School of Finance, Sichuan Vocational College of Finance and Economics, Chengdu 610074, China.
Institute of Western China Economic Research, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Chengdu 610074, China.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Jan 26;20(3):2213. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20032213.
Migration experience is considered to be an important factor affecting mental health. With the increasing number of rural-to-urban migrant workers returning to their hometowns, the impact of migration experience on rural residents is worthy of noting. Using the data from the 2018 China Labor Dynamics Survey, this paper took migration experience as the identification criteria for returning migrant workers and empirically examined the impact of migration experience on rural residents' mental health. Our results indicated that migration experience had a significant negative impact on the mental health of rural residents. That is, returning migrant workers had a worse mental health status than that of rural residents who never left their hometowns. Mechanism analysis showed that social support and social comparison played an intermediary role in the impact of migration experience on the mental health of rural residents. We also detected considerable heterogeneity in the effects of migration experience: the short-term returning migrant workers and the passive returning migrant workers are more likely to be negatively affected by the migration experience. Our results emphasized the mental health problem faced by returning migrant workers. The policy makers should strengthen psychological education and mental health consultation according to the intergenerational differences and individual characteristics of returning migrant workers.
迁移经历被认为是影响心理健康的一个重要因素。随着越来越多的农村到城市的农民工返乡，迁移经历对农村居民的影响值得关注。本文利用 2018 年中国劳动力动态调查的数据，以迁移经历作为返乡农民工的识别标准，实证检验了迁移经历对农村居民心理健康的影响。研究结果表明，迁移经历对农村居民的心理健康有显著的负面影响。也就是说，返乡农民工的心理健康状况比从未离开过家乡的农村居民更差。机制分析表明，社会支持和社会比较在迁移经历对农村居民心理健康的影响中起到了中介作用。我们还检测到迁移经历的影响存在相当大的异质性：短期返乡农民工和被动返乡农民工更容易受到迁移经历的负面影响。我们的研究结果强调了返乡农民工面临的心理健康问题。政策制定者应根据返乡农民工的代际差异和个体特征，加强心理教育和心理健康咨询。
