Positive Youth Development Among Chinese Migrant Youth: The Protective Roles of Future Orientation and Social Support

The current chapter applies the Five Cs model of Positive Youth Development (PYD) to investigate if and how future orientation (individual strength) and social support (contextual asset) are related to PYD among migrant youth in China. Participants were 672 migrant youth who completed measures of the 5Cs of confidence, character, competence, caring, and connection, future orientation, and social support. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) showed that the Five Cs structure fit the data well. Linear regression models showed that after controlling for key demographics and characteristics of migration, (1) control over the future was positively associated with all the 5Cs; future expectation predicted confidence and character; hopefulness about future was positively associated with character; (2) social support predicted confidence, character, caring, and connection. Implications of these findings for PYD and optimal well-being and functioning among migrant youth in China are discussed.