Does acculturation really matter for internal migrants’ health?Evidence from eight cities in China

Abstract

It is widely recognized that China has experienced the largest internal migration in its history and that these internal migrants are largely excluded from urban services, posing major challenges to their health outcomes. This paper attempts to address this issue from a socio-ecological lens, examining John W. Berry's conceptual framework of acculturation on internal migrants' health in China. We employed the National Migrant Dynamic Monitoring Survey (MDMS; 2014) data, with around 16,000 samples from eight cities. Our results showed that compared to their hometown culture, where migrants can successfully integrate into the mainstream culture of the destination area, mental health stress can be prevented and self-assessed health status is improved. Well-integrated migrants showed the best self-reported health (SRH) and mental health status, while segregated or marginalized migrants received lower health scores. It was interesting to see that the origin culture only protected SRH whereas the local culture could promote both mental health and SRH. This evidence may be alarming. Local government must respect origin cultures when carrying out social integration policy. In addition, macro-migration policies should encourage local mobility within the same cultural areas to minimize the negative effects of migration.