Academic achievement and mental health of left-behind children in rural China

Abstract

Purpose China’s rapid pace of urbanization has resulted in millions of rural residents migrating from rural areas to urban areas for better job opportunities. Due to economic pressures and the nature of China’s demographic policies, many of these migrants have been forced to leave their children with relatives – typically paternal grandparents – at home in the countryside. Thus, while income for most migrant families has risen, a major unintended consequence of this labor movement has been the emergence of a potentially vulnerable sub-population of left-behind children (LBCs). The purpose of this paper is to examine the impacts of parental migration on both the academic performance and mental health of LBCs. Design/methodology/approach Longitudinal data were drawn from three waves of a panel survey that followed the same students and their families – including their migration behavior (i.e. whether both parents, one parent, no parent migrated) – between 2015 and 2016. The survey covers more than 33,000 students in one province of central China. The authors apply a student fixed-effects model that controls for both observable and unobservable confounding variables to explicate the causal effects of parental migration on the academic and mental health outcomes for LBC. The authors also employ these methods to test whether these effects differ by the type of migration or by gender of the child. Findings The authors found no overall impact of parental migration on either academic performance or mental health of LBCs, regardless of the type of migration behavior. The authors did find, however, that when the authors examined heterogeneous effects by gender (which was possible due to the large sample size), parental migration resulted in significantly higher anxiety levels for left-behind girls. The results suggest that parental migration affects left-behind boys and girls differently and that policymakers should take a more tailored approach to addressing the problems faced by LBCs. Originality/value The main contributions of this paper come from the large and representative sample, as well as the causal effects analysis of being left-behind on both academic performance and mental health. First, the paper uses comprehensive panel data from a representative and populous province in China, and the sample size is the largest one among LBC-related papers to the authors’ knowledge. Second, the paper separately examines the causal effects on the student outcomes of different migration strategies. Third, the paper analyzes the heterogeneous effects of different migration strategies on LBC gender. The authors believe that the paper makes a key contribution to the literature.

The Impact of Childhood Left-Behind Experience on the Mental Health of Late Adolescents: Evidence from Chinese College Freshmen

“…The second to fifth large groups were those coming from Henan, Guizhou, Anhui, and Sichuan, with the numbers of 667, 574, 509, and 425, respectively. Most existing literature only considered the left-behind children in rural areas [ 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 ], but the left-behind also exist in cities for parents who are away on business trips, or work or study in other cities or countries. Therefore, in the present study, the students coming from cities were taken into consideration.…”

Association of Child Mental Health with Child and Family Characteristics in Rural China: A Cross-Sectional Analysis

“…Our finding that there was no significant difference between the prevalence of mental health problems among left-behind children and non-left-behind children contradicts the majority of existing studies conducted in rural China, which generally show left-behind children to be a disadvantaged subgroup in terms of psychological well-being [ 15 , 63 , 64 , 65 ], though there is another cross-sectional study that also found no differences [ 57 ] and a longitudinal study that found null impacts of parental migration on child mental health [ 32 ]. Mixed results on the effects of parental migration have also been identified in contexts outside of China.…”

“…Bully victims are especially vulnerable to mental health issues [ 27 ]. Fourth, rural students in China perform significantly worse than their urban peers in school [ 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 ]. Feelings of academic incompetence or failure to succeed were shown to increase internalizing symptoms among children [ 33 , 34 ].…”

Rural minimum living standard guarantee (rural Dibao) program boosts children's education outcomes in rural China

“…For example, Zhao et al (2017) showed that housing expenditure, and thus household welfare, is increased by Rural Dibao participation. In contrast, Han et al (2016) and Wang et al (2019a, b) found that housing expenditure does not increase. The contradictions that exist among these studies make it difficult to describe Rural Dibao's ultimate effect on household welfare.…”

“…Han et al (2016) support this argument by showing that participation leads to less expenditure on social activities. Nevertheless, Han et al (2016) as well as Zhao et al (2017) and Wang et al (2019a, b) find some positive impacts of Rural Dibao on rural household welfare (e.g., participation is related to increased health expenditure).…”