Family and school support systems associated with mental health in Chinese migrant and non-migrant children

Previous research has suggested that migrant children often have weaker family and school support and poorer mental health than non-migrant peers, although recent evidence indicates that these disparities may be narrowing. Rather than focusing solely on mean-level group differences, the present study examined whether the pathways linking family and school support with mental health differ between migrant and non-migrant children.

Guided by ecological systems theory, this study investigated the associations among parent-child communication, peer relationships, perceived teacher support, and mental health in 600 Chinese primary school students (303 migrant and 297 non-migrant children). Group differences in descriptive statistics, correlations, and regression coefficients were examined, followed by multi-group mediation analyses.

Migrant and non-migrant children did not differ significantly in mean levels of parent-child communication, peer relationships, perceived teacher support, or mental health. Parent-child communication was positively associated with mental health in both groups, whereas the association between peer relationships and mental health was stronger among migrant children than among non-migrant children. Mediation analyses further indicated that peer relationships served as the most robust indirect pathway linking parent-child communication to mental health, and this indirect pathway was significantly stronger among migrant children. By contrast, pathways involving perceived teacher support were comparatively weak and were not consistently supported across groups.

These findings suggest that the pathways linking family-, peer-, and teacher-related factors with mental health differ across migration contexts. The results highlight the importance of considering both family- and peer-related factors when examining mental health in children with different migration experiences.