Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR) Vol-3, Issue-2, 2017 ISSN: 2454-1362, http://www.onlinejournal.in
Psychological Support Solutions for Rural Migrant Youth in Vietnam Ngoc Phuong Thi Do1 & Ngoc Ha Do2 Ph.D. Assoc.Prof. - Vice Director of Institute for Population, Family & Children Studies (IPFCS) and Vice Director of Research Center on Educational Technology, Environment and Development of Viet Nam 2 Director, Youth Research Institute (YRI), No.5 Chua Lang St., Dong Da dist. Hanoi, Vietnam Abstract : The migration of youth from rural areas has formed small and big groups of migrants and created some psychology related issues. It is the process of forming their self in personality, their want to be appreciated by adults and selfactualization needs, developing personalities, seeking their positions in life, strengthening communications with friends, and changing life values and standards. This study surveyed 1,800 rural youth about their awareness in regard to migration related issues, psychological changes during and after migration, and their suggested solutions for psychological support. Results showed that the knowledge and awareness of rural youth about migration relates issues are limited, whereas, their psychological changes during and after migration are very complicated. This paper addressed issues related to cognition, motivation, needs and wants of rural migrant youth, their psychological characteristics and its contributing factors. It also proposed some solutions to support rural migrant youth, especially solutions for psychological support. Keyword: Social psychology; migration; psychology of rural migrant youth; migrant policies
1.
Overview
Migration is a social phenomenon that has existed for a long time and taken place in a global scale. In Vietnam, migration can be dated back from the feudalist time. During the war, Vietnamese had to move from the north to the south, from one region to another region, from Vietnam to other countries. In “Đổi mới” (reform) years, especially recently, it is popular for residents of one region to move to a different region, from rural areas to urban areas or to industrial zones to find jobs (generally referred to as migration). In Vietnam, youth occupies the majority of the total migrants in recent years. This paper will rely on the youth definition from the Youth Law in Vietnam as individuals who are from 16 to 30 years old [20].
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Scholars around the world have studied and discussed the topic of migration from different angles. People form or participate in small and big groups during their migration process and the relationship between individuals and groups has been discussed by many scholars. For example, Du, Hongfei, Xiaoming, Li, and Danhua Lin [10] discussed the effects of individualism in groups of rural-urban migrants in China; Tajfel [12] examined the importance of cognitive process related to social stereotype and the relation between interpersonal and intergroup behaviors and treatment within groups; Berry [2] explored the multicultural issues, cultural boundary and social relations between groups. Another issue of concern is discrimination and social adaptation during migration. This was addressed in a study on discrimination and its influence on migrants’ confidence in government and psychological stress of immigrants in Finland. The study was conducted with 1146 immigrants in the age of 20 to 36, representing seven immigrant groups (Russians, Ingrain/Finish returnees, Estonians, Somalia, Arabs, Vietnamese and Turks) [13]. Berry, Phinney, Sam, and Vedder [2] also discussed different acculturation profiles integration, ethnic, national, and diffuse - among migrant youth from 13 to 18 years old and analyzed adaptation factors: psychological and sociocultural factors. Also addressing adaptation during migration, Bourhis, Barrette, El-Geedi, & Schmidt [3] did a survey on acculturation orientation in students at a multicultural university in Los Angeles. The results showed that individualism and integration are the acculturation orientation preferred by European American, African American and Asian immigrants. Related to young immigrants and their psychology in acculturation, Sam [18] studied the psychological adjustments of young immigrants in Norway. The children's psychological disorders were found to be related to their acculturation during immigration process. Nesdale, Rooney, and Smith [17] developed a model of immigrant’s psychological distresses in which ethnic identity was predicted to influence individual coping resources (i.e., self-esteem, independence,
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Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR) Vol-3, Issue-2, 2017 ISSN: 2454-1362, http://www.onlinejournal.in interpersonal trust) and external coping resources (i.e., tangible, appraisal, esteem, and sense of belonging). The model was tested on a sample of 270 male and female Vietnamese migrants. The results showed that ethnic identity was significant but it was not a strong predictor of migrant distress. There have been a number of writings on rural migrant youth’s psychology, such as articles on rural migrant youth’s psychology in China, India and other countries, showing that rural migrant youth often display the following psychological problems: Low self-esteem and stigmatization: As it is widely acknowledged, young workers from the countryside are often offered with bad jobs, known as 3D jobs (Dirty, Dangerous and Difficult). These jobs, though having to deal with bad working conditions, are