Neighborhood social capital and self-rated mental health: Disparities between migrants and native residents in Beijing

Abstract

IntroductionAlthough the impact of neighborhood social capital on mental health has long been recognized, the extent to which the impact differs between immigrants and local residents remains a puzzle. This study aims to bridge the gap by comparing internal migrants who are restricted by their household registration (hukou) status, and urban natives in China.MethodsUsing self-rated mental health and social capital survey data collected in 26 neighborhoods in Beijing, this study examines the mental health outcomes of three types of neighborhood social capital, including social networks, shared norms and mutual trust, and social support.ResultsThe study finds that the hukou status of immigrants moderates the effect of neighborhood social capital on mental health, and that the internal migrants in China experience less mental health benefit of neighborhood social capital than urban natives. Compared with urban natives, neighborhood social networks have less positive effect on migrants' mental health than that of urban natives.ConclusionThe findings suggest that policy makers can improve the mental health of migrants through social capital building on the premise of eliminating the restrictions of hukou system on the migrants' right to participate in neighborhood activities and to access neighborhood services.

The determinants of mental health inequalities between Chinese migrants and non-migrants during the Shanghai 2022 lockdown: a Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition

“…The difference in social capital was positively associated with both the inequality in anxiety and loneliness between temporary migrants and non-migrants. Contrary to previous studies [ 5 , 40 ], better social capital was observed in permanent migrants compared to non-migrants. Generally, migrants with higher social capital were more likely to have local hukou and be permanent migrants [ 9 ].…”

“…Social capital is an important determinant of inequalities in mental health [ 5 , 38 – 40 ]. Consistent with previous studies on Chinese internal migrants [ 38 ], temporary migrants reported poorer social capital than non-migrants.…”

“…Based on previous studies [ 5 , 15 ], we collected the following information as social determinants of mental health, including:…”

“…Compared to non-migrants, migrants encounter greater exposure to stressors and to the social determinants known to exacerbate mental health problems, and therefore, may experience worse mental health [ 4 ]. Chinese citizens who are living in another city other than the city where they have household registration ( hukou in Chinese, managed at the municipal level) are classified as internal migrants [ 5 ]. Since the hukou affiliation is linked with the provision of public social services (e.g., housing, education, job benefits, health insurance, employment) [ 6 ], and marginalization, isolation, and discrimination [ 7 ], internal migrants without a hukou (temporary migrants) are more vulnerable to mental health problems than migrants with a hukou (permanent migrants) [ 8 ].…”