Do different parenting patterns impact the health and physical growth of ‘left-behind’ preschool-aged children? A cross-sectional study in rural China

Mo, Xiuting; Xu, Lingzhong; Luo, Huiwen; Wang, Xinhai; Zhang, Furong; Tobe, Ruoyan Gai

doi:10.1093/eurpub/ckv181

Cited by 27 publications

(28 citation statements)

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“…Furthermore, our estimates on physical health complement previous studies highlighting the greater risk of health problems among children aged 10–16 years old that is associated with parental migration (Gao et al., ; Li et al., ). Several other studies instead find evidence that particularly younger children (preschool‐ and elementary school‐age children) are more vulnerable to health problems than older children (Lei et al., ; Mo et al., ). Similar to our study, Wanjie et al.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This paper lies at the intersection of three strands of literature that link migration and family left-behind. The first strand is the New Economics 1 For examples, see contributions of Creighton et al (2011), Li, Liu, andZang (2015), Mo et al (2016), Zhao and Yu (2016), Lei, Liu, and Hil (2018).…”

Section: Related Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, parents' absence due to migration may affect their children's physical health. Even though there are few studies on this issue, the existing evidence points to a detrimental impact of living in a migrant household on children left at home (Gibson, McKenzie, & Stillman, 2011;Mo et al, 2016;Nguyen, 2016;Lei et al, 2018;Xu, Wu, Zhang, & Dronkers, 2018). However, the effects depend on age, gender, and area of living (rural or urban).…”

Section: Related Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

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The impact of parental labour migration on left‐behind children's educational and psychosocial outcomes: Evidence from Romania

Botezat

Pfeiffer

2019

Population Space and Place

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Many children grow up with parents working abroad. Social scientists are interested in the scholastic achievement and health of these left‐behind children, in order to better understand the positive and negative aspects of migration for the families in the sending countries. This paper examines the causal effects of parents' migration on the education, physical, and mental health of left‐behind children aged 11 to 15 years in Romania, a country where increasingly more children have parents working abroad. Using data from a unique representative survey carried out in 2007, instrumental variable and bivariate probit estimates have been performed. The paper finds evidence for a significant positive effect of parental migration on children's school performance (reflected in higher grades) and a higher probability of suffering from depression and having health problems more frequently. The study furthermore demonstrates that living in transnational families is more harmful for girls and for those from rural areas.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Related Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Related Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

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The impact of parental labour migration on left‐behind children's educational and psychosocial outcomes: Evidence from Romania

Botezat

Pfeiffer

2019

Population Space and Place

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“…A growing body of research in this field over the last three decades has yielded conflicting results. Most studies found that leftbehind children were more likely to be stunted, underweight, or wasted compared with other children [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11], but others found that left-behind children performed similarly to, or even better than, non-left-behind children on these anthropometric indicators [12][13][14][15]. In addition, some studies identified a higher risk of anemia among left-behind than non-left-behind children [16,17], but other work found no such difference [14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The association between parental migration and early childhood nutrition of left-behind children in rural China

Shi

Zhang

et al. 2020

BMC Public Health

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Background: More than one-third of children under 3 years old are left behind at home due to parental migration in rural China, and we know very little about early childhood nutrition of left-behind children (LBC) because of the dearth of research. This study examined the association between parental migration and early childhood nutrition of LBC in rural China. Methods: We used repeated cross-sectional data of rural children aged 6-35 months who participated in two surveys in six counties of northern and southern China in 2013 and 2016 respectively. The length, weight, and hemoglobin concentration were measured by trained health-care workers blinded to parental migration status. Stunting, underweight, wasting, and anemia were identified with the standards recommended by WHO. Generalized linear regressions and multivariate logistic regressions were employed to explore the association between parental migration and these nutritional outcomes at each time point. Results: Two thousand three hundred thirty-six and 2210 children aged 6-35 months were enrolled in 2013 and 2016, respectively. The results show a reduction of the risks of stunting, underweight, and wasting from 2013 (16.4, 8.5, and 3.5%, respectively) to 2016 (12.1, 4.0, and 1.5%, respectively) but highlight a constantly and alarmingly high risk of anemia among these children (44.8% in 2013 and 43.8% in 2016). Children with migrant fathers performed as well as or better than those with non-migrants on these indicators. Children with migrant parents performed slightly worse in 2013, but equal or slightly superior in 2016 on these indicators compared with children with nonmigrants and migrant fathers. Children aged 6-17 months with migrant parents had a significantly lower risk of anemia than those living with their mothers or with both parents (43.1% vs. 63.6% and 61.5 in 2013, and 42.5 vs. 60.1 and 66.2% in 2016), even after controlling for children's sociodemographic characteristics. Conclusions: Parental migration may be not detrimental and even beneficial to early childhood nutrition of LBC in rural China. Continued nutritional support is needed for all rural children, especially interventions for preventing micronutrient deficiency. Programs for LBC are recommended to continue to focus on nutrition but pay more attention to other important health issues.

