Toward Revealing The Dynamic Of Acculturation Process-a Positive Psychological Approach To Study Migrant Children In Shanghai

The present research is a quantitative study of the acculturation process of migrantchildren in Shanghai. Altogether109copies of questionnaires were distributed tosubjects and107copies were valid for research. Description analysis and correlationtests were conducted on SPSS18.0; CFA was realized on AMOS17.0After reviewing the literature of acculturation studies about Shanghai migrant children,the author noticed that most of the research has reported negative acculturationoutcomes for the migrant children. However, this is different from the observation ofthe author. At the same time, the author found that literature that addressed Shanghaimigrant children’s acculturation process from a psychological perspective thoughacculturation studies has been known in the academic world. Thereby, the authorbecame very interested in studying this topic under the combined framework ofintercultural acculturation and positive psychology. To realize the research purpose,the author proposed three research questions:1. Have migrant children in Shanghaimarginalized culturally? According to the research data, migrant children in Shanghaihaven’t been marginalized culturally, conversely, they have demonstrated evidence ofpositive acculturation outcomes.2. Can the revised Sense-Making-Coping Scale bevalidated on migrant children in Shanghai? Results of the Reliability test, Correlationtest and CFA are all very satisfying, suggesting that the Sense-Making-Coping Scalecan be validated on migrant children in Shanghai and it can be used to test theSense-Making-Coping level of the subjects.3. Do the findings of the present researchsupport the existing literature of the subjects’ acculturation outcome? The presentresearch has found that the participant’s Sense-Making-Coping level, life satisfactionlevel and score of positive dimensions of migrant children in Shanghai are all high, indicating a very positive acculturation outcome. Thus,, the findings of the presentresearch do not support the existing literature about the participants’negative outcome.4. The author proposed explanation for the discrepancies—different frameworks andapproach which might lead to different research results. A combined framework andresearch approach is most beneficial for building scholarship.