Emotion understanding is the ability to understand the nature, causes, and consequences of one’s own and others’ emotions, and how to manage emotions in everyday life (Harris et al., 2016; Möller et al., 2022). Emotional understanding is one of the key components of emotional intelligence (the ability to perceive, express, understand, and manage emotions) (Salovey and Mayer, 1990). Emotion understanding in early years predicts future social and academic performance (Pauletto et al., 2021; Veraksa et al., 2020; Viana et al., 2020). As a child develops the ability to understand their own emotions, recognize the emotions of others, and regulate their emotional state, they become more confident and competent in social interactions, which enhances their school adjustment (Darling-Churchill and Lippman, 2016). Successful social adjustment, in turn, is a significant predictor of the ability to form close peer relationships (Jardine et al., 2022) and psychological well-being (Guerra-Bustamante et al., 2019; Pauletto et al., 2021; Ferragut and Fierro, 2012). For example, children who are good at emotion understanding are less likely to experience anxiety, depression and anger (Trentacosta and Fine, 2010). In adulthood, emotion understanding is required for a success in work and personal life (Brackett et al., 2004; Ruiz-Aranda et al., 2014).

Emotion understanding unfolds in stages, each with its own age boundaries. The stages of emotion understanding development are described in a well-known model by Pons and Harris (2005). This model delineates three hierarchical levels of emotion understanding. In the first stage (3–6 years), children learn to recognize emotions based on facial expressions and to understand the external causes of emotions. In the second stage (5–9 years), children realize that emotions can be caused not only by external, but also by internal psychological phenomena (for ex-ample, beliefs, memories, or expectations). In the third stage (8–11 years), children develop the understanding that two different emotions can be experienced simultaneously, and that morality affects one’s emotions. Additionally, in the third stage, they learn to regulate their emotions by means of cognitive strategies (Pons and Harris, 2005; Pons et al., 2004).

Emotion understanding is a complex, dynamic process that cannot be reduced to simple mechanical maturation of brain structures. From the perspective of L.S. Vygotsky’s approach, a key aspect of emotion understanding is the child’s active engagement in emotionally significant situations arising within their immediate social environment (Vygotsky, 1983). Shared emotional experiences create a social situation of development for the child (Veresov, 2024; Vygotsky, 1983).

Furthermore, many studies emphasize that the effective development of emotion understanding requires challenge, that is, a situation demanding that the child moves beyond their current capabilities (Blankson et al., 2012; Pons and Harris, 2019; Veraksa et al., 2020). This implies engaging the child in new social contexts and situations requiring the integration of multiple emotional perspectives simultaneously. Such challenges prompt the child to revise existing schemas and develop more flexible emotional representations (Pons and Harris, 2005; Veraksa et al., 2020).

Due to the fundamental role of emotion understanding, it seems important to study factors that influence the development of emotion understanding in preschool and elementary school children (Rocha et al., 2015). One such factor may be migration, which constitutes a significant challenge and novel social experience for both children and their families.

Rapid industrialization and economic growth in recent decades have led to increasing numbers of people migrating to big cities within their home countries to pursue higher education or better employment opportunities (Gordeeva et al., 2024; Lall et al., 2006). Globally, there are approximately 756 million internal migrants (i.e., those moving within national borders) (Lall et al., 2006; World Bank Group, 2016). Currently, the most pronounced rural-to-urban migration occurs in developing countries, particularly China, India, and Russia (Bhagat and Keshri, 2020; Charles-Edwards et al., 2019). For instance, in Russia, the total internal migration flow in 2022 reached 3,465.2 thousand people, including 1,644.2 thousand intra-regional migrants and 1,821 thousand inter-regional migrants. Of these, 69.1% originated from urban areas, while 30.9% came from rural localities (Russian Federal State Statistics Service, 2023).

When relocating to big cities, migrant children face social, economic, healthcare, and academic challenges in their new environment (Stevens and Vollebergh, 2008; Zhang et al., 2019). This relocation entails radical changes in their social situation, including shifts in peer networks, educational institutions, and living conditions. Such transformations inevitably affect children’s emotional well-being, as they involve the loss of familiar anchors, disruption of meaningful social ties, and the need to establish new relationships (Almazova et al., 2024; Andrade et al., 2023). Under these circumstances, migrant children experience heightened psychological stress, which may negatively impact their emotional adjustment, increase anxiety levels, and contribute to mental health risks (Sun et al., 2016).

The great amount of studies confirm that migrant children are at higher risk for emotional difficulties, including depressive symptoms, anxiety, and impaired social adaptation (Jaeger et al., 2012; Kouider et al., 2014; Zheng et al., 2022). For example, Stevens and Vollebergh (2008) found that migrant children from rural regions more frequently exhibit problem behaviors (e.g., aggression, hyperactivity) because of chronic relocation-related stress. Similarly, Kouider et al. (2014) demonstrated that children from migrant families often struggle with social integration, which correlates with increased loneliness and anxiety.

These findings underscore how migration poses unique developmental challenges for children’s emotional growth. From the perspective of Bronfenbrenner’s theory, migration profoundly restructures a child’s ecological system, necessitating the adoption of new social roles that accelerate emotional maturation and foster advanced empathy and intercultural skills. Within a supportive microenvironment, this transformation becomes a resource for developing a more complex and mature emotional competence than is achievable in a monocultural context (Bronfenbrenner, 1994).

However, as noted earlier, most studies focus on risks rather than potential adaptive resources, highlighting a critical gap in literature.

Table 1 presents descriptive statistics for emotional competence components and children’s age across two groups: (1) migrant children (children whose families relocated to Moscow within the past 3 years), and (2) non-migrant children (children without relocation experience).

