Education and Health Consequences of Parental Migration on Children

Suny At Albany, Albany NY

Investigators

Abstract

Over 50% of the world population resides in urban areas and migration (both internal and international) continues to be on the rise and increasingly affects more children in the household. By some estimates, between 15 to 30% of children in Africa, Asia, and Latin America live in households with at least one migrant parent. The long-term separation of children from their parents may have long term negative education and health consequences for children. Education is the engine of modern society and an important resource and investment for today's children to upward career mobility. To enhance our understanding of this critical issue the investigator will study the education and health outcomes of migrant the large population of children left behind in China. For the past three decades, China has seen the largest internal migration in human history. This massive wave of migration has also resulted in a major vulnerable population, i.e. roughly 61 million of left behind children whose parents went to work in Chinese cities. The researcher will conduct a major data collection on 4th grade left behind children in rural China. The data collection includes 4th grade student transcripts during grades 1-4, homeroom teachers? written evaluations of student education and behavior outcomes, assessment of student mental health, and a household survey of sampled students. The study also consists of analyses of variety of education outcomes and student mental health. Using both newly collected data and existing longitudinal data the investigator will examine health and behavior outcomes. Taking advantage of rich information on migration, the research examines how a variety of migration related variables (duration of migration, remittance, and distance of migration) affect education, health, and behavior outcomes for left behind children. The project builds major data and research infrastructure for the study of left behind children in rural China and allows U.S. based researchers to carry out a variety of research topics related to migration and the well-being of children. As both internal and international migration continues to increase in the 21st century, a comprehensive understanding of migration and outcomes for children is not only important for China but also holds implications for left behind children (either due to internal migration or international migration of parents) in other countries as well. The project collects data on 1,000 current 4th grade students (both left behind children and children whose parents did not migrate) in the migrant-sending province of Sichuan province. These data include: (a) retrospective 4th grade student transcripts from grade 1 to grade 4; (b) Math and Chinese language tests of 4th graders; (c) homeroom teachers? evaluation of education performance and behavior issues of each student, and (d) a survey of student emotional development. The research team will also conduct a survey of 1,000 student households, collecting data on basic socioeconomic conditions of each household, migration and labor history of parents, and information on parental home visits along with other household level information. These data will be used to estimate statistical models of education outcomes, behavior outcomes, and emotional development and test a variety of hypotheses linking these outcomes to migration, remittances, school and community contexts, and peer group influences.