Ethnic minority status and psychological integration among China's internal migrants: the mediating role of bonding social capital.

OBJECTIVE: Despite well-documented socioeconomic disadvantages, ethnic minority migrants in China continue to migrate to urban destinations, presenting the integration paradox. This study aims to examine the relationship between ethnic minority status and psychological integration among China's internal migrants and to explore the mediating pathways, particularly focusing on the mediating role of bonding social capital, thereby unpacking the integration paradox. METHODS: Using data from the 2017 China Migrants Dynamic Survey, ordinary least squares (OLS) regression is first employed to examine ethnic differences in psychological integration among China's internal migrants. Bootstrap mediation analysis is then conducted to test the mediating role of bonding social capital, manifested through family migration, household size, and social network interactions. RESULTS: Ethnic minority migrants suggest significantly higher psychological integration than Han migrants on average. This finding remains robust when using an alternative seven-item measure of psychological integration, and holds consistently across subsamples of rural-to-urban, urban-to-urban, and intra-provincial migrants. Bootstrap mediation results suggest that family migration, household size, and social network interactions each play a significant partial mediating role. CONCLUSION: Ethnic minority status is associated with stronger psychological integration through the mediating effects of bonding social capital, manifested through family migration, household size, and social network interactions. Policy implications include reconceptualizing ethnic communities from "structural burdens" to "community resources," designating family and community as core intervention units, and adopting differentiated policies that address group-specific heterogeneity in resources, migration patterns, and structural challenges.