The functions of social support in the mental health of male and female migrant workers in China.

The functions of social support in the mental health of male and female migrant workers in China. According to according toprep.1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians.2. In keeping with: according to instructions.3. Gazette of the State Council of the Peoples Republicof China (State Council, 2004), the number of migrant workers in themajor cities of China exceeded 98 million in 2003. K. H. Zhang and Song(2003) suggested that between 1979 and 1999, the urban populationincreased by as many as 222 million people, with more than 10 millionpeople moving to the cities every year. Most migrant workers come fromthe western and central areas of China, such as Sichuan, Henan, Anhui,Hunan, and Jinagxi provinces, and go to the eastern coastal areas, suchas Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Zhejiang, and Fujian provinces. Thedriving forces behind the rural-urban migration Rural-urban migration is the moving of people from rural areas into cities. When cities grow rapidly, as in Chicago in the late 19th century or Shanghai a century later, the movement of people from rural communities into cities is considered to be the main cause. in China includeurban-rural income disparity Income disparity or wage gap is a term used to describe inequities in average pay or salary between socio-economic groups within society, or the inequities in pay between individuals who produce the same work. (K. H. Zhang & Song, 2003); surpluslabor in agriculture (Koberts, 2000); introduction of the HouseholdResponsibility System in agricultural reform, which has led to thedevelopment of township and village enterprises Township and Village Enterprises (TVEs) are entrepreneurial communities based in townships and villages in rural areas of the People's Republic of China. They developed in mainland China after the economic reforms under Deng Xiaoping in the early 1980s. in the countryside(Iredale, Bilik, Sue, Guo, & Hoy Hoy,island, 13 mi (21 km) long and 6 mi (9.7 km) wide, off N Scotland, second largest of the Orkney Islands. It is located at the southwestern side of the Scapa Flow anchorage. , 2001); the disintegration ofstate-owned enterprises; the emergence of private enterprises and amodernized market economy (Iredale et al., 2001); and policies in somepoorer provinces that favor out-migration (Iredale et al., 2001). (Underthe Household Responsibility Sytem, although all farmland is still ownedby the government, the production and management of the farmland areentrusted to individual households through long-term contracts. Duringthe contract period, the farmers pay taxes to the states and the localgovernments and keep all the other proceeds for themselves. Not only hasthe system greatly inspired farmers' production initiative andincreased agricultural output, but it has released a large amount ofrural labor force from land cultivation.) The transactional model of stress and coping developed by Lazarusand Folkman (1984) posited that an individual's mental healthoutcome is influenced by a dynamic interaction among stressors,cognitive appraisal, and coping found in the person. In the migrationliterature, although there is still a lack of consensus about thespecific factors that operate to influence adjustment outcomes (Searle& Ward, 1990), three sets of factors are often placed in thisframework: (1) migration stress, (2) intervening factors, and (3)psychological and sociocultural outcomes. The present study adopted astress and coping framework to examine the relationships among migrationstress, mental health, and social support in migrant workers inShanghai, China. Particularly, it attempted to investigate the mediatingand moderating roles played by social support in the relationshipbetween migration stressors and mental health of the migrant workers.The findings provide information on the types of migration stress andthe functions of social support in migrant workers in Shanghai, China. LITERATURE REVIEW Migration Stress During the settlement period, migration stress is a potential riskfactor that can increase the likelihood of poor mental health outcomes.In China, because of the Hukou system (the household registrationsystem), migrant workers and their families who were not born in thecities cannot register as official residents and therefore are notentitled to subsidized housing Subsidized housing (aka social housing) is government supported accommodation for people with low to moderate incomes. To meet these goals many governments promote the construction of affordable housing. , education, social security, or medicalbenefits. In particular, they do not have the government-required socialsecurity premium that is supposed to be paid by employers (Tan, 2000)and thus do not have health insurance or pension plans (Feng, Zuo, &Ruan, 2002). Studies also suggest that they tend to live in poorlysanitized san��i��tize?tr.v. san��i��tized, san��i��tiz��ing, san��i��tiz��es1. To make sanitary, as by cleaning or disinfecting.2. and usually overcrowded o��ver��crowd?v. o��ver��crowd��ed, o��ver��crowd��ing, o��ver��crowdsv.tr.To cause to be excessively crowded: a system of consolidation that only overcrowded the classrooms. dormitories that are provided by theiremployers or in shared accommodation (J. F. Shen Shen,in the Bible, place, perhaps close to Bethel, near which Samuel set up the stone Ebenezer. & Huang, 2003);take up