Results from measurement invariance testing indicated that configural invariance was supported (CFI = 1.00, RMSEA = 0.00, SRMR = 0.035), suggesting that the factor structure was consistent across groups. Metric invariance was achieved [CFI = 1.00 (ΔCFI = 0.00), RMSEA = 0.01 (ΔRMSEA = 0.01), SRMR = 0.034 (ΔSRMR = − 0.001)], demonstrating that factor loadings were equivalent across groups, confirming that the scale measured the construct similarly. Scalar invariance was also established [CFI = 1.00 (ΔCFI = 0.00), RMSEA = 0.01 (ΔRMSEA = 0.00), SRMR = 0.030 (ΔSRMR = −0.004)], allowing for meaningful latent mean comparisons across groups.

Table 2 presents the comparison between non-relocated and relocated (within 3 years) children in terms of emotion understanding. The results indicate that children who had relocated demonstrated significantly higher levels of emotion reflection ability and overall emotion understanding compared to non-relocated children, although the effect size was small (rb = 0,2,477). No statistically significant differences were found between groups in understanding external causes of emotions or mental state emotions.

This study examined emotion understanding characteristics in 6-7-year-old preschoolers who experienced domestic relocation compared to their non-relocated peers.

Contrary to a substantial body of evidence linking migration experience to increased stress and risks to emotional well-being (Jaeger et al., 2012; Kouider et al., 2014; Sun et al., 2016), this study found that migrant children demonstrated significantly higher scale scores for reflective emotion understanding. Specifically, domestic relocated children showed enhanced emotion reflection abilities - they were better at identifying specific emotions triggered by events and distinguishing ambivalent emotional states. The discrepancies between our findings and those of previous studies, such as Bukhalenkova et al. (2022) and Voltmer and von Salisch (2019), may be attributed to the absence of language barriers in our sample, as all participants were native speakers. Specifically, while existing research associates migrant and bilingual status with greater difficulty in emotion recognition and understanding, our study focused on internal migrants without linguistic disadvantages, suggesting this factor may account for the divergent results.

This suggests that internal migration should be viewed not only as a vulnerability factor but also as a potential catalyst for the development of emotion understanding. These results align with findings indicating that low classroom quality in kindergarten groups may facilitate the reflective component of emotion understanding (Veraksa et al., 2020). It can be hypothesized that the experience of internal migration, similar to the experience of being in an overcrowded classroom with rigid rules, compels the child to actively utilize and consequently develop emotion understanding skills for successful adaptation. Comparable findings documenting higher levels of emotion understanding in children exposed to adverse factors have been reported in the scientific literature on parent–child relationships. For example, Yakupova and Suarez (2023) demonstrated that children of parents experiencing depression tend to develop enhanced emotion understanding capacity as they attempt to navigate the adult’s unstable condition. However, the authors note that despite the apparent positive nature of this finding, the high emotional load may become a foundation for depression in the long term (Yakupova and Suarez, 2023).

The absence of significant differences in external and mental levels of emotion understanding may indicate that the internal migration experience does not accelerate emotional development overall but exerts a selective influence on its most complex, culturally and socially mediated components. However, it is more probable that, according to the developmental periodization of emotions, the ability to understand internal and mental causes of emotions should, in most cases, already be formed at previous stages. In contrast, the development of the reflective component of emotion understanding, which is associated with comprehending mixed and moral emotions and emotion regulation, is actively developing at the age corresponding to the sample in this study.

The obtained results can be interpreted within Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model (Bronfenbrenner, 1994). Migration represents a radical restructuring of the entire ecological system. Intensive changes at the micro- and mesosystem levels, combined with the need to adapt to new cultural norms (macrosystem), create an environment for the migrant child that demands constant analysis and reflection on emotional rules and reactions. While the environment of the non-migrant child remains stable, the migrant’s experience involves continuous engagement in solving emotional and social tasks, which may accelerate the development of the currently maturing levels of emotion understanding. In addition to Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model, the results are explained through the concept of the social situation of development proposed within Vygotsky’s cultural-historical approach (Vygotsky, 1983). The act of moving entails changes in the child’s system of relationships with people, forms of activity and experiences, and alterations in their “worldview” (Vygotsky, 1983). The adaptation process of the entire family post-relocation likely leads to more frequent and open experiences and discussions of emotional states, causes of difficulties, and coping strategies, thereby stimulating the child’s comprehension of emotions, their origins, and regulation methods. In a broader context, this research contributes to the discussion of the “immigrant paradox” by specifically focusing on the aspect of emotional development, namely the ability to understand emotions (Coll et al., 2012). It demonstrates that the migration experience is non-linear and can simultaneously encompass both risk factors (stress, anxiety) and resources for development.

The results indicate that the experience of internal migration can serve as a factor in the development of reflective emotion understanding in 6-7-year-old children. Thus, internal migration represents a complex phenomenon combining both stress factors and developmental potential. In explaining the higher scale scores for reflective emotion understanding among migrant children, we rely on the notion that the necessity to cope with complex social situations drives the development of emotion understanding (Veraksa et al., 2020); however, this outcome should not be considered unequivocally positive, as it is likely short-term. Longitudinal studies are required to track whether this short-term advantage is offset by long-term negative consequences. Such consequences may include chronic stress, emotional burnout, increased anxiety, and difficulties in establishing trusting relationships in the long-term perspective.

The results of our research propose that educators and caregivers can view internal migration not only as a risk factor, but also as a context for focused interventions that tap into children’s adaptive potential. Future research should explore how kindergartens and schools can utilize these developmental opportunities to enhance the resilience of migrant children. The obtained results can also be applied in the development of educational programs for teachers in kindergartens and psychological interventions for relocated families.