generally low paid and people working these jobs are considered having low values and have no hope of promotion [7]. Long exposure to such working environments and suffering from low-paid and unstable jobs makes migrant workers believe that they are really having lower values than their city peers, and consequently, develop a low self-esteem for the rest of their lives. Another thing to consider is that rural-urban young migrants, during their stay in the host community, receive very little or no support from local authority in housing, education, and accessibility to social welfare. According to Cheung, migrant youth tend to experience lower self-esteem and exhibit more signs of depression and anxiety and hostility than native urban young people [9]. Also, According to Cheung [9], it is popular for young migrants to become victims of theft, fraud, extortion, assault, and physical and verbal abuse from schoolmates or teachers. Victimization by local peers becomes the strongest predictor of poor psychological well-being among migrant youth [9]. Depression/stress and anxiety: There is a fact that migrant laborers are exposed to large uncertainties in the potential job market. They are usually concentrated in the margins of the urban economy and with few exceptions do the dirty, dangerous, and dead-end jobs, shunned by urban natives [21], which means that they must suffer much work stress including workload, work natures, payment and others’ looking down. Furthermore, the economic situation and legal status of migrants give them limited options for appropriate employment; many of them are forced to accept jobs with unfair terms and low pay. There is little debate that most domestic migrants are motivated by the promise of higher earnings in the city [11]. In addition to self-interested economic incentives, some migrants migrate to help family members or to back up family’s finance. Parents’ health conditions may also affect migration decisions of
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rural youth [6]. Migrant populations are often discriminated in urban areas because they are believed to have some undesirable attributes or characteristics (e.g. low socioeconomic status, accent, undesirable appearance and behavior) that mark them as different and cause them to be devalued, rejected and excluded [8]. With few exceptions, most rural - urban temporary migrants are socially, culturally, and residentially isolated from the “mainstream” society. Because of their lack of local residence registration and poor rural background, rural – urban temporary migrants are often looked down at and experience both institutional discrimination and social stigma [21]. These are a few reasons causing psychological problems for young migrants. In Vietnam, scholars have also discussed migration issues from different perspectives. At a recent conference in 2014, in Vietnam on rural-urban migrant workers in Mekong sub region countries, scholars discussed many facets of migration. For instance, Nguyen Dinh Cu and Pham Dai Dong [14] reported that the rural-out migration in Vietnam was increasing. Rural-rural migration was being replaced by rural-urban migration. Ruralurban migration created serious problems for the urban areas, threatening the sustainable development as population density increased, affecting the environment and infrastructure. However, rural-urban migration also contributes to the economic development in both origin and destination places. Bui Sy Loi [4] said that migrants contributed significantly to the economic development of the destinations with their cheap labor cost. On the other hand, they are also a big source of economic support for their families back home. He suggested that the government need to improve policies regards to legal support for migrants, vocational training, jobs seeking, and housing support, etc. Nguyen Thi My Van [15] also discussed the impacts of migrant workers on the socioeconomic development of the areas of origin such as reducing poverty, improving family’s financial situation, restructuring the labor forces, creating social cohesion in the community) and the impacts of migrant workers on the socioeconomic development on the areas of destination such as promoting economic growth and diversifying products and services. Bui Thi Tan and Nguyen Thi Thanh Huyen [5] looked into the migration issues from a gender lenses and found that the number of female migrant workers tended to increase because of poverty, unemployment, harsh environment, and low income at their places of origin. However, their lives after migration still face tremendous difficulties such as housing support, health care, education for their children, etc…
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Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR) Vol-3, Issue-2, 2017 ISSN: 2454-1362, http://www.onlinejournal.in In summary, there are lots of articles about immigrants in general and young migrants in particular both worldwide and in Vietnam that study issues related to migration including psychological issues of rural migrant youth. However, it seems that there are few articles analyzing in-depth the psychological characters of rural migrant youth, and from that suggesting solutions for psychological support, especially solutions that are based on group support. This is a very critical issue because if the rural migrant youth receive psychological support and have good mental health, then they could be much more helpful, not only for themselves and their families but for the community and the society where they leave and come.
2.