physically demanding jobs, such as manual labor, factory work,or jobs in the service sector (Roberts, 2000); and are paid a very lowwage (Tan, 2000). In this study, migration stress is defined as thestress that results from exposure to difficulties in handling suchsurvival issues as finding employment, financial problems, feelings ofloss, cultural differences, and unmet high expectations when settling inShanghai. Studies have consistently revealed that financial and job-relateddifficulties (Thompson, Hartel, Manderson,Woelz-Stirling, & Kelaher,2002); language barriers (Vedder & Virta, 2005); poor livingconditions living conditionsnpl → condiciones fpl de vidaliving conditionsnpl → conditions fpl de vieliving conditionsliving (Papadopoulos, Lees, Lay, & Gebrehiwot, 2004);discrimination (Yeh et al., 2003); feelings of loss in social networks,employment, social status, and living environment (Oropeza, Fitzgibbon,& Baron, 1991); difficulties in accepting and handling culturaldifferences, such as eating habits and value conflicts; and unfulfilledhigh expectations of the new environment are related to poor mentalhealth among different groups of migrants. Migration Stress and Mental Health Only a few studies have attempted to examine the mental healthconditions of migrant workers (Fu, Ye, & Chen, 2002; Li, 2004; Shenet al., 1998; Wong & Lee, 2003). Three of the studies were rathersmall in scale and did not use any validated instruments to measuremental health outcomes. A larger scale study by Q. I. Shen et al. (1998)evaluated the mental health status of 371 young migrant workers inShenzhen. The researchers found that migrant workers had significantlyhigher scores in symptoms related to obsession and compulsion COMPULSION. The forcible inducement to au act. 2. Compulsion may be lawful or unlawful. 1. When a man is compelled by lawful authority to do that which be ought to do, that compulsion does not affect the validity of the act; as for example, when a court of ,interpersonal sensitivity, and phobia phobia:see neurosis. phobiaExtreme and irrational fear of a particular object, class of objects, or situation. A phobia is classified as a type of anxiety disorder (a neurosis), since anxiety is its chief symptom. than those of the local workers.In this study, we attempted to find out whether migrant workers who hadmore migration stress would have poorer mental health. Studies investigating the effects of migration on the mental healthof migrants have produced varied and inconclusive INCONCLUSIVE. What does not put an end to a thing. Inconclusive presumptions are those which may be overcome by opposing proof; for example, the law presumes that he who possesses personal property is the owner of it, but evidence is allowed to contradict this presumption, and show who is results. Although somestudies have found that the migration--integration process inducesstressors that lead to more psychological distress psychological distressThe end result of factors–eg, psychogenic pain, internal conflicts, and external stress that prevent a person from self-actualization and connecting with 'significant others'. See Humanistic psychology. symptoms inimmigrants (Magwaza & Bhana, 1991), others have failed todemonstrate a higher level of distress among the migrant population(Karno et al., 1989). Some even found better mental health among themigrant groups when compared with the local populations (Sun, Fung,& Kwong, 2000). One possible explanation is that certain protectivefactors may have served to decrease the likelihood that poor healthconditions would surface and to mediate and promote the development ofresilience (Smith, 2006). Social Support Studies in the migration literature have found that a socialnetwork has the potential to provide functional and emotional exchangesfor its members (for example, Sherranden & Martin, 1994; Wong &He, 2006). Such exchanges include emotional support, instrumental aid,and information. Tran (1994) and Kamya (1997) argued that theavailability of a close network during resettlement Re`set´tle`mentn. 1. Act of settling again, or state of being settled again; as, the resettlementof lees s>.The resettlementof my discomposed soul.- Norris. is vital forsheltering immigrants from adaptation stressors, either by serving as asocial support system or by functioning as an escape hatch Noun 1. escape hatch - hatchway that provides a means of escape in an emergencyaeroplane, airplane, plane - an aircraft that has a fixed wing and is powered by propellers or jets; "the flight was delayed due to trouble with the airplane" frompsychiatric ill health. Studies have also consistently found that theperceived availability of social support enhances the mental health ofmigrant populations (Meadows, Kaslow, Thompson, & Jurkovic, 2005;Wong & He, 2006). In this study, we aimed to examine the functionsof social support in the mental health of migrant workers in Shanghai.Particularly, we tried to examine whether migrant workers who perceivedthemselves as having adequate social support would have better mentalhealth and whether social support moderated or mediated the relationshipbetween migration stress and mental health of male and female migrantworkers in Shanghai China. As a moderator, social support appears todecrease the intensity or number of migration stress factors or to aidin acquiring the means and skills required to buffer the effects ofstressors (Viswesvaran, Sanchez, & Fisher, 1999). In other words Adv. 1. in other words - otherwise stated; "in other words, we are broke"put differently , amigrant worker A migrant worker is someone who regularly works away from home, if they even have a home.