Relations among resilience, emotion regulation strategies and academic self-concept among Chinese migrant children

The current study aims to explore the long-time effect of resilience on academic self-concept and the mediating effect of different emotion regulation strategies in the relationship between resilience and academic self-concept. A total of 524 migrant children (fourth grade to sixth grade; 53.3% were boys) participated in the baseline study (T1). 419 participants completed the second assessment (T2, 3 months after T1), which were used for data analysis for this study. The results showed that resilience at T1 significantly and positively predicted academic self-concept at T2 (β = 0.201, p = 0.002). Reappraisal at T2 mediated the relationship between resilience at T1 and academic self-concept at T2 (β = 0.144, p < 0.001), whereas suppression at T2 did not (β = −0.011, p = 0.083). The study enriches the empirical research on academic self-concept of migrant children, and advises educational scholar and psychologist to improve students’ academic self-concept by promoting their resilience and reappraisal ability.