Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Jul 17:8:1213.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01213. eCollection 2017.

Perceived Discrimination and Subjective Well-being in Chinese Migrant Adolescents: Collective and Personal Self-esteem As Mediators

Xuji Jia  1   2 , Xia Liu  3 , Baoguo Shi  4
Affiliations

Perceived Discrimination and Subjective Well-being in Chinese Migrant Adolescents: Collective and Personal Self-esteem As Mediators

Xuji Jia et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

This study aimed to examine whether collective and personal self-esteem serve as mediators in the relationship between perceived discrimination and subjective well-being among Chinese rural-to-urban migrant adolescents. Six hundred and ninety-two adolescents completed a perceived discrimination scale, a collective self-esteem scale, a personal self-esteem scale, and a subjective well-being scale. Structural equation modeling was used to test the mediation hypothesis. The analysis indicated that both collective and personal self-esteem partially mediated the relationship between perceived discrimination and subjective well-being. The final model also revealed a significant path from perceived discrimination through collective and personal self-esteem to subjective well-being. These findings contribute to the understanding of the complicated relationships among perceived discrimination, collective and personal self-esteem, and subjective well-being. The findings suggest that collective and personal self-esteem are possible targets for interventions aimed at improving subjective well-being. Programs to nurture both the personal and collective self-esteem of migrant adolescents may help to weaken the negative relationships between perceived discrimination and subjective well-being.

Keywords: Chinese migrant adolescents; collective self-esteem; perceived discrimination; personal self-esteem; subjective well-being.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Hypothesized model. Unidirectional arrows indicate the path of one variable on another.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Standardized path coefficients in the final model (N = 692). PD1–PD3 = three item parcels from the Perceived Discrimination Scale. CSE, Collective Self-Esteem. PSE1–PSE3 equal three item parcels from the Personal Self-Esteem Scale. ∗∗p < 0.01, ∗∗∗p < 0.001.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Bradburn N. M. (1969). The Structure of Psychological Well-Being. Chicago, IL: Aldine Publishing Company.
    1. Branscombe N. R., Schmitt M. T., Harvey R. D. (1999). Perceiving pervasive discrimination among african americans: implications for group identification and well-being. J. Personal. Soc. Psychol. 77 135–149. 10.1037/0022-3514.77.1.135 - DOI
    1. Cai H., Feng Y., Yue X. T. (2011). Pan-cultural need for self-esteem: evidence from China. Adv. Psychol. Sci. 19 1–8.
    1. Cai H., Wu Q., Brown J. D. (2009). Is self-esteem a universal need? Evidence from the people’s republic of china. Asian J. Soc. Psychol. 12 104–120. 10.1111/j.1467-839X.2009.01278.x - DOI
    1. Cassidy C., O’Connor R. C., Howe C., Warden D. (2004). Perceived discrimination and psychological distress: the role of personal and ethnic self-esteem. J. Couns. Psychol. 51 329–339. 10.1037/0022-0167.51.3.329 - DOI