[]Although the United Nations' use of this term overlaps with 'foreign worker', the use of the term within the United States is more specific. who is experiencing a high level of stress and perceiveshimself or herself as having enough support or is able to solicitsupport to deal with his or her difficulties will have better mentalhealth. As a mediator, the presence of social support as a copingresource significantly determines the relationship between migrationstress and mental health of a migrant worker. In the present study,soda! support is defined as the perceived availability of emotional,instrumental, belonging, and esteem support from the social networks ofmigrant workers in Shanghai. METHOD Research Design This study adopted a survey method to examine the mental health ofmigrant workers in Shanghai. Shanghai was chosen as the study sitebecause it has been found to be the largest host city for internalmigrants in mainland China and accommodates 3.87 million migrants fromother parts of the country. This number represents a 265 percentincrease from 1.06 million in 1988 (State Council, 2004). Sampling Procedure Migrant workers refers to internal migrants who have been given thelegal right to work temporarily in cities in China China is a geographical area encompassing multiple territories, under two states. You may be looking for: List of cities in the People's Republic of China List of cities and towns in Hong Kong . This study used amultistage cluster sampling Cluster sampling is a sampling technique used when "natural" groupings are evident in a statistical population. It is often used in marketing research. In this technique, the total population is divided into these groups (or clusters) and a sample of the groups is selected. method to choose its participants. Accordingto the Shanghai Municipal Regulations on Immigrants, migrant workersmust register with the local community agencies where they are living toreceive and renew their Temporary Residency Certificates. The samplingprocess was as follows: Four of the 20 districts of Shanghai wererandomly chosen--Puding New Area, Minghang, Jiading, and Boshan. Fourcommunity agencies from each of these four districts were then randomlyselected. Community agencies are the root branch (that is, theneighborhood level) of the Shanghai municipal government and have therecords of all of the migrant workers who settle in the area. Finally,every 10th migrant worker who was listed in the registry was chosen foran interview. A total of 486 migrant workers who were at least 18 yearsof age were potential participants, and 475 were eventually interviewed,for a response rate of 98 percent. The few migrant workers who did notparticipate were not contactable after three attempts or refused to beinterviewed. Measures The research team constructed a Migration Stress Scale for migrantworkers in Shanghai on the basis of the general framework of migrationstress that was suggested by Wong, Yan, Lo, and Hung (2003). This scaleaimed to measure the specific migration stress experienced by themigrant workers. On the basis of the 475 respondents in this study, weconducted an exploratory factor analysis. A four-factor solution wasfound that accounted for 62 percent of the total variance: Financial andEmployment Related Difficulties (14 items); Cultural Differences (sevenitems); Lack of a Social Life (seven items), and Difficulties inInterpersonal Relationships (five items).The four-point scale (rangingfrom 1 = no stress to 4 = a lot of stress) measured the severity of thestress experienced by the migrant workers. The minimum and maximumscores of the scale ranged from 33 to 132. The Cronbach's alpha Cronbach's (alpha) has an important use as a measure of the reliability of a psychometric instrument. It was first named as alpha by Cronbach (1951), as he had intended to continue with further instruments. coefficient for the full scale was .93, and for the four subscales itwas .91, .78, .80, and .61, respectively. The Chinese version of the Interpersonal Support Evaluation List(ISEL ISEL Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Lisboa (Portugal)ISEL Institute for Studies in Environmental Law ) (Fong, 2004) was adopted to measure the perceived availability ofsocial support for migrant workers. This is a multidimensional inventorywith four subscales: Emotional Support, Social Companionship companionshipthe faculty possessed by most truly domesticated animals. They are social creatures and have a great need for the companionship of other animals. Animals in groups are quieter and more productive as a rule. Support,Tangible Support, and Esteem Support. Each subscale is composed of 10items and uses a five-point Likert scale Likert scaleA subjective scoring system that allows a person being surveyed to quantify likes and preferences on a 5-point scale, with 1 being the least important, relevant, interesting, most ho-hum, or other, and 5 being most excellent, yeehah important, etc that ranges from 1 = totallydisagree to 5 = totally agree. The higher the score, the greater theperceived social support received by the respondents. The minimum andmaximum scores of the scale ranged from 60 to 240. The Cronbach'salpha coefficient of the full scale and the subscales of the ISEL was.83, .74, .70, .64, and .60, respectively. The