Abstract
BackgroundMany 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.MethodsThe 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).ResultsSocial 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.ConclusionA 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.
Highlights
Many developing countries are rapidly urbanising because of large migration flows from rural to urban areas
We found that social integration had a direct influence on hometown identity, which, in turn, influenced life satisfaction
We proposed that a sense of belonging in the host city is an important influence on migrants’ life satisfaction
Summary
Many developing countries are rapidly urbanising because of large migration flows from rural to urban areas. 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. Liu and colleagues [5] found that, in Guangzhou, China, migrants’ sense of relative deprivation negatively influenced their life satisfaction, and their subjective wellbeing was lower than that of the native residents. The social relationships that migrants develop with their host neighbourhoods and cities might be important to their life satisfaction because factors at the neighbourhood, city or country level, such as social ties, influenced migrants’ life satisfaction [9, 10]. Net of the influences of socioeconomic factors, the extent of assimilation into the host culture was positively related to migrants’ life satisfaction [11]. The more assimilated, adapted or integrated migrants are to their host country’s social environment, the higher their life satisfaction
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