Method
This paper is mainly based on the results of a study about psychological characteristics of rural migrant youth during the industrialization and modernization era of Vietnam [19]. The study was carried out in six provinces (including three destination provinces where youth often come are Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong province and three provinces that youth often go from are Hung Yen, Nghe An, Tay Ninh ). Methods used in this study included documents analysis, survey (1800 participants in which 900 were from the area of origin and 900 at the area of destination), in-depth interviews (60 interviewees
including rural youth, parents, staff from departments and unions, employers), focus group discussions (18 groups including families, local authorities, mass organizations and young people); experts consultation (meetings, discussions, workshops). In this paper, we only used results from the survey to highlight some psychological characteristics and solutions in providing psychological support for rural migrant youth in Viet Nam from youth’s perspective. The results collected did not only provide information about youth’s desires and needs but also served as a foundation to develop recommendations to provide psychological support for rural migrant youth. The survey was conducted with 1,800 rural migrant youth, 900 of which immigrated from Hung Yen, Nghe An, Tay Ninh, and 900 immigrated to Binh Duong, Ha Noi, HCMC (300 surveyed in each area). The survey used in the area of origin included 36 questions and the survey in the area of destination included 39 questions. The survey for the destination places included some additional questions about the psychology changes after migration. Both surveys were structured with three sections:(a) awareness of participants in regard to migration issues; (b) psychological characteristics of rural migrant youth and the effects of migrant life to rural youth; (c) solutions in providing psychological support for rural migrant youth. Demographic information of the participants are as followed:
TABLE 1 DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION OF PARTICIPANTS (N=1800) Variables Places of destination Places of Origin n % n % n=900 n=900 Gender Male 402 44.7 435 48.3 Female 498 55.3 465 51.7 n=900 n=900 Age 16-18 30 3.3 297 33.0 19-24 435 48.3 410 45.6 25-30 435 48.3 193 21.4 n=838 n=777 Education level Elementary school or below 335 40 377 48.5 Community college/Vocational training 364 43.4 239 30.8 University level 139 16.6 161 20.7 n=900 n=875 Marital Status Married 300 33.3 183 20.9 Divorced/Separate 32 3.6 38 4.3 Widowed 3 0.3 Single 559 62.1 638 72.9 Other 9 1 13 1.5 n=884 n=889 Living Standard High 11 1.2 29 3.3
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Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR) Vol-3, Issue-2, 2017 ISSN: 2454-1362, http://www.onlinejournal.in Above average Average Low Occupation Agriculture, forestry or fishery Industrial worker Civil servant Military Trade/Services Handicrafts Freelance Housework Unemployed Other
2.1.
118 603 152 n=881 173 156 31 6 103 8 157 17 110 120
13.3 68.2 17.2 19.7 17.7 3.5 0.7 11.7 0.9 17.8 1.9 12.5 13.6
Results
The survey results showed a number of psychological characteristics and suggestions for solutions from rural migrant youth’s perspective.
2.2. Rural youth’s awareness of migration The survey results showed that youth’s awareness and understanding of migration and supporting services for them was limited. The majority of interviewed youth said that they haven’t had much access to information about migration. Only 37.9% of the participants said they received information from friends; 33.1% from the mass media; 25.0% from the family; 22.4% from the local community meetings; 15.7% from training courses and 8.1% from the local residents. Regarding to the sources of information, 38.1% of rural youth said that they were provided with information by the government; 32.4% through Youth Union; 23.9% having information from the police; 19.8% through Women Union; 16.2% through education; 15.8% through the projects that were implemented at their towns and 11.2% said they knew it from health sector. In terms of access to information about the types of support services, 67.6% said they knew the employment information service; 21.9% were aware of the counseling and career orientation; 21.6% were aware of labor market service; 12.8% knew about the service of relationship and marriage consultation; and only 11.3% were aware of psychology counseling service. The channels that provide information about available services for rural migrant youth were also inadequate. The most common channel was radio, accounting for 44.8%; through press was 36.4%; through local resident was 35.2%; through friends was 34.9%; through consultation center was 27.1%; through acquaintances was 26.9%; through printed materials and leaflets was 24%; and
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157 611 92 n=886 187 41 53 52 49 5 146 20 120 213
17.7 68.7 10.3 21.1 4.6 6 5.9 5.5 0.6 16.5 2.3 13.5 24
through union and organization meeting was 17.7%.
2.3.
