Attachment and Developmental Trajectories of Chinese Migrant and Non-Migrant Urban Children's Aggressive Behavior

• In Event: Social and Cultural Contexts of Education and Mental Health: Chinese Migrant Families and Immigrant Families

Abstract

In China, migrant children refer to children under 18 years old who moved with their parents from rural to urban areas for over half a year without household registration in the receiving localities. However, lack of the accessibility to local education resources and health care service derived from the household registration (hukou) system makes migrant children at risk for healthy development. Despite the much higher rate of criminal offence and juvenile delinquency among migrant children in comparison to local urban children, limited research has examined the development of aggression among migrant children or contextual factors that are associated with migrant children’s aggression. Grounded in attachment theory (Bowlby, 1973) and the model of attachment transfer processes (Hazan & Shaver, 1994), this research aimed to explore the developmental trajectories of migrant children’s aggressive behavior and the impact of parent-child and peer attachment on those trajectories, comparing migrant children with their urban counterparts.
One thousand and thirteen 4th grade children (Mage=10.42, SDage=.66, 73.4% migrant children, 51.7% males) were recruited and surveyed at 6-month intervals for three times. All participants completed in class the short Chinese version of the aggressive behavior subscale at each time point and the peer attachment questionnaire and retrospective parent-child attachment questionnaire at the 1st time point. With growth mixture modeling, five trajectories of aggressive behavior for migrant children (i.e., high stable, moderate-fast decreasing, low-fast increasing, relatively low stable, and low stable groups) and two trajectories for urban children (i.e., low-relatively fast increasing and low-slowly decreasing groups, see Figures 1 & 2) were identified. The results of multinomial logistic regression analyses showed that for migrant children, compared with those in low stable aggression trajectory, secure attachment with the parents decreased the likelihood for children to have moderate-fast decreasing and relatively low stable trajectories over time. However, avoidant attachment with the parents increased the likelihood for children to have moderate-fast decreasing and low-fast increasing trajectories. Similarly, migrant children with negative peer attachment were more likely to be in the relatively low stable group than the low stable group. For urban children, avoidant attachment was associated with increased likelihood to be in the low-relatively fast increasing trajectory than the low-slowly decreasing group.
The results extended our understanding of the development of aggressive behaviors among Chinese children, showing the complexity that rural-urban migration has brought to children’s well-being and social adjustment. Both parental and peer influences are worth research and practical attention to reduce the potential negative effect of migration on child development.

Authors

• Chen Chen, Nanjing Normal University
  Presenting Author

• Xinmei Gong, Nanjing Normal University
  Non-Presenting Author