Abstract: The issue of identity recognition in the social integration process of urban new immigrants is related to social stability and development. It is of great significance to explore the influencing factors, process, and mechanism of this group's identity recognition in the context of a media society. This study uses questionnaire survey data from four cities in the Yangtze River Delta region and employs a structural equation model to investigate urban new immigrants' use of new media and explore the relationship path of its impact on their local identity recognition through the two mediating factors of psychological capital and social distance. The results show that the degree of new media use by urban new immigrants can enhance their psychological capital and reduce their social distance with local residents, and the reduction of social distance with local residents can enhance their local identity recognition. Although the degree of new media use cannot directly affect the local identity recognition of urban new immigrants, it can indirectly affect their identity recognition with social distance as a mediator and psychological capital—social distance as a chain mediator. The revelation of this mechanism can help inspire urban new immigrants to empower themselves through the use of new media, and can also provide reference for communities to use new media to build platforms conducive to the social integration of this group.

Key words: new urban migrants, social distance, psychological capital, identity, new media