Brief Symptom Inventory Brief Symptom Inventory,n.pr a short (53-question) test used to assess the patterns of symptoms in those undergoing psychiatric or medical treatment. (BSI BSI - British Standards Institute ) (Derogatis & Mehsaratos,1983) contains 53 items and is designed to assess the mental healthconditions of general and clinical populations, including people asyoung as 13 years old. These 53 symptoms fall into nine dimensions:somatization somatization/so��ma��ti��za��tion/ (so?mah-ti-za��shun) the conversion of mental experiences or states into bodily symptoms. so��ma��ti��za��tionn. , obsession--compulsion, interpersonal sensitivity,depression, anxiety, hostility, phobic pho��bicadj.Of, relating to, arising from, or having a phobia.n.One who has a phobia. anxiety, paranoid ideation ideation/ide��a��tion/ (i?de-a��shun) the formation of ideas or images.idea��tional i��de��a��tionn.The formation of ideas or mental images. , andpsychoticism. We used the Chinese version of the BSI that was developedby Cheng and Leong (1993). The respondents were asked to rate thesesymptoms on a five-point scale ranging from 0 = not at all distressed to4 = extremely distressed. The minimum and maximum scores of the scaleranged from 0 to 212. The Cronbach's alpha of the nine dimensionsranged from .76 to .88. On the basis of the individual scores of theBSI, Ritsner, Ponizovsky, Kurs, and Modia (2000) developed the GlobalSeverity Index (GSI GSI - Gensym Standard Interface ) thresholds, which determine cases of distress.Individual respondents who had GSI scores equal to or greater than 0.42(for men) and 0.78 (for women) were considered to have poor mentalhealth. Data Collection Migrant workers who had registered with the local communityagencies between September 2004 and December 2004 were included as studyrespondents. Consent was sought from the individual migrant workers atthe start of the interview, and the workers were asked to complete thequestionnaires themselves at a place that was convenient to them, and inthe presence of a student interviewer. The research assistant was thereonly to answer any queries regarding the questionnaire and to assistthose respondents with problems in falling it out. In an average of halfan hour the respondents completed the questionnaires. Data Analysis Descriptive statistics descriptive statisticssee statistics. of the frequencies and means of thedemographic variables and of the subscales of migration stress andsocial support of the male and female migrant workers were first carriedout separately. On the basis of the GSI thresholds developed by Ritsneret al. (2000) to determine male and female cases of distress (31), twoseparate sets of independent sample t tests were used to identify thementally healthy and unhealthy male and female migrant workers in thesample. Four separate hierarchical regressions using ordinary leastsquares (OLS OLS Ordinary Least SquaresOLS Online Library SystemOLS Ottawa Linux SymposiumOLS Operation Lifeline SudanOLS Operational Linescan SystemOLS Online ServiceOLS Organizational Leadership and SupervisionOLS On Line SupportOLS Online System ) model were also performed to explore the moderatingeffects of migration stress and social support on the mental health ofmale and female migrant workers. Essentially, moderating effect isdemonstrated by the significance of an interaction effect of migrationstress and social support on the mental health of male and femalemigrant workers (Baron & Kenny, 1986). To examine the mediatingeffect of social support on the relationship between migration stressand social support, a series of regression analyses was performed, whichincluded the following: regressing the social support on migrationstress, regressing the mental health on migration stress, and regressingthe mental health on both migration stress and social support (Baron& Kenny, 1986). These three regression equations tested the threeconditions that would support a mediating effect of social support.First, there must be a significant association between migration andsocial support. Second, there must be a significant relationship betweenmigration stress and mental health. And third, social support mustsignificantly affect mental health. If these conditions all hold in thepredicted direction, then the effect of migration stress on mentalhealth must be less in the third equation than in the second (Baron& Kenny, 1986). RESULTS There was approximately the same number of male and female migrantworkers in the sample. The average age was 30 years, with an age rangeof 18 to 45 (see Table 1). Most of the migrants had junior secondaryschool education (that is, up to grade 9), and about 23 percent of themhad tertiary education Tertiary education, also referred to as third-stage, third level education, or higher education, is the educational level following the completion of a school providing a secondary education, such as a high school, secondary school, or gymnasium. (that is, college or university education). About40 percent of the migrants were manual workers (for example, factoryworkers), 38 percent were service industry workers (for example, sales),and 20 percent were self-employed (for example, shop and food stallowners). Almost all of them were in full-time employment, with anaverage monthly income of renminbi (RMB RMB Right Mouse ButtonRMB Regional Management Board (USACE)RMB Rolf Maier Bode (musician, band)RMB Ren Min Bi (currency of People's Republic of China)) 1,257 (U.S.