524, April.
    6. Shijun Chai & Yang Chen & Bihong Huang & Dezhu Ye, 2019. "Social networks and informal financial inclusion in China," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 36(2), pages 529-563, June.
    7. Tommy Haugan & Sally Muggleton & Arnhild Myhr, 2021. "Psychological distress in late adolescence: The role of inequalities in family affluence and municipal socioeconomic characteristics in Norway," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(7), pages 1-25, July.
    8. Yuqi Liu & Ye Liu & Yanliu Lin, 2021. "Upward or downward comparison? Migrants’ socioeconomic status and subjective wellbeing in Chinese cities," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(12), pages 2490-2513, September.
    9. Li, Lingfang (Ivy) & Wu, Yuting & Zhu, Xun & Chu, Rongwei & Hung, Iris, 2022. "Job Changing Frequency and Experimental Decisions: A Field Study of Migrant Workers in the Manufacturing Industry," MPRA Paper 115472, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. repec:ilo:ilowps:420406 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Shi, Li., 2008. "Rural migrant workers in China : scenario, challenges and public policy," ILO Working Papers 994204063402676, International Labour Organization.
    12. Lingli Xu & Liang Wang & Christian Nygaard, 2022. "Locational decisions and subjective well-being: an empirical study of Chinese urban migrants," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(27), pages 3180-3195, June.
    13. Ayako Kondo & Dongshu Ou, 2010. "In Search of a Better Life: The Occupational Attainment of Rural and Urban Migrants in China," ISER Discussion Paper 0793, Institute of Social and Economic Research, Osaka University.
    14. Zhang, Quanda & Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa, 2020. "Income inequality and subjective wellbeing: Panel data evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    15. Edoardo Cefala & Giovanni Facchini & Corrado Giulietti & Jackie Wahba & Chuhong Wang, 2019. "The survey on migration and the reshaping of consumption patterns (MARCO_P)," Discussion Papers 2019-05, University of Nottingham, GEP.
    16. Yu Chen, 2011. "Occupational Attainment of Migrants and Local Workers: Findings from a Survey in Shanghai’s Manufacturing Sector," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 48(1), pages 3-21, January.
    17. Zhiming Cheng & Vinod Mishra & Ingrid Nielsen & Russell Smyth & Ben Zhe Wang, 2017. "Wellbeing in China," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 132(1), pages 1-10, May.
    18. Cai, Shu & Wang, Jia, 2018. "Less advantaged, more optimistic? Subjective well-being among rural, migrant and urban populations in contemporary China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 95-110.
    19. Cuihong Long & Jiajun Han & Chengzhi Yi, 2020. "Does the Effect of Internet Use on Chinese Citizens’ Psychological Well-Being Differ Based on Their Hukou Category?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(18), pages 1-21, September.
    20. Feng Wang & Jin Fan & Ann Reisner & Hong Mi, 2017. "Health Consciousness, Smog Consciousness and Chinese Elderly Migrant Workers’ Preferred Retirement Place," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(11), pages 1-15, November.
    21. Katherine Klee & John P. Bartkowski, 2022. "Minding Mental Health: Clinicians’ Engagement with Youth Suicide Prevention," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-20, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:7:p:2454-:d:341192. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.