The Effect of Neighbourhood Social Ties on Migrants’ Mental Wellbeing in Chinese Cities

Existing literature on migrants’ mental wellbeing in Chinese cities has highlighted the crucial role of social ties, yet the pathways by which social ties influence their mental wellbeing remain poorly understood. Using Guangzhou survey data and multilevel linear regressions, this paper examines the extent to and ways in which migrants’ social ties with neighbours enhance their mental wellbeing, with a particular focus on the distinction between the main effects and buffering effects of their neighbourhood ties. Results from multilevel models reveal that neighbourhood ties enhance migrants’ mental wellbeing in a direct manner, but no evidence shows that neighbourhood ties lessen the negative impacts of neighbourhood deprivation. Results also illustrate that the association between neighbourhood ties and mental wellbeing is stronger for locals than for migrants. This paper contributes to our understanding of migrants’ mental wellbing by disentangling the positive effects of their social ties with neighbours and investigating the role of migrants’ neighbourhood ties in relation to stress arising from neighbourhood deprivation.