Desires of rural migrant youth
The survey showed that most rural young migrants would like to have the following support such as having opportunities to improve their professional qualification, working and living skills (76.3%); having jobs (61.1%); basic needs are ensured (56.1%); accessing to information related to life (53.3%); having opportunities to be equipped with knowledge and living skills (51.2%). Other desires included being treated fairly, being protected when needed, having access to health services and education, broadening their social network, and participating in entertainment activities.
2.4. Needs and motivation of rural migrant youth As stated in table 2, the needs and motivation of young migrants were mainly due to personal reasons in which opportunities for personal development accounted for the highest percentage (74.8%); to have higher income came in second (58.5%); to seek opportunities for career advancement took the third place (57.7%); to seek stable family life ranked fourth (57.0%), while desire to contribute more to society only ranked 7th (29.5%). On the other hand, 43.4% of participants said that they were also willing to work harder than at home in exchange for more opportunities. Another 43.4% said they could take any job even if it did not require high skills or qualification. About 30% of people asked said they migrated due to coercion.
2.5. Factors affecting the psychology of rural migrant youth The study results showed that there were many factors affecting the psychology of rural migrant
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Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR) Vol-3, Issue-2, 2017 ISSN: 2454-1362, http://www.onlinejournal.in youth. Among 18 provided factors, the participants mostly chose the following: policies (58.4%), social relations (54.4%), government create favorable conditions (52.4%), vocational training and capacity development (52.3%), support from families (47.2%), social inclusion (45.4%), having opportunities for information exchange (43.2%), the availability of employment consultation service centers (41.7%). Less than 40% of participants chose the following factors: higher income, to be ensured rights of labor by the employers, friends’ support, motivation for further progress, availability of psychological and family counseling service, the availability of jobs in the market and support from local people. The psychological change in young migrants also came from multiple factors: (1) The first factor was the challenging living environments and difficulties in the city, which helped strengthen their resilience and "rehabilitate" from their inertia due to not working. (2) After some time, young migrants’ social network were gradually expanded. This would create better opportunities for them to have more positive psychological changes such as strengthening social exchange and communication, thereby enhancing understanding and selfawareness. General knowledge or professional knowledge as well as life skills were also enhanced through sharing and exchange (3) Life value of young migrants would also change due to changes in their lifestyle, working style and other factors in the surrounding environment. In urban environment, the value of promotion, wealth and income also changed. In such a competitive environment, career advancement usually required qualification and social relations, thus, many young people were determined to improve their qualifications and enhance their social network beyond family relations. The majority of rural migrant youth exhibited considerable changes after migration. As it can be seen from Table 3, all life aspects have been changed or improved substantially after migration. However, the results also indicated that although being employed, the employment was usually unstable and such instability was increasing, which necessitated further attention to migrant youth’s vocational training in both places of origin and destination. Only by doing so will rural youth be really assured to live and work in the destination places.
2.6. Psychological rural migrant youth
characteristics
of
The survey results highlighted psychological
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characteristics of rural youth in the new settlements such as (a) forming the ego (which became clearer and clearer over time), (b) desire of being respected by adults and expressing themselves, forming personal development pattern, gaining social position for life, (c) desire of enhancing communication with peers, (d) moving to regions which could provide better material and mental life, living more practically, (e) and became more and more aware of legal issues (settle disputes with employers or others by law). The survey results also indicated that 76.3% of respondents wanted to be supported by surrounding people; 50.7% wanted to be respected and treated fairly; and 42.5% wished to expand their relationship with the new community.
3. Recommendations proposed by rural migrant youth from the study To better understand the needs of rural migrant youth, the results below will present their recommendations to the state, local authorities, youth union, and the community on mass communication work, especially on psychological support services to help them have a better life in the destination places.
3.1.
To the state
The results illustrated in Table 4 indicated that expectation of migrant youth at the destinations in government’s supporting services and migration policies were higher than those of staying at home. This can be explained by the fact that after migration, rural youth often face with many difficulties so they need more government support to help them adjust with the new life.
3.2.
