Parental migration and non-cognitive abilities of left-behind children in rural China: Causal effects by an instrumental variable approach

Zhao, Chunkai; Chen, Boou

doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2021.105389

Cited by 31 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 74 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Hence, the findings of this paper have important policy implications for the Chinese government in formulating policies to prevent the impairment of the intellectual function of left-behind school-going children in rural China. For comparison, the finding that parental migration hurts the non-cognitive abilities of rural China's left-behind school-going children is consistent with the findings of the studies conducted by Lee and Park (2010), Wu and Zhang (2017), Zhao et al (2018), Hanchen and Xi (2019), Liu et al (2021), Zhao and Chen (2022), Yang (2008), Acosta (2006), Hanson and Woodruff (2003), Asis (2006), Kandel andKao (2001), andYuna (2014) who demonstrated that parental migration negatively affects children's non-cognitive abilities. In addition, our results of maternal migration on students' non-cognitive abilities are consistent with previous ones that the mother's migration has a negative impact (Chen et al, 2009;Jordan and Graham, 2012;Liu et al, 2021;Xu, 2018).…”

Section: Discussion Of the Resultssupporting

confidence: 87%

“…Ao et al (2021) investigated the effect of grandparental care on Chinese children's non-cognitive skills using data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) by employing the 2-stage least squares (2SLS) estimation and found that children in the care of their grandparents have a more external Locus of Control than do children in the care of their parents. Zhao and Chen (2022) studied 4636 rural students in grades seven and nine from 2643 middle schools to explore the underlying mechanisms and determine the causal link between parental migration and non-cognitive decline in children who are left behind. An endogenous treatment effect model with instrumental variables (IV) was used to identify causal relationships by building a composite index measuring children's non-cognitive abilities based on the China Education Panel Survey (CEPS) in the 2013-2014 academic year.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, evidence on non-cognitive abilities needs to be more extensive, particularly in identifying causal impacts. Though several studies have been conducted to understand better the negative consequences of parental migration on LBCs from a variety of angles, including Zhao and Chen (2022), Lee and Park (2010), Wu and Zhang (2017), Zhao et al (2018), Hanchen and Xi (2019), Liu et al (2021), Yuna (2014), andNguyen et al (2019). In the context of China, research tends to have largely ignored the parental gender aspects of the migrating parent.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Effect of parental migration on the noncognitive abilities of left-behind school-going children in rural China

Abbasi

Luo

Sohail

2023

Humanit Soc Sci Commun

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper explores the question of whether parental migration is a significant source of human capital development or whether it is harmful to non-cognitive ability development. In light of this, a research question was raised: what is the effect of different statuses of parental migration on the non-cognitive abilities of left-behind children in rural China? To answer this research question, the study uses the China Education Panel Survey (CEPS) data wave-I and employs the Propensity Score Matching (PSM) method. The findings revealed that the decision of one or both parents to migrate hurts the non-cognitive abilities of the left-behind school-going children. The results imply that parental migration of one or both parents in rural China is detrimental to the non-cognitive abilities of the left-behind children (LBCs). Therefore, parents should stay or move with their children instead of leaving them with relatives or grandparents. Furthermore, the government must concentrate on removing obstacles to education, especially for migrants, by undertaking initiatives like expanding the number of schools for LBCs and waiving tuition fees. Moreover, the government needs to take action to improve the lives of LBCs and find solutions to their problems. Lastly, the authorities need to promote economic change to create a more balanced economy.

show abstract

Section: Discussion Of the Resultssupporting

confidence: 87%

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Effect of parental migration on the noncognitive abilities of left-behind school-going children in rural China

