Educational Settings and the Development of Positive Mental Qualities in Migrant Children

The present study carried out a questionnaire investigation of the 578 rural migrant children and 214 urban children in a public migrant children school, a public mixed school and a private migrant children school, in order to explore the development characteristics of positive mental qualities in migrant children and the relation to their educational settings. The result showed that, compared with urban children, migrant children did not score differently in optimism, well being and interpersonal trust, but lower in 7 of 15 positive mental qualities. Boys had higher scores on novelty-seeking and honesty, and lower scores on modesty and heart-touched than the girls. Educational settings did not significantly influence the development of migrant children' positive mental qualities.