To local authorities and organizations
The results showed that youth from the origin places would like to have a better understanding of laws and policies, and awareness on migration issues. They would like to have a less complicated migration procedure and government support for their families while they were away from home. They were especially interested in skills development services. As for youth at the destination areas, their needs focused on better understanding of the community where they move to regards to migration (highest at 58.2%), better residential management of migrants (ranked second at 56%); receiving encouragement during hardship (ranked third at 50.9%). Migrant youth also expressed their desires for participating in community activities, opportunities for obtaining legal status as immigrants, vocational training,
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Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR) Vol-3, Issue-2, 2017 ISSN: 2454-1362, http://www.onlinejournal.in employment and opportunities for learning and socializing. Both groups expressed the same desire for better residential management, nondiscrimination practice, and job-seeking support, which are especially important for migrants at the place of destination. Youth at the destination places expressed a strong need for referral to places that can provide support or information (43.6%); have their children access to services (34.6%) and receive psychological support when needed (31.4%).
3.3. To youth union and youth union federation Table 5 showed that both groups at the places of origin and destination expressed their highest expectation for government’s materialistic and emotional support. Communications and education ranked the second; employment support ranked the third and life skills support ranked the fourth. The group at destination expressed higher needs for relevant services and support during hardship than the group at the places of origin. These above results were consistent with the psychological development of youth in their working and living environment.
3.4.
To family members and relatives
In Table 6, most of rural youth in the origin and destination hoped to receive support from their family members and relatives; however, the ratio of rural youth in the destination was lower. This means the migrated youth have partly been able to get settled in the destination. The percentage of participants who would like to be encouraged, visited and shared regularly were high in both groups.
3.5.
To local community
Table 7 showed that the percentage of youth at the places of destination make recommendations to the local community was higher compared to the people staying at the places of origin. Among these recommendations, the recommendation that local communities would not cause troubles and difficulties for young immigrants made up the highest percentage. This is understandable as these people move to a totally new place and they really need support rather than troubles.
3.6. Recommendations on psychological support Table 8 showed the the list of migrants’ recommendations arranged by priority. The priority
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list showed that facilitating the development of laborers’ abilities were the most concern of both groups. The second priority was life skills education and participating in the community activities at the destination, receiving consultation during hardship, having access to low-cost accommodation, which were essential all to their work and daily lives. However, there were also some difference in terms of ranking priority among groups in the places of origin and groups in the places of destination. Please see table 8 for more details. Relating to solutions for psychological support, local authorities, families, landlords, and business owners, when being asked, they mainly focused on the following issues: providing timely support and intervention for migrant youth and supporting them to participate in community activities; organizing activities so that the they could share information and experience with each other; providing timely consultation services and encouragement to migrants during their hardship; developing a psychological support service in the areas with a large number of migrant youth; establishing consultation centers to provide psychological support that are easy to access for migrant youth.
4. Discussion and Recommendations The migration process forms groups which is considered a social phenomenon with its rules of formation and development. This study showed that rural youth immigrants formed small or big groups with their co-workers in industrial factories or with the people in their neighborhood. Therefore, focusing on group-based psychology and their communication is of special importance in finding appropriate solutions to meet their needs, wants and psychology. Through small groups, interpersonal relationships are identified along with reciprocal interaction among group members. Rural migrant youth often have close relationship with each other as they live far from home. The group’s characteristics are the closeness and intimacy, honesty and similar experiences. However, there might also have conflicts within the groups due to objective and subjective reasons. Relationships are often personal and emotional. Direct reciprocal relationship among individuals within the group and their participation in a common activity has impacts on the cognition and views on each other and creates norms in behaving with each other. Imitation, emotional transmission, pressure, conflict and dispute were also formed. Small groups of rural migrant youth exist and develop into bigger groups and are subject to environmental impacts, specific