Abbasi

Luo

Sohail

2023

Humanit Soc Sci Commun

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Variables have been measured by five dimensions in the CEPS questionnaire, which are neuroticism, extroversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. The neuroticism dimension was measured by five items (Wang et al, 2020;Zhao and Chen, 2022), that is, "you often feel "blue, " "depressed, " "unhappy, " "not enjoying life, " and "sad" in the past seven days, " using five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (never) to 5 (always), in which the Cronbach's α is 0.904. The extraversion dimension was measured by four items, that is, "there are some adults I respect and admire" "I can easily talk to adults" "I apologize when I accidentally hurt or offend people" "If I handle things, the method is wrong and I will try to find another way to solve it, " using four-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (completely agree) to 4 (completely disagree), in which the Cronbach's α is 0.680.…”

Section: Personality Traitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Influence of Physical Exercise on Adolescent Personality Traits: The Mediating Role of Peer Relationship and the Moderating Role of Parent–Child Relationship

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Adolescence is the critical period of the formation for individual personality traits, which would be influenced by numerous factors such as the internal and external environment. In view of physical exercise as an important factor affecting the healthy development of adolescents, whether it would play an important role in the formation of adolescents’ personality traits and how it would work deserve further investigation. Based on the Ecological Systems Theory, this study has explored the relationship between physical exercise and adolescents’ personality traits, as well as the mediating effect of peer relationship and the moderating effect of parent–child relationship using 9,284 data samples. The regression results show that physical exercise has a significant positive impact on the development of personality traits such as neuroticism, conscientiousness, and agreeableness. Peer relationships exert the mediating effect between physical exercise and adolescents’ personality traits. However, parent–child relationship only moderates the effect of physical exercise on conscientiousness and agreeableness.

show abstract

“…Because of separation from their parents, mental health or health conditions that are not urgent or have few visible symptoms of LBC are more likely to be overlooked [8,9]. For example, many studies suggest LBC have a greater risk of mental health difficulties, decreased non-cognitive ability, and suicidal ideation [10][11][12][13]. On the other hand, the material benefits of remittances and greater income security may lead to the improved health status of LBC and facilitate payment for health care services.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of parental migration on left-behind children’s vision health in rural China

Yang

Jing

et al. 2023

BMC Public Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Parental migration is an important factor affecting left-behind children’s health. However, few studies have addressed the effect of parental migration on children’s vision health in China. To fill the gap, this study aimed to assess the impact of parental migration on left-behind children’s vision health and to explore the possible mechanisms of the effect. Methods Data were obtained from the baseline survey of the China Education Panel Survey (CEPS), which included over 10,000 junior high school students. This study used myopia, the most common vision problem among junior high school students, and tried to analyze whether myopia was corrected with eyeglasses as indicator variables of vision health. The impact of parental migration on vision health was assessed using an instrumental variables approach. Results The results show that parental migration reduced the likelihood of myopia in left-behind children and decreased the possibility of myopic left-behind children being corrected. This result passed a series of robustness tests. The mechanism analysis indicated that compared to non-left-behind children, left-behind children spent more time on outdoor activities and less time on after-school classes, reducing their risk of being myopic. Further, because left-behind children live apart from their parents, their myopia problem is more difficult for parents to notice, and left-behind children are less likely to inform their parents of their myopia than non-left-behind children actively. This helps to explain why left-behind children have a lower correction rate with eyeglasses. Conclusions Our findings suggest that parental migration, while not increasing the prevalence of myopia in left-behind children, has led to inequity in myopic left-behind children’s correction. Given the severe consequences of uncorrected myopia, action is required to enhance the correction rate of myopic left-behind children.

show abstract

Parental migration and non-cognitive abilities of left-behind children in rural China: Causal effects by an instrumental variable approach

Cited by 31 publications

References 74 publications

Effect of parental migration on the noncognitive abilities of left-behind school-going children in rural China

Effect of parental migration on the noncognitive abilities of left-behind school-going children in rural China

The Influence of Physical Exercise on Adolescent Personality Traits: The Mediating Role of Peer Relationship and the Moderating Role of Parent–Child Relationship

The impact of parental migration on left-behind children’s vision health in rural China

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About