Peer-reviewed article
Trajectories of positive youth development, predictors, and mental health outcomes among Chinese adolescents: Examining group differences amid rural-to-urban migration.
Yaqiong Wang, Kendall Cotton Bronk, Yueqin Hu, Jiale Xiao, Shaobing Su et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study followed 3,331 Chinese adolescents aged around 12 years over three years to understand how positive youth development differs among rural-to-urban migrant children, rural left-behind children, rural local children, and urban local children. Migrant and left-behind adolescents showed improvements in positive development over time, while urban and rural local adolescents stayed stable. Better parent-child communication, belief in social mobility, and positive school environments predicted higher initial positive development levels. Increases in positive development were linked to lower depression and fewer behavioral problems across all groups.
Key points
- Rural-to-urban migrant adolescents (27.5%) and rural left-behind adolescents (15.0%) showed significant growth in positive youth development over the three-year period
- Initial levels of positive youth development differed significantly across the four groups, with rural-to-urban migrants and left-behind adolescents starting lower
- Social mobility belief, parent-child communication, and positive school environment independently predicted higher initial positive youth development levels
- Increases in positive youth development were associated with decreases in depression and externalizing problem behaviors across all four adolescent groups
- Effects of predictors on positive youth development varied across groups, suggesting that context-specific strategies are needed
Limitations
The study is observational and cannot establish causal relationships between predictors and outcomes. It does not clarify whether the growth observed in migrant and left-behind adolescents reflects genuine developmental gains or adaptation to changed circumstances.
Abstract
Massive parental labor migration in China has created distinct developmental experiences for adolescents varied in rural or urban residency and parental migration status, yet limited research has examined heterogeneity in positive development across these diverse groups. This study investigated developmental trajectories of positive youth development (PYD), their key predictors, and associated mental health outcomes among 3331 Chinese adolescents (Mage = 11.91 years; 55.2% boys) across three waves from 2017 to 2019. Multigroup latent growth curve models were estimated for rural-to-urban migrant (27.5%), rural left-behind (15.0%), rural local (10.7%), and urban local (46.7%) adolescents. The four adolescent groups differed significantly in initial PYD levels. Migrant and left-behind adolescents demonstrated significant linear growth in PYD, while local adolescent groups showed stable levels; however, PYD slopes did not differ significantly across groups. Social mobility belief, parent-child communication, and positive school environment were independently and interactively related to initial PYD levels, with varying effects across groups. Increases in PYD were associated with decreases in depression and externalizing problem behaviors across all groups. These findings provide longitudinal evidence of positive development across diverse adolescent groups, offering insights into context-specific developmental processes shaped by macro-level contexts. Group variations highlight the need for context-sensitive strategies to promote adolescents' positive development amid rural-to-urban migration.