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Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR) Vol-3, Issue-2, 2017 ISSN: 2454-1362, http://www.onlinejournal.in social context and situations. Activities of rural migrant youth serve as the origin, foundation and condition for the formation social characteristics of individual’s psychology. The study also showed that research conducted on a large group of rural migrant youth will be considered as an impetus for social changes with their contribution to the destination places. Large group’s psychology is a subjective reflection of objective reality. In this study, the subjectivity of group psychology is depicted in their expectation, needs, benefits and personal development of members of the rural migrant youth group. Group communication is the communication between individuals and groups or among individuals within a group. Through communication, young people in small groups who come from the same or different hometowns share their migration stories, both positive and negative sides. The process has an impact on the psychology of each individual or groups, affects their awareness, attitude and behavior. Such communication has realized its influencing function on rural migrant youth. During migration, if an information is convincing, new, interesting, and suitable to the situation and mood of youth, and beneficial to them, then that information will encourage and make the migration become a more positive process. On the contrary, information could also reduce their proactiveness or annoy them. Sometimes the annoyance is lingered and transmitted, and affect the mood of other group members. According to Nguyen Thi Hong Xoan (2012), structure theory and social network theory could explain the migration issues. This study based on structure theory to examine factors such as the impact of change in the mode of production on human migration. This theory focuses on production factors, considering this as the major reason that drives migration process. Reproduction is considered appropriate as migration is a livelihood strategy of the household as well as individual and migration continues thanks to reproduction of manpower in the household. The study results showed that rural migrant youth chose to migrate due to economic factors. For instance, they would like to get out of poverty, desired a high and stable income, would like to change the form of income from the form of products that took a long time to get to the form of monthly wage, and would like to make their own decision on their earnings. Along with economic factors, psychological factors also play a role in their decision to migrate. Rural migrant youth expected to leave the countryside, changed their social status from farmers to factory workers, would like to change their residence and spiritual life, and have access to social services available in cities. Besides,
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rural migrant youth tend to follow the trend, their impulse, act immaturely and based on their guts. Another related theory is social network theory which points out the importance of social relationship, especially in migration community between emigration and immigration places. Good relationship with the people in destination places is likely to improve the chances to get a job while maintaining close relationship with their home towns gives migrants a piece of mind during their migration, ensures the efficiency and reduces the risks during migration. Once formed, the social network will get bigger and bigger during the migration process. The decision on migration is first pushed by external factors. However, it easily gains a motivation from within through the migrant’s social network. This network supports and orients the migration process at an increasing larger scale. This study can build on the social network theory to look at different factors related to rural youth migration as the solutions to make rural youth migration sustainable. The study results showed that Vietnamese rural migrant youth were in need of support from local authority, technical agencies, community and civil society, employers, service providers, and landlords at the immigration destinations. Rural youth themselves have unstable psychology, easy to change, get discouraged and negative thus they need support from relevant stakeholders. Therefore, in order to provide better support for rural migrant youth, it is important to have the following psychological support
4.1. Change the approach in ruralurban migration policies to make the migrant feel safe and create favorable conditions for migration to take place. Rural – urban migration could have a powerful impact shifting the labor economic structure from a lag-behind structure into a modernized one, and increasing labor productivity. This is a fast and sustainable development and poverty reduction pathway in some countries and is considered one of the solutions for poverty reduction at the emigration origin. Therefore, the migration policy should take the development needs instead of the capacity to receive immigrants as the starting point. It is important to eliminate all forms of discrimination between immigrants and nonimmigrants.
4.2. To facilitate the development of rural migrant youth by changing perspectives in revising migration policies.
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Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR) Vol-3, Issue-2, 2017 ISSN: 2454-1362, http://www.onlinejournal.in The study results showed that improving awareness about migration at all government levels is crucial. Migration should be considered as an inevitable rule and the impetus for socio-economic development, which redistributes the population, improves the employment rate and is a part of sustainable socio-economic development strategy. Rural youth migration should be considered as a social phenomenon with positive and negative aspects. Comprehensive solutions are needed to promote the positive sides and restrain the negatives. It is important to consider communication to raise people’s awareness and ensure migrants’ right in accessing information as a critical solution to make the migrants feel assured when migrating so that they could utilize their personal capacity to the fullest.
4.4. To help rural migrant youth feel assured when working for enterprises by suggesting enterprises and employers who use migrant workers to pay attention and support to workers in terms of income to ensure the rights of workers. Have effective methods to prevent exploitation and offense to workers; pay attention to their spiritual lives and make them feel safe in their work and life; strengthen the Trade Union, Youth Union and managers in enterprises that hire a large number of rural migrant youth in negotiation and mediation skills so that they could help the migrant workers better.
