Impact of acculturation and psychological adjustment on mental health among migrant adolescents in Guangzhou, China: a cross-sectional questionnaire study

Abstract

ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to examine the pathway and associations among acculturation (ie, language, social interaction and lifestyle), psychological adjustment and mental health of internal migrant adolescents in China.DesignCross-sectional questionnaire study.SettingSix private migrant junior high schools located in Tianhe and Baiyun districts in Guangzhou were chosen as the study sites.ParticipantsA total of 1122 migrant adolescents aged 11–17 years old completed the study.Main outcome measuresMental health was measured by using the Social Anxiety Scale for Children (SASC) and major depression disorder (MDD) in a Brief Child and Family Phone Interview. Acculturation and psychological adjustment were measured by a self-designed and verified questionnaire. Multiple regression models and structural equation models were performed to analyse the association among acculturation, psychological adjustment and mental health while controlling for participant demographic characteristics.ResultsThe average MDD score for boys was 8.78 (SD=2.17) and for girls was 8.56 (SD=2.22), while the average SASC score for boys was 14.67 (SD=3.72) and for girls was 13.41 (SD=4.01). Psychological adjustment had a direct positive effect on MDD (p<0.001, β=0.30) and SASC (p<0.001, β=0.28), and it was the key variable fully mediating the impact of acculturation components on MDD and partly mediating the impact of acculturation on SASC, whereas lifestyle showed a direct negative effect (p=0.003, β=−0.17) on SASC. Of the three acculturation components, lifestyle had the strongest influence on psychological adjustment (p<0.001, β=0.37 and 0.51), followed by social interaction (p<0.001, β=0.24 and 0.13) and language (p<0.001, β=0.17 and 0.11).ConclusionsThe association between acculturation and the mental health of internal migrant adolescents was complex and could be mediated by psychological adjustment. Interventions such as promoting local language and social interaction are needed to enhance psychological adjustment and further improve the mental health of migrant adolescents.

Mental Health of Apprentices during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Austria and the Effect of Gender, Migration Background, and Work Situation

“…Aside from the pandemic, a migration background can be a risk factor for poor mental health in and of itself, especially in young people [52][53][54]. This has been explained by the impact of the migration experience [55], increased economic hardship in migrant families, the experience of social exclusion and discrimination [53,56], and difficulties accessing health care services [53,57]. Some of these circumstances are likely to have been exacerbated by the pandemic.…”

Cultural heritage, Emotion, Acculturation, Ethnic minority, Valence.

“…Kuo, 2014;Pool, Agyemang, & Smalbrugge, 2017). Associated psychological variables were observed to indicate a significant link among the issues of ethnic minority (Alogali;Arnold, Braje, Kawahara, & Shuman, 2016;Dimitrova, Johnson, & van de Vijver, 2018;Emerson, Minh & Guhn, 2018;Shi, Chen & Bouey, 2019). In Kato (2018), ethnic identity is an important perspective in understanding the culture-related psychological health.…”

The Impact of Migration Status on Adolescents’ Mental Health during COVID-19

“…According to a recent report of the international Health Behavior in School-aged Children (HBSC) study, across all European countries, over 20% of adolescents have an immigration background [ 1 ]. Research on the association between adolescent mental health and immigration background is inconclusive [ 2 , 3 ]. Most studies show that the mental health of migrants is poorer [ 4 , 5 ], which is explained by several factors such as economic disadvantages, stressors during migration, acculturation stress, as well as heightened barriers to assess mental health services [ 6 ].…”