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“…A growing body of research in this field over the last three decades has yielded conflicting results. Most studies found that left-behind children were more likely to be stunted, underweight, or wasted compared with other children [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11], but others found that left-behind children performed similarly to, or even better than, non-left-behind children on these anthropometric indicators [12][13][14][15]. In addition, some studies identified a higher risk of anemia among left-behind than non-left-behind children [16,17], but other work found no such difference [14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Association between Parental Migration and Early Childhood Nutrition of Left-behind Children in Rural China

Shi

Zhang

et al. 2020

Preprint

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1980s, a large number of rural residents have migrated from their homes to cities in search of better employment opportunities. However, because of the unstable income, unfriendly settlement policies, and limited access to public services (such as education and health care) in host cities, most labor migrants leave their children at their homes in the countryside with another parent or other family members. According to the latest statistics, in 2015, 40.51 million rural children were left behind due to parental migration, accounting for 29.4% of all rural children and 15% of all children in China [2].The nutritional status of left-behind children, as one of their most important health outcomes, has drawn a lot of attention from researchers and policy-makers. A growing body of research in this field over the last three decades has yielded conflicting results. Most studies found that left-behind children were more likely to be stunted, underweight, or wasted compared with other children [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11], but others found that left-behind children performed similarly to, or even better than, non-left-behind children on these anthropometric indicators [12][13][14][15]. In addition, some studies identified a higher risk of anemia among left-behind than non-left-behind children [16,17], but other work found no such difference [14]. A recent systematic review and meta-analysis of these studies done from 1994 to September 2018, 82% of which were conducted in China, found that, compared with non-left-behind children, left-behind children had a significantly increased risk of wasting and stunting, but a similar risk of underweight and anemia [18].Further research is necessary for consideration of the confusing findings and the possible shift in the impact of parental migration on child nutrition with socioeconomic development. In addition, despite numerous studies existing, some notable gaps in our knowledge remain. Firstly, most studies on nutrition of left-behind children focused on school-age children and few included infants and young children [18]. The findings from school-age children cannot be simply generalized to younger children because of the considerable differences in growth trajectories and living environment. Studies have provided strong evidence that undernutrition in the first 3 years of life has a long-term negative effect on an individual's health and development in subsequent childhood and adulthood, and intervention is problematic once this window has passed [19][20][21]. Therefore, further research is needed to take a clear picture of early childhood nutrition of left-behind children to allow policy-makers and health-care styles: analysis of factors influencing health of left-behind children. Qual Life Res 2016, 25(11):2921-2929. 7. Tian X, Ding C, Shen C, Wang H: Does parental migration have negative impact on the growth of left-behind children?-New evidence from longitudinal data in rural China. Int J Environ Res Public Health 2017, 14(11):1308. 8. Zhang N, Becares L, Chandola T: Does ...

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Do different parenting patterns impact the health and physical growth of ‘left-behind’ preschool-aged children? A cross-sectional study in rural China

Abstract: This study highlighted the impact of the characteristics of the primary caregiver on a child's health and development and the importance of practical interventions for preschool-aged children who are left behind and raised with different parenting patterns.

Cited by 27 publications

References 27 publications

The impact of parental labour migration on left‐behind children's educational and psychosocial outcomes: Evidence from Romania

The impact of parental labour migration on left‐behind children's educational and psychosocial outcomes: Evidence from Romania

The association between parental migration and early childhood nutrition of left-behind children in rural China

The Association between Parental Migration and Early Childhood Nutrition of Left-behind Children in Rural China

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