Journal of Happiness Studies
2019

Cumulative Risk and Subjective Well-Being Among Rural-to-Urban Migrant Adolescents in China: Differential Moderating Roles of Stress Mindset and Resilience (Article)

Jiang Y. , Ming H. , Tian Y. , Huang S.* , Sun L. , Li H.-J. , Zhang H.
  • a Institute of Developmental Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, 19 Xinjiekouwai Street, Beijing, 100875, China
  • b Institute of Developmental Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, 19 Xinjiekouwai Street, Beijing, 100875, China
  • c Institute of Developmental Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, 19 Xinjiekouwai Street, Beijing, 100875, China
  • d Institute of Developmental Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, 19 Xinjiekouwai Street, Beijing, 100875, China
  • e School of Sociology and Psychology, Central University of Finance and Economics, 39 South College Road, Beijing, 10008, China
  • f CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 19(A) Yuquan Road, Shijingshan District, Beijing, 100049, China
  • g School of Sociology and Psychology, Central University of Finance and Economics, 39 South College Road, Beijing, 10008, China

Abstract

Migrant adolescents are exposed to a variety of risk factors that threaten their well-being. However, previous studies have often focused on one or several factors separately, ignoring the cumulative effect of risks. The current study adopted the cumulative risk (CR) model and examined the deleterious effect of CR on the three indices of subjective well-being (SWB) among early migrant adolescents in China. We further explored the moderating role of resilience and stress mindset on the above associations. A sample of 234 early migrant adolescents (45.7% girls) completed self-reported questionnaires in two waves (2016–2017), and the mean age of valid participants was 11.49 years (SD = 1.16) at T1. The multiple regression results indicated that CR negatively predicted adolescents’ life satisfaction one year later. Moreover, high resilience and a more stress-is-enhancing mindset buffered the deleterious effect of CR on the emotional components of SWB. Specifically, the negative effect of CR on positive affect was reduced as resilience increased, whereas the adverse effect of CR on negative affect was attenuated by holding a more stress-is-enhancing mindset. The present findings suggest that CR is a useful predictor for multiple risk factors to which migrant adolescents are exposed and that it has a robust effect on later SWB. These findings also contribute to a better understanding of the moderating roles of resilience and stress mindset to aid future intervention programs. © 2019, Springer Nature B.V.

Author Keywords

Stress mindset Chinese rural-to-urban migrant adolescents Resilience Cumulative risk Subjective well-being

Index Keywords

controlled study female China major clinical study risk factor stress life satisfaction questionnaire Article multiple regression human experiment school child human wellbeing migrant Adolescent Child
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85074530593&doi=10.1007%2fs10902-019-00187-7&partnerID=40&md5=975a2ac288df015bf52ac727a20507e1
DOI: 10.1007/s10902-019-00187-7
ISSN: 13894978
Original Language: English