Perceived discrimination, coping, and psychosocial adjustment: A mixed methods study of Chinese internal migrant youth

Abstract Studies of identity‐based discrimination among Chinese youth attending vocational schools and working in urban areas are scarce. To contribute to the global understanding, we adopted an explanatory sequential mixed‐methods design with 204 Chinese internal migrant youth (Aged 16–24, 68.1% male, M age = 20.17 years, SD = 1.57) to examine the associations between perceived discrimination and psychological adjustment, and the moderating roles of coping and perceived social support. In the first phase, participants completed self‐report measures, and in the second phase, we interviewed a subsample of 47 youth to contextualize our quantitative trends. Quantitative findings showed that perceived discrimination was negatively linked to self‐esteem and positively to depressive symptoms, whereas active‐approach coping and social support were positively related to self‐esteem and negatively with depressive symptoms. Expressive‐evading coping covaried positively with depressive symptoms. We also found that passive‐avoidant coping exacerbated the associations between discrimination and depressive symptoms. The roles of active coping and social support in relation to self‐esteem varied by age. Qualitative data showed that migration status, rural origin, and regional dialects were the most cited reasons for experiencing discrimination, occurring most frequently in immediate neighborhoods and schools by locals and classmates. Most youth turned to close friends for emotional support, rather than parents, teachers, or classmates. Many would ignore or distract themselves from the experiences, and sometimes would actively cope with the stress. Both quantitative and qualitative findings reveal the unique challenges Chinese migrant youth encounter and distinct pathways of resilience in adapting to urban settings.