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Discrimination experience and quality of life among rural-to-urban migrants in China: the mediation effect of expectation–reality discrepancy

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Abstract

Objective

To examine the effect of expectation–reality discrepancy in mediating the relationship between discrimination experience and quality of life (QOL) among rural-to-urban migrants in China.

Methods

A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 1,006 rural-to-urban migrants in 2004–2005 in Beijing, China. QOL was measured using the Chinese version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life-Brief Version (WHOQOL-BREF). The migrants were also asked to report their experience of being discriminated against in the urban areas (i.e., discrimination experience), and their perceived difference between premigratory expectation and postmigratory reality in the city (i.e., expectation–reality discrepancy). Structural equation modeling (SEM) method was employed to assess the mediation effect.

Results

Discrimination experience not only had a direct significant negative effect on QOL among rural-to-urban migrants, but also had an indirect effect through expectation–reality discrepancy on their QOL. Migrants’ expectation–reality discrepancy exerted a partially mediation effect in the relationship between discrimination experience and QOL.

Conclusions

Health promotion and prevention programs in the future to improve migrants’ QOL should pay more attention to reducing the discrimination against migrants as well as helping migrants to reduce discrepancy between premigratory expectation and postmigratory reality.

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Acknowledgements

This study is supported by NIH research grants R01MH064878 and R21TW006375 by the National Institute of Mental Health and the Fogarty International Center. The content of this study is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the Institute of Mental Health or the Fogarty International Center. The authors wish to thank other participating investigators at Wayne State University Carman and Ann Adams Department of Pediatrics Prevention Research Center, Beijing Normal University Institute of Developmental Psychology, and Nanjing University Institute of Mental Health for their assistance with the study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Developmental Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China

    Jintao Zhang & Xiaoyi Fang

  2. Carman and Ann Adams Department of Pediatrics, Prevention Research Center, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, Michigan, 48201, USA

    Xiaoming Li

  3. School of Humanities Sciences, Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics, Jiangxi, 330013, China

    Qing Xiong

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  1. Jintao Zhang
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  3. Xiaoyi Fang
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  4. Qing Xiong
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Correspondence to Xiaoming Li.

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Zhang, J., Li, X., Fang, X. et al. Discrimination experience and quality of life among rural-to-urban migrants in China: the mediation effect of expectation–reality discrepancy. Qual Life Res 18, 291–300 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-009-9454-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-009-9454-6

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