$1 = RMB 8).Thirty-six percent of the migrant workers had a very low income of RMB800 or less. About two-thirds were married, and 52 percent of them hadbeen living in Shanghai for less than a year. Although nearly 71 percentlived by themselves or with their own families, 29 percent shared fiatsor lived in factory hostels. The demographic differences between themale and female migrant workers are documented in Table 1. Nosignificant differences were found, except in education and monthlysalary. On the whole, the migrant workers in this sample were young andmarried, had relatively low incomes, and were educated to the juniorsecondary school level. The sample appears to resemble the population ofmigrant workers described in the State Statistics Bureau (2001). The BSI scores of the male and female migrant workers in this studyare presented in Table 2. In the present study, 25 percent of men and 6percent of women could be classified as having poor mental health. Therewere significant differences in the full scale and the subscales of theBSI scores between the mentally healthy and mentally unhealthy groupsfor both male and female migrant workers. In particular, in the mentallyunhealthy male sample, symptoms that were associated with interpersonalsensitivity, obsession-compulsion symptoms, and hostility ranked thehighest among the nine symptom clusters of the BSI. In the mentallyunhealthy female sample, however, symptoms that were related toobsession-compulsion, depression, and phobic anxiety ranked the highest. Two separate hierarchical regressions were performed to examine theindependent effects of migration stress and different types of socialsupport on the mental health of male and female migrant workers (seeTable 3).The results suggest that financial and employment difficultiesand difficulties in interpersonal relationships significantly predictedthe mental health of both male and female migrant workers. Migrationstress explained 25 percent and 31 percent of the variance in mentalhealth in the male and female subsamples, respectively. In the area ofperceived social support, social companionship support exerted asignificant effect on the mental health of both male and femalemigrants. Whereas instrumental support had a significant effect on themental health of male migrants, self-esteem support affected the mentalhealth of female migrants. The total explained variances for socialsupport were 5 percent for the male subsample sub��sam��ple?n.A sample drawn from a larger sample.tr.v. sub��sam��pled, sub��sam��pling, sub��sam��plesTo take a subsample from (a larger sample). and 4 percent for thefemale subsample. A series of regression analyses were used to test the mediating andmoderating effects of social support. Results did not support amediating role of social support in the relationship between migrationstress and mental health of migrant workers. However, a modestmoderating effect of social support (that is, interaction betweenmigration stress and mental health) was found in the female sample,which accounted for a 1 percent variance in their mental health (seeTable 4). In other words, social support acted as a moderator todecrease the intensity of the migration stress experienced by femalemigrant workers, leading to an improvement in their mental health.However, no such moderating effect was found in the male migrant sample. DISCUSSION Mental Health Status of Migrant Workers This study finds that 25 percent of the male migrant workers and 6percent of the female migrant workers could be classified as mentallyunhealthy. As a whole, the mentally unhealthy migrant workersexperienced more symptoms related to obsession and compulsion,interpersonal sensitivity, hostility, depression, and phobic anxiety.The findings echo the results of the study conducted by Q. I. Shen etal. (1998) in that migrant workers in our sample also had significantlyhigher scores in symptoms associated with obsession and compulsion,interpersonal sensitivity, and phobic anxiety. In view of the massivenumbers of migrants in China, this figure is rather alarming andwarrants close attention by the Chinese authorities. Unfortunately,although the Chinese government Ever since Republic of China founded in January 1st, 1912, China has had several regional and national governments. ListChinese Soviet Republic Provisional Government of the Republic of China Reformed Government of the Republic of China is beginning to introduce differentmeasures to help migrant workers and their families to settle down inthe cities, very little attention is being paid to understanding andaddressing the mental health needs of this migrant population .Worsestill, it is disturbing to realize that most people in China, includingmigrant workers, are not aware of their mental health problems and donot seek psychiatric consultation at the initial stages of psychiatricillness (Phillips, Pearson, Li, Xu, & Yang, 2000). Common Risk Factors Experienced by Migrant Workers In the present study, it was found that migration stress exerted asignificant effect on the mental health of both male and female migrantworkers in Shanghai. Specifically, financial and employment difficultiesand difficulties in interpersonal relationships significantly predictedthe mental health of both male and female migrants. The former was foundto be the most stressful, which echoes the findings of studies fromother countries (Thompson et al., 2002). Specific circumstances thatrelate to the working conditions of migrant