Perceived discrimination and academic self-concept among left-behind children in China: The role of school belonging and classroom composition

Abstract

This study aims to investigate how perceived discrimination affects left-behind children’s academic self-concept, and to examine the mediating role of school belonging on the relationship between them. Two prominent classroom compositional effects, the peer spillover effect and the big-fish-little-pond effect, also need to be confirmed. A total of 998 left-behind children participated in the two surveys. They reported perceived discrimination and individual basic information at time 1. After two months, the measurements of school belonging and academic self-concept were completed at time 2. These results suggested that perceived discrimination had a significantly negative prediction on left-behind children’s academic self-concept, and school belonging plays a mediating role between these variables. In addition, in a given classroom, a higher proportion of left-behind children could predict lower levels of their academic self-concept. Furthermore, the negative effect of perceived discrimination on academic self-concept was attenuated in classes with a higher classroom proportion of left-behind children. These results have important practical implications for educators on how to enhance the left-behind children’s academic self-concept and how to assign classes.