5. 4.3. Provide psychological support activities for rural migrant youth through development of free social services that support migrant psychology. The research results showed that the places of origin should enhance their communication about the benefits and challenges of migration, especially on health in general and reproductive health in particular so that rural migrant youth stay away from prostitution, drugs and other social evils. It is important to help them understand the rights and obligations of workers, equip them with necessary knowledge and skills for migration such as household registration, job search, labor contracting, health care, and savings. The destination places should strengthen support services for migrants such as jobs search, health care, education, legal advice and psychology support. Creating opportunities for migrant youth to participate in youth union and social activities is also essential. There should be no discrimination and stigma. Both places need to develop support services for migrants, particularly psychological support services for rural migrant youth, including develop psychological consultation services in industrial zones and residential areas; organize group activities, especially group meetings to strengthen communication, experience and life skill sharing; develop rural youth support centers to provide judicial assistance, information, accommodation, employment opportunities; refer migrants to friendly services and protect their interests; encourage local authorities to protect and create favorable conditions for the migrants to join, to integrate, and to develop; prevent discrimination against migrants.
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Conclusion
This study of rural migrant youth’s psychology has a great significance. It is the basis to develop psychology support solutions, from the macro solutions related to national policies to micro ones directly related to rural migrant youth. Therefore, in order to provide good psychological support for rural migrant youth and help them feel secure when migration, we need to increase people’s awareness and change their perspective on migration issues. Developing and revising policies to provide better support, especially psychological support is also needed to make the migrants feel safe and assured so that they could focus on working and contributing to the better development of their families and communities in both the origin and destination. These recommendations are not only helpful for Vietnamese policy makers but could also a reference for governments of countries which have similar socioeconomic and cultural situations to develop better policies and services for domestic migrants.
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groups”, Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 10(1), 1-16. [14] Nguyen Dinh Cu and Pham Dai Dong. (2014). “Migration from rural to urban in Vietnam: Things need to discussed”, Proceedings from the conference in Labor migration from rural to urban areas in the Mekong Subregion. Hue: Hue University, pp.35-43 [15]Nguyen Thi My Van. (2014). “Impacts of migrant workers on the socioeconomic development of the place of origin and destination”, Proceedings from the conference in Labor migration from rural to urban areas in the Mekong Sub-region. Hue: Hue University, pp.7785. [16] Nguyễn Thị Hồng Xoan. (2012). Gender and migration, Asian vision. Ho Chi Minh: Ho Chi Minh city National University, pp.86. [17] Nesdale, D., Rooney, R., & Smith, L. (1997). Migrant ethnic identity and psychological distress. Journal of cross- cultural psychology, 28(5), 569-588. [18] Sam, D. L. (1994). “The psychological adjustment of young immigrants in Norway”, Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 35(3), 240-253. [19] Research Center of Educational Technology, Environment and Development. (2014). Topic “the study of psychological characteristics of rural youth migrant in the period of accelerated industrialization and modernization of the country", code V11.1 -2012.11 NAFOSTED Fund [20]Vietnam National Assembly. (2005). ‘Youth Law’,No 53/2005/QH11. Retrieved online July 30, 2015 from: http://vanban.chinhphu.vn/portal/ page/portal/chinhphu/hethongvanban?class_id= 1&mode=detail&document_id=30037 [21Yang, X. (2014). “Rural–urban migration and mental and sexual health: A case study in Southwestern China”, Health Psychology and Behavioral Medicine: An Open Access Journal, 2(1), 1-15.
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APPENDIX TABLE 2 NEEDS AND MOTIVES OF RURAL MIGRANT YOUTH No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
Needs and Motives To have opportunities for capacity development To have higher income To change life & seek promotion opportunities To stabilize the family life To fulfill the role in family, to support family To change the long-term living environment To contribute to society To test or confirm personality To get a job in other urban area or local area For not being a sponger To have opportunities looking for life partner To be better fed and dressed Work can be harder than at home but there would be many more opportunities To achieve same status as friends To imitate other youth in the province To satisfy the honorable psychology Forced by others
n 667 522 515 508 490 493 454 450 433 410 401 393 387
% 74.8 58.5 57.7 57.0 55.4 55.3 50.9 50.4 48.5 46.0 45.0 44.1 43.4
356 354 327 282
39.9 39.7 36.7 31.6
TABLE 3 THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CHANGES OF RURAL YOUTH BEFORE AND AFTER MIGRATION No.