workers in China may accountfor these results. Reports suggest that migrant workers face overduesalary payments (Tan, 2000), long working hours (Tan, 2000), bullying bysupervisors (Wong & Lee, 2003), and a lack of opportunities to moveto higher paid jobs (Wong & Lee, 2003). Other sources suggest thatthe employers of factory and construction workers treat their employeesunfairly by requiring them to deposit as much as RMB 600 beforeemployment (Roberts, 2000). Difficulties in interpersonal relationships was another common riskfactor in both male and female migrant workers. According to ourfindings, the sources of tensions and conflicts came from work (forexample, "I cannot get along with co-workers"); family (forexample, "I have conflicts with other family members"); andco-residents (for example, "I have conflicts withco-residents").These findings concur CONCUR - ["CONCUR, A Language for Continuous Concurrent Processes", R.M. Salter et al, Comp Langs 5(3):163-189 (1981)]. with overseas studies thatsuggest that migrants who have more marital and work conflicts havepoorer mental health (Santos, Bohon, & Sanchez-Sosa, 1998).Migration is a time of stress, and it is not uncommon for migrantworkers to experience an increase in interpersonal conflicts as theyadjust to a new and unfamiliar environment (Scott & Scott, 1982).What is distressing to realize is that difficulties in interpersonalrelationships invariably in��var��i��a��ble?adj.Not changing or subject to change; constant.in��vari��a��bil limit the opportunity to solicit the socialsupport that can buffer the deleterious deleteriousadj. harmful. effects of stress on the mentalhealth of the targeted population (Vega et al., 1996). Functions of Social Support in the Mental Health of Migrant Workers Social companionship support exerted a significant effect on themental health of male and female migrant workers in Shanghai.Essentially, the items in this subscale concerned social isolation andthe availability of companionship. During settlement, migrantsexperience both the loss of a close social network and the lack of asocial network in their new environment (Oropeza et al., 1991). In oursample, the migrant workers felt a sense of loss when they had to leavetheir families and children behind. Once they were in the cities, theywere too busy to find the time to establish new relationships.Therefore, the perceived availability of social companionship supportcould be a powerful factor in protecting migrant workers from feeling asense of loss in Shanghai. Instrumental support was found to be a predictor of the mentalhealth of male migrant workers. In patriarchal Chinese society, men areexpected to support their families financially (L. Zhang, 2002). TheConfucian work ethic work ethicn.A set of values based on the moral virtues of hard work and diligence.work ethicNouna belief in the moral value of work also emphasizes the importance of work as areflection of productivity and adequacy (Hui & Tan, 1996). Thesecultural values may put a great deal of pressure on men, particularly ifthey are married, to provide for the welfare of their families. Indeed,male migrant workers probably expect--or are expected--to keep their]jobs to ensure that they have enough money to send back home or toprovide for their families in the city (Wong & Lee, 2003). Malemigrant workers in Shanghai are therefore acutely aware of theimportance of quickly settling in and finding and maintaining a stablejob. Instrumental support, such as the availability of help during timesof crisis and sickness and of practical assistance in dealing with thedifficulties of daily living, would be the most welcomed by male migrantworkers and would, in turn, probably contribute to better mental healthamong them. For female migrant workers, only the perceived availability ofesteem support was significantly related to mental health. To understandthe significance of this type of support for female migrant workers,researchers need to explore why they may suffer from low self-esteem.According to Ma (2000), differential treatment based on gender, combinedwith secondary resident status, creates a group of migrant women who arein a doubly disadvantageous dis��ad��van��ta��geous?adj.Detrimental; unfavorable.dis��advan��ta position. For example, in task assignmentsat factories, the local residents get the best jobs. Female migrantworkers are usually given the least desirable jobs and are put in asubordinate position because of their gender. Such treatment greatlyaffects the self-esteem of some female migrant workers. Another reasonfor the development of low self-esteem among female migrant workers maybe a constant comparison of their own status and conditions with thoseof local female residents. Our study showed that more female than malemigrant workers found such thoughts about cultural differences as"I think I am looked down on by the locals in Shanghai,""People in Shanghai have a better life than I have," and"People in Shanghai dress, eat, and drink better than I do" tobe stressful. Invariably, some of them tend to see themselves asinferior to their counterparts in Shanghai. Given these two reasons, itis not surprising to find that esteem support, which involves theperception of positive appraisals by others, such as "I am praisedby others" and "Most people respect me," could improvethe self-esteem of female migrant workers and contribute to bettermental health among some of them. This study finds a moderating effect of social