The Impact of Acculturation on Settlement Intention of Chinese Rural-Urban Migrants: the Mediating Roles of Socioeconomic Status and Psychological Well-being

Zhongshan Yue, Xi’an Jiaotong University
Zhixuan Chen, Xi'an Jiaotong University
Shuzhuo Li , Xi'an Jiaotong University

Like their international counterparts, rural-urban migrants in developing countries such as China experience a process of acculturation. The socioeconomic and psychological determinants behind settling in cities among rural migrants have been well explored in existing literature. However, few studies have addressed the impact of acculturation on settlement intention of rural-urban migrants. Using data from a survey of migrant workers in 2015-2016 in Guangdong, China, this paper goes beyond examining the link between acculturation and settlement intention and explores mediating roles of socioeconomic status (SES) and psychological well-being for this association. Based on latent class analysis, four categories of acculturation are identified, including two subtypes of integration and two subtypes of separation. The mediating effects of socioeconomic status (assessed by perceived SES and housing conditions) and psychological well-being (assessed by life satisfaction) are partially confirmed. Compared with migrants who belonged to subtypes of separation, individuals who adopted two types of integration strategies tend to settle in cities, because integrated migrants generally enjoyed higher levels of socioeconomic status and psychological well-being than separated ones.

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 Presented in Session P3. Migration, Economics, Policies, History