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The effects of social integration and hometown identity on the life satisfaction of Chinese rural migrants: the mediating and moderating effects of a sense of belonging in the host city

BACKGROUND: Many developing countries are rapidly urbanising because of large migration flows from rural to urban areas. However, migrants’ socio-cultural transitions might be challenging, and their extent of social integration and sense of hometown identity might impede resettlement and quality of...

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Autores principales: Chen, Hongsheng, Zhu, Zhenjun, Chang, Jiang, Gao, Yinbao
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7275305/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32505205
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12955-020-01415-y
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author Chen, Hongsheng
Zhu, Zhenjun
Chang, Jiang
Gao, Yinbao
author_facet Chen, Hongsheng
Zhu, Zhenjun
Chang, Jiang
Gao, Yinbao
author_sort Chen, Hongsheng
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Many developing countries are rapidly urbanising because of large migration flows from rural to urban areas. However, migrants’ socio-cultural transitions might be challenging, and their extent of social integration and sense of hometown identity might impede resettlement and quality of life. Although a sense of belonging in the host city and a sense of attachment to the hometown might be important to migrants’ ability to assimilate, adapt and succeed in a new place, these factors have not adequately been studied in China. METHODS: The data were derived from the 2014 China Migrants Dynamic Survey, a large-scale questionnaire survey of Chinese migrants. This study’s sample comprised 15,990 individuals in eight Chinese cities. Life satisfaction was measured with the Satisfaction with Life Scale, and the key independent variables (social integration, sense of hometown identity and sense of belonging in the host city) were measured using multi-item constructs. Cronbach’s alpha coefficients on the four main variables were 0.76 to 0.90. A multivariable linear regression analysis was applied to a path model that assessed the mediating and moderating effects of sense of belonging in the host city on direct relationships with life satisfaction (social integration ⇢ life satisfaction and hometown identity ⇢ life satisfaction). RESULTS: Social integration positively related to life satisfaction (B = 0.267) and sense of belonging in the host city (B = 0.912). A weak hometown identity related to higher life satisfaction and stronger sense of belonging in the host city (B = 0.087 and B = 0.176, respectively). Sense of belonging in the host city significantly mediated the relationships between social integration and life satisfaction (B = 0.267 decreased to B = 0.085) and between hometown identity and life satisfaction (B = 0.087 decreased to B = 0.048). Last, sense of belonging in the host city significantly moderated the relationship between social integration and life satisfaction. CONCLUSION: A sense of belonging to a place is important to migrants’ life satisfaction regarding the hometown and the host city. Promoting migrants’ sense that they are part of the new living environment is important to China’s sustainable urban development.
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spelling pubmed-72753052020-06-08 The effects of social integration and hometown identity on the life satisfaction of Chinese rural migrants: the mediating and moderating effects of a sense of belonging in the host city Chen, Hongsheng Zhu, Zhenjun Chang, Jiang Gao, Yinbao Health Qual Life Outcomes Research BACKGROUND: Many developing countries are rapidly urbanising because of large migration flows from rural to urban areas. However, migrants’ socio-cultural transitions might be challenging, and their extent of social integration and sense of hometown identity might impede resettlement and quality of life. Although a sense of belonging in the host city and a sense of attachment to the hometown might be important to migrants’ ability to assimilate, adapt and succeed in a new place, these factors have not adequately been studied in China. METHODS: The data were derived from the 2014 China Migrants Dynamic Survey, a large-scale questionnaire survey of Chinese migrants. This study’s sample comprised 15,990 individuals in eight Chinese cities. Life satisfaction was measured with the Satisfaction with Life Scale, and the key independent variables (social integration, sense of hometown identity and sense of belonging in the host city) were measured using multi-item constructs. Cronbach’s alpha coefficients on the four main variables were 0.76 to 0.90. A multivariable linear regression analysis was applied to a path model that assessed the mediating and moderating effects of sense of belonging in the host city on direct relationships with life satisfaction (social integration ⇢ life satisfaction and hometown identity ⇢ life satisfaction). RESULTS: Social integration positively related to life satisfaction (B = 0.267) and sense of belonging in the host city (B = 0.912). A weak hometown identity related to higher life satisfaction and stronger sense of belonging in the host city (B = 0.087 and B = 0.176, respectively). Sense of belonging in the host city significantly mediated the relationships between social integration and life satisfaction (B = 0.267 decreased to B = 0.085) and between hometown identity and life satisfaction (B = 0.087 decreased to B = 0.048). Last, sense of belonging in the host city significantly moderated the relationship between social integration and life satisfaction. CONCLUSION: A sense of belonging to a place is important to migrants’ life satisfaction regarding the hometown and the host city. Promoting migrants’ sense that they are part of the new living environment is important to China’s sustainable urban development. BioMed Central 2020-06-06 /pmc/articles/PMC7275305/ /pubmed/32505205 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12955-020-01415-y Text en © The Author(s) 2020 Open AccessThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.
spellingShingle Research
Chen, Hongsheng
Zhu, Zhenjun
Chang, Jiang
Gao, Yinbao
The effects of social integration and hometown identity on the life satisfaction of Chinese rural migrants: the mediating and moderating effects of a sense of belonging in the host city
title The effects of social integration and hometown identity on the life satisfaction of Chinese rural migrants: the mediating and moderating effects of a sense of belonging in the host city
title_full The effects of social integration and hometown identity on the life satisfaction of Chinese rural migrants: the mediating and moderating effects of a sense of belonging in the host city
title_fullStr The effects of social integration and hometown identity on the life satisfaction of Chinese rural migrants: the mediating and moderating effects of a sense of belonging in the host city
title_full_unstemmed The effects of social integration and hometown identity on the life satisfaction of Chinese rural migrants: the mediating and moderating effects of a sense of belonging in the host city
title_short The effects of social integration and hometown identity on the life satisfaction of Chinese rural migrants: the mediating and moderating effects of a sense of belonging in the host city
title_sort effects of social integration and hometown identity on the life satisfaction of chinese rural migrants: the mediating and moderating effects of a sense of belonging in the host city
topic Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7275305/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32505205
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12955-020-01415-y
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