companionshipsupport in the female migrant workers. Adopting the argument made byLazarus (1999), one way social support can act as a moderator is throughan appraisal mechanism. In other words, an individual who can appraise appraisev. to professionally evaluate the value of property including real estate, jewelry, antique furniture, securities, or in certain cases the loss of value (or cost of replacement) due to damage. or reframe Re`frame´v. t. 1. To frame again or anew. the stressful circumstances as less threatening and seehimself or herself as having adequate resources to deal with thesituations will have better mental health than the one who does not. Inthis study, the findings appear to suggest that perceived availabilityof social companionship helped female migrant workers to appraise themigration stress as less threatening, thus resulting in better outcomesin their mental health. It is interesting that this may also partiallyexplain why female workers enjoyed relatively better mental health thandid the male migrant workers in this study. Whereas social support mighthave helped female migrant workers to counteract the effects of migrantstress on their mental health, no such effect was found among the malemigrant workers. IMPLICATIONS OF THE STUDY Future Research At present, there are very few published works on the psychosocial psychosocial/psy��cho��so��cial/ (si?ko-so��shul) pertaining to or involving both psychic and social aspects. psy��cho��so��cialadj.Involving aspects of both social and psychological behavior. issues faced by migrant workers in China in international academicjournals. Given the size of this migrant population, there is certainlya need to further explore the issues they face in settling in the citiesin China. For example, marital separation as a result of migration is anarea of concern because such marital arrangement can affect spousal spou��sal?adj.1. Of or relating to marriage; nuptial.2. Of or relating to a spouse.n.Marriage; nuptials. Often used in the plural. relationships. Besides the adult migrant population, there is an urgentneed to explore the adjustment issues faced by migrant children in thecities and those who are left behind in the villages. In addition, thesexual behaviors of male migrant workers in the cities are also a causeof concern as some of them may engage in unsafe sex. Further explorationinto these areas would provide information for formulating policies anddesigning programs to help these individuals. Policy Level The findings on risk factors may help policymakers to develop andconsolidate policies on internal migration so that the lives and rightsof the millions of migrant workers in China can be enhanced.Specifically, the central, provincial, and local governments need totighten up and follow through with policies on social security andhealth insurance for migrant workers. Moreover, they should try to workwith trade unions to address such injustices as withholding the salariesof migrant workers and should implement much stronger punitive measuresagainst those employers who exploit them (Wong, 2007). Internationally,this study points to the need for national strategies that would involvea concerted effort by different levels of government to create andimplement policies for migrant workers in individual countries. Service Provision Level As social support has been found to have a beneficial effect on themental health of migrant workers, it would be useful to help them todevelop social networks so that they can help one another to deal withtheir settlement difficulties. According to Zhao's (2000) analysis,various types of informal, mutual-aid organizations are run by migrantworkers. Although some of these organizations are economically oriented(for example, informal organizations for migrants in the transport andloading industries), others are socially oriented (for example, networksof fellow villagers, kinsmen, or relatives). Apart from satisfying basicmaterial needs, such as food and housing, these organizations facilitatethe collection and exchange of information about job opportunities andprovide a sense of security for migrant workers. At present, some ofthese organizations are loosely organized. It would be sensible for thecentral and local governments to guide and strengthen the development ofthese organizations so that they can help migrant workers to settle inurban area (Zhao, 2000). Internationally, it may be useful to engageindividuals in ethnic enclaves to help migrant workers to developinformal support networks. Indeed, this is particularly relevant tocertain ethnic groups, such as the Chinese, because they tend to rely agreat deal on informal networks for social support (Wong, 2008). Limitations of the Study Despite the contribution that this study makes to the literature,it has several limitations. First, the use of a cross-sectional surveymeans that causal factors are undetermined, and these should beinvestigated in a longitudinal study longitudinal studya chronological study in epidemiology which attempts to establish a relationship between an antecedent cause and a subsequent effect. See also cohort study. . Second, the migration stress scalewas developed to explore the specific issues that are faced by migrantworkers in Shanghai. Initial validation with factor analysis wasconducted; however, more rigorous validation of the two scales isneeded. In the absence of local norms for the BSI, this study adoptedthe criterion cutoffs suggested by Ritsner et al. (2000). Future studiesshould aim to develop local norms for the BSI. Finally, this studyexamined the situation of migrant workers in Shanghai and may not begeneralizable gen��er��al��ize?v. gen��er��al��ized, gen��er��al��iz��ing, gen��er��al��iz��esv.tr.1. a. To reduce to a general form, class, or law.b. 