Cumulative Family Risk and Migrant Children’s School Adjustment: A Moderated Mediation Model of Relative Deprivation and Beliefs About Adversity

Background: Migrant children encounter numerous survival challenges during their development, which may contribute to difficulties in adapting to new school environments. Although existing research has confirmed that multiple risk factors within the family microsystem negatively affect their school adjustment, the cumulative impact of these risks and their underlying mechanisms remain insufficiently explored. methods: A total of 2,498 students participated in this study, including 1,370 non-migrant children and 1,128 migrant children (mean age = 12.83 ± 1.21 years; 576 boys), recruited from three middle schools in Jiangsu Province; Results: The results showed that: (1) cumulative family risk had a significant negative predictive effect on school adjustment; (2) relative deprivation played a partial mediating role in this relationship; and (3) beliefs about adversity moderated the latter half of the mediation pathway, serving a protective function; Conclusion: Exposure to multiple family risk factors may heighten migrant children’s relative deprivation, thereby adversely influencing their school adjustment—a pathway further moderated by adversity beliefs. The present study not only contributes to a deeper theoretical understanding of the link between cumulative family risk and school adjustment and its underlying mechanisms, but also offers practical insights for designing interventions aimed at enhancing school adjustment among migrant children.