Psychological changes
Places of origin n
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Education: Vocational training College/university Employment: Unemployed Unstable employment Income: Insufficient Unstable Sufficient Social relation: Unconfident Reserved from communication Unconfident Social relation Professional Qualification: No qualification Limited qualification Life skills & experience: None Little Entertainment: None Little
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%
Places of destination n %
134 172
15.4 19.8
201 321
23.2 37.1
575 303
65.5 34.5
290 581
33.3 66.7
261 354 222
29.7 40.3 25,3
60 176 401
6.8 20.0 45,7
191 303 146 222
21.8 34.5 16.6 25.3
38 88 86 338
4.4 10.1 9.9 38.9
461 337
53.7 39.2
325 221
38.2 26.0
250 602
28.8 69.3
159 134
18.4 15.5
286 553
33.6 65.0
59 276
6.9 32.0
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Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR) Vol-3, Issue-2, 2017 ISSN: 2454-1362, http://www.onlinejournal.in
TABLE 4 RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE STATE No.
1 2 3
4 5
Recommendations
Places of origin
To provide essential support services To adopt plans on dissemination of laws and policies and to check and monitor the implementation To direct line ministries and mass organizations to have regular communications on social support services to migrants in terms of basic needs support, health care, education and especially of socio-psychological support. To consider adding policies to support migrants To strictly punish any violations against human rights of migrants
n 208
% 23.1
Places of destination n % 560 62.9
199
22.1
525
59,0
234
26,0
500
56.2
219 156
24.3 17.3
490 415
55.1 46.6
TABLE 5 RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE YOUTH UNION No
Recommendations
1 2
Support and create favorable conditions Communication, education, counseling on perception, and awareness Search for information and help with job seeking
3 4 5 6 7 8
Places of origin n 650 596
% 72.2 66.2
Places of destination n % 621 69.5 472 52.8
546
60.7
367
41.1
Organize activities for youth to share information and experience Equip life skills for young people when migrating
510
56.7
346
38.7
557
61.9
359
40.2
Psychological support when needed Develop and connect relevant services Support when he / she has difficulty Other
436 140 162 3
48.4 15.6 18,0 0,3
299 356 331 42
33.4 39.9 37,0 4,7
TABLE 6 RECOMMENDATIONS TO FAMILY MEMBERS AND RELATIVES No.
Recommendations
1
To regularly encourage, visit and share
2 3 4 5
To take care of things at home so he/she can work Not to put pressure on him/her To support in terms of finance when needed To keep contact with him/her at the destination so as to understand his/her situation
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Places of origin n 607
% 67.4
Places of destination n % 524 58.5
341 471 329 455
37.9 52.3 36.6 50.6
162 299 323 303
18.1 33.4 36.3 33.8
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Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR) Vol-3, Issue-2, 2017 ISSN: 2454-1362, http://www.onlinejournal.in
TABLE 7 RECOMMENDATIONS TO LOCAL COMMUNITY No.
Recommendations
Places of origin
198 138 221
% 22.0 15.3 24.6
Places of destination n % 601 68.1 419 47.2 417 47.0
150
16.7
288
32.4
4
0.4
46
5.2
n 1 2 3
Not to cause troubles Not to discriminate or stigmatize To provide encouragement and support when needed To provide information on employment and child care related services Other
4 5
TABLE 8 RECOMMENDED PSYCHOLOGICAL SUPPORT SOLUTIONS ARRANGED BY PRIORITY % 43.2
5
Places of origin Create favorbale conditions for workers to develop their abilities Build low-cost accommodation Provide life skill education Have chances to participate in community activities/meetings Provide consultation during hardship
Destination Facilitate the development of laborers’ abilities Life skills education Organize topical meetings Build low-cost accommodation
% 54.9
35.2
Provide consultation during hardship
51.2
6
Establish support centers
34.6
50.8
7
Pay attention to individual’s values, attitudes and satisfaction with work
33.2
8
32.8
10 11
Disseminate communications materials on psychological support and life skills education Meet with others who are the same situation Organize topic-based meetings Learn and make individual’s decision
12
Establish interest-based clubs
18.8
13
Provide individual/group psychological support
17.4
Participate in community activities when possible Disseminate communications materials on psychological support and skills instruction Pay attention to individual’s values, attitudes and satisfaction with work Establish rural migrant youth support/consultation centers Establish interest-based clubs Learn and make individual decision Meet with people with the same situation Provide individual/group psychological support
1 2 3 4
9
38.2 37.7 35.8
25.0 22.8 20.1
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55.8 52.8 52.1
48.2
47.5
45. 9 42.6 41.6 38.4 36.2
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