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Grace Leung, PhD, is a teaching consultant,University of Hong Kong.Table 1: Sociodemographic Characteristicsof Male and Female Migrant Workers All Migrants Male (N = 475) (n = 236)Characteristic n (%) n (%)Sociodemographics Age 18-25 266 (56) 128 (54.2) 26-45 209 (44) 108 (45.8) Education Primary and junior 364 (76.8) 170 (72.3) secondary Senior secondary 110 (23.2) 65 (27.7) and tertiary Employment Full-time 440 (67.8) 221 (95.3) Part-time 20 (32.2) 11 (4.7) Job type Manual work 193 (41.8) 91 (41.4) Service work 182 (38.5) 90 (40.9) Self-employment 98 (19.7) 39 (17.7) Monthly salary Below RMB 800 170 (36) 50 (72) Over RMB 800 305 (64) 186 (76) Marital status Single 153 (32.2) 162 (68.6) Married 322 (67.8) 74 (31.4) Duration of stay Less than a year 247 (52) 117 (49.6) More than a year 228 (48) 119 (50.4) Living arrangement Living alone or as 339 (71.4) 166 (70.3) a family unit Sharing flats, living 136 (28.6) 70 (29.7) in hostels Fisher's Female Exact (n = 238) Test/[chiCharacteristic n (%) square]Sociodemographics Age p = .52 18-25 137 (57.6) 26-45 101 (42.4) Education p = .01 Primary and junior 194 (81.5) secondary Senior secondary 44 (18.5) and tertiary Employment p = .41 Full-time 222 (96.15) Part-time 9 (3.9) Job type [chi square] = 3.87, p = .28 Manual work 101 (44.9) Service work 73 (32.4) Self-employment 51 (22.7) Monthly salary p = .001 Below RMB 800 120 (50.4) Over RMB 800 118 (49.6) Marital status p = .40 Single 160 (67.2) Married 78 (32.8) Duration of stay p = .18 Less than a year 129 (54.2) More than a year 109 (45.8) Living arrangement p = .32 Living alone or as 173 (72.7) a family unit Sharing flats, living 65 (27.3) in hostelsNote: RMR = renminbi.Table 2: Mental Health of Male and FemaleMigrant Workers (N = 475) Male Mentally Mentally Healthy Unhealthy (n = 177) (n = 59)Brief Symptom (75%) (25%)Inventory (BSI) M (SD) M (SD)Overall BSI 0.16 (0.12) 0.72 (0.28)Psychoticism 0.15 (0.19) 0.65 (0.38)Somatization 0.10 (0.15) 0.52 (0.41)Depression 0.12 (0.17) 0.76 (0.52)Hostility 0.20 (0.25) 0.86 (0.65)Phobic anxiety 0.11 (018) 0.58 (0.44)Obsession-compulsion 0.28 (0.30) 1.00 (0.40)Anxiety 0.05 (0.12) 0.52 (0.48)Paranoid ideation 0.20 (0.25) 0.73 (0.39)Interpersonal sensitivity 0.27 (0.34) 1.01 (0.58) Female Mentally Mentally Healthy Unhealthy (n = 218) (n = 14)Brief Symptom (94%) (6%)Inventory (BSI) M (SD) M (SD)Overall BSI 0.25 (0.19) 1.07 (0.27)Psychoticism 0.17 (0.21) 0.71 (0.48)Somatization 0.19 (0.23) 1.08 (0.49)Depression 0.27 (0.29) 1.29 (0.63)Hostility 0.31 (0.33) 1.11 (0.30)Phobic anxiety 0.26 (0.29) 1.19 (0.54)Obsession-compulsion 0.40 (0.33) 1.46 (0.69)Anxiety 0.16 (0.21) 0.83 (0.43)Paranoid ideation 0.25 (0.27) 1.04 (0.57)Interpersonal sensitivity 0.33 (0.33) 1.12 (0.80)Note: All ps = .00.Table 3: Hierarchical Regression (OLS) of Mental Healthof Male and Female Migrant Workers on Migration Stress andSocial SupportPredictors B SE [R.sup.2] Male sample (N = 236)Step 1Migration stress 0.25 Financial and employment 0.20 *** 0.04 difficulties Cultural differences 0.17 0.05 Lack of social life 0.04 0.04 Difficulties in interpersonal 0.29 *** 0.05 relationshipsStep 2 0.30 Social support Emotional support -0.02 0.04 Social companionship support -0.23 *** 0.05 Instrumental support -0.14 * 0.05 Self-esteem support -0.05 0.06 [R.sup.2] FPredictors Change Change Male sample (N = 236)Step 1Migration stress 0.25 19.47 *** Financial and employment difficulties Cultural differences Lack of social life Difficulties in interpersonal relationshipsStep 2 0.05 3.78 * Social support Emotional support Social companionship support Instrumental support Self-esteem supportPredictors B SE [R.sup.2] Female sample (N = 238)Step 1Migration stress 0.31 Financial and employment 0.21 * 0.04 difficulties Cultural differences 0.14 0.04 Lack of social life 0.05 0.04 Difficulties in interpersonal 0.28 *** 0.05 relationshipsStep 2 0.35 Social support Emotional support -0.00 0.04 Social companionship support -0.15 * 0.04 Instrumental support -0.10 0.04 Self-esteem support -0.13 * 0.05 [R.sup.2] FPredictors Change Change Female sample (N = 238)Step 1Migration stress 0.31 26.26 *** Financial and employment difficulties Cultural differences Lack of social life Difficulties in interpersonal relationshipsStep 2 0.04 3.38 * Social support Emotional support Social companionship support Instrumental support Self-esteem supportNote: OLS = ordinary least squares.* p < .05. *** p < .001.Table 4: Moderating Effects of SocialCompanionship Support and EsteemSupport on Migration Stress and MentalHealth of Female Migrant Workers (UsingHierarchical Regression OLS Model) Step 1 Step 2 Step 3Predictors B B BMigration stress 0.54 *** 0.50 *** 0.54 ***Social companionship -0.11 * -0.16 *Migration stress x socialcompanionship -1.02 ***[R.sup.2] 0.29 0.30 0.32F change 96.54 *** 3.8 * 7.50 ***[R.sup.2] 0.29 0.01 0.02 Step 1 Step 2 Step 3Predictors B B BMigration stress 0.54 *** 0.53 *** 0.14 ***Esteem support -0.12* 0.11Migration stress x esteem support -0.64[R.sup.2] 0.29 0.30 0.30F change 96.54 *** 4.61 * 1.32[R.sup.2] 0.29 0.10 0.00Note: OLS = ordinary least squares.* p < .05. *** p < .001.