Poster #174 - Discrimination and Socioemotional Difficulties in Chinese Migrant Children: A Moderated Mediation Model of Emotional Competence

• In Event: 1-005 - Poster Session 01
  In Poster Session: PS 01 Section - Race, Ethnicity, Culture, Context

Integrative Statement

Introduction: Early adolescence is a critical period for the onset and development of emotional and behavioral problems, especially for migrant youth (e.g., Miconi, Moscardino, Altoè, & Salcuni, 2017). Previous research has identified perceived discrimination as a common stressor in immigrant children’s daily lives across diverse cultural contexts, including China (Chen et al., 2014). Although it is widely accepted that emotional and cognitive skills play a pivotal role in the stress-behavior link in childhood and adolescence (e.g., Huynh & Fuligni, 2010), the mediating or moderating mechanisms underlying the association between discrimination and socioemotional difficulties are still unclear. In this study, we propose that two facets of emotional competence, namely trait emotional intelligence (TEI) and emotional awareness (EA), may be candidate mediators and/or moderators of this association. TEI is defined as a set of emotion-related self-perceptions which influence individuals’ adaptability and stress management (Petrides, 2010), whereas EA is a cognitive skill that enables individuals to differentiate and integrate emotional information from the perspective of the self/other (Lane & Schwartz, 1987). In different lines of research, these aspects have been shown to contribute to adolescents’ mental health (Mathews, Koehn, Abtahi, & Kerns, 2016), but the extent to which these findings might apply to migrant youth remains unknown.

Aims: Using a sample of Chinese rural-to-urban migrants, this cross-sectional study aimed to test whether the expected positive association between perceived discrimination and socioemotional difficulties was mediated by TEI, and if this relationship was moderated by EA.

Methods: Participants were 169 Chinese early adolescents (46.1% girls) aged 10-13 years and their teachers living in Shanghai, China. Perceived discrimination and TEI were assessed using self-report questionnaires (Pachter, Szalacha, Bernstein, & Garcia Coll, 2010; Mavroveli & Siu, 2012), while EA was measured via structured vignettes (LEAS-C; Bajgar, Ciarrochi, Lane, & Deane, 2005; Zhang, Wang, Shen, Wang, 2016). In addition, teachers rated their students’ emotional and behavioral problems (SDQ; Goodman, 1997; Lai et al., 2010). The measures not available in Mandarin were translated-backtranslated using standard procedures (Van de Vijver & Leung, 1997).

Results: Structural equation modelling controlling for age, gender, socioeconomic status, verbal skills, and fluid intelligence showed that the positive association between perceived discrimination and socioemotional difficulties was partially mediated by TEI (X2 = 4.70 (7, n = 169), p = .696; NNFI = 1.076; CFI = 1.00; RMSEA < .001). Moreover, EA moderated the link between perceived discrimination and TEI (see Figure.1). Specifically, the negative association between perceived discrimination and TEI was significant at high (B = -.06, SE = .02, t = -3.19, p < .001), but not at low (B = -.03, SE = .02, t = -1.85, p = .07) levels of EA (see Figure 2).

Conclusions: Our findings underscore the importance of both TEI and EA in the association between perceived discrimination and socioemotional difficulties in Chinese migrant youth. Although further studies are needed, school-based psychoeducational programs may target these specific facets of emotional competence to minimize the detrimental effects of discrimination on early adolescents’ mental health.

Authors

• Xiaoyu Lan, University of Padova
  Presenting Author

• Ughetta Moscardino, University of Padova
  Non-Presenting Author