IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/ariqol/v17y2022i5d10.1007_s11482-021-09987-7.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Educational Expectations of Left-behind Children in China: Determinants and Gender Differences

Author

Listed:
  • Yeqing Huang

    (East China University of Science and Technology
    East China University of Science and Technology)

  • Huihui Gong

    (Hunan University)

Abstract

In response to the relatively low educational attainment of left-behind children in China, this article examines the determinants of educational expectations among left-behind children and how these differ by gender by analyzing data collected from 2215 left-behind children in southwestern China. Multinomial logistic regression models of educational expectations that incorporate family economic status, care arrangement under different parental migration patterns, and significant others are tested by gender and school level. The results prove that all of the above incorporated factors affect the educational expectations of left-behind children to a considerable extent. Comparisons of educational expectations are made between left-behind children in primary school and junior high school and between different genders. The results show that male advantages in educational expectations exist only during primary school, and female left-behind children surpass male children to have higher educational expectations during junior high school. This suggests a distinctive influence of care arrangements on educational expectations between genders. For female children, grandparental care and a higher frequency of parental contact during migration could be substituted for parental absence. However, for male children, grandparental care does not fully substitute for parental care, and parental migration seems to be more detrimental to them. The findings add to our understanding of the dynamic relationship among parental migration, gender inequality, and educational opportunity among left-behind children in general.

Suggested Citation

  • Yeqing Huang & Huihui Gong, 2022. "Educational Expectations of Left-behind Children in China: Determinants and Gender Differences," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 17(5), pages 2501-2523, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:ariqol:v:17:y:2022:i:5:d:10.1007_s11482-021-09987-7
    DOI: 10.1007/s11482-021-09987-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11482-021-09987-7
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11482-021-09987-7?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stark, Oded & Bloom, David E, 1985. "The New Economics of Labor Migration," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(2), pages 173-178, May.
    2. Zhu, Xiaoqin & Shek, Daniel T.L., 2020. "Impact of a positive youth development program on junior high school students in mainland China: A pioneer study," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    3. Petra E. Todd & Kenneth I. Wolpin, 2003. "On The Specification and Estimation of The Production Function for Cognitive Achievement," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 113(485), pages 3-33, February.
    4. Rachel Murphy & Ran Tao & Xi Lu, 2011. "Son Preference in Rural China: Patrilineal Families and Socioeconomic Change," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 37(4), pages 665-690, December.
    5. Lijun Chen & Di Qi & Dali Yang, 2020. "The Urbanization Paradox: Parental Absence and Child Development in China - an Empirical Analysis Based on the China Family Panel Studies Survey," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 13(2), pages 593-608, April.
    6. Zheng Zhou & Daniel T.L. Shek & Xiaoqin Zhu & Diya Dou, 2020. "Positive Youth Development and Adolescent Depression: A Longitudinal Study Based on Mainland Chinese High School Students," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-15, June.
    7. Zai Liang & Feinuo Sun, 2020. "The lasting impact of parental migration on children's education and health outcomes: The case of China," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 43(9), pages 217-244.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Daniel Tan Lei Shek & Kim Hung Leung & Diya Dou & Xiaoqin Zhu, 2022. "Impact of Family Functioning on Adolescent Materialism and Egocentrism in Mainland China: Positive Youth Development Attributes as a Mediator," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(17), pages 1-20, September.
    2. Wang, Chunchao & Zhang, Chenglei & Ni, Jinlan & Zhang, Haifeng & Zhang, Junsen, 2019. "Family migration in China: Do migrant children affect parental settlement intention?," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 416-428.
    3. Yangu Pan & Qiongwen Zhang & Guangzeng Liu & Bingbing Li & Chuanxing Liu, 2022. "Parents’ Attachment Styles and Adolescents’ Regulatory Emotional Self-efficacy: The Mediating Role of Adolescents’ Attachment to Parents in China," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 17(5), pages 2637-2656, October.
    4. Wenyu Chai & Xiang Li & Daniel T. L. Shek, 2022. "The Effectiveness of a Leadership Subject Using a Hybrid Teaching Mode during the Pandemic: Objective Outcome and Subjective Outcome Evaluation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(16), pages 1-17, August.
    5. Daniel T. L. Shek & Diya Dou & Xiaoqin Zhu & Xiang Li & Lindan Tan, 2022. "Materialism, Egocentrism and Delinquent Behavior in Chinese Adolescents in Mainland China: A Short-Term Longitudinal Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(8), pages 1-15, April.
    6. Yao Fu & Jia Chen, 2022. "The Influence of Parental Migration on Left-behind Children’s Mental Health in China: the Mediating Roles of Daily Stress and Sense-Making," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 17(5), pages 2455-2477, October.
    7. Hechao Jiang & Taixiang Duan & Fang Wang, 2022. "The Effects of Parental Labor Migration on Children’s Mental Health in Rural China," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 17(5), pages 2543-2562, October.
    8. Kunjie Cui & Han Xie, 2022. "Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Sources of Resilience: Mechanisms of the Relationship Between Bullying Victimization and Mental Health Among Migrant Children in China," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 17(5), pages 2479-2497, October.
    9. Diya Dou & Daniel T. L. Shek, 2021. "Concurrent and Longitudinal Relationships between Positive Youth Development Attributes and Adolescent Internet Addiction Symptoms in Chinese Mainland High School Students," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-20, February.
    10. Daniel T. L. Shek & Xiang Li & Xiaoqin Zhu & Esther Y. W. Shek, 2020. "Concurrent and Longitudinal Predictors of Adolescent Delinquency in Mainland Chinese Adolescents: The Role of Materialism and Egocentrism," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(20), pages 1-15, October.
    11. Xiang Li & Daniel T. L. Shek & Esther Y. W. Shek, 2021. "Psychological Morbidity among University Students in Hong Kong (2014–2018): Psychometric Properties of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS) and Related Correlates," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(16), pages 1-15, August.
    12. Xiaoxia Xie & Yafan Chen & Shannon Cheung & Chien-Chung Huang, 2022. "Social Innovation and Health-Related Well-Being of Left-Behind Children: Evidence from an Intelligent Robot Project in China," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 17(5), pages 2597-2617, October.
    13. Hajer Habib, 2023. "Remittances and Labor Supply: Evidence from Tunisia," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 14(2), pages 1870-1899, June.
    14. Ziesemer, Thomas H.W., 2010. "The impact of the credit crisis on poor developing countries: Growth, worker remittances, accumulation and migration," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 27(5), pages 1230-1245, September.
    15. Tahir Andrabi & Jishnu Das & Asim Ijaz Khwaja & Tristan Zajonc, 2011. "Do Value-Added Estimates Add Value? Accounting for Learning Dynamics," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(3), pages 29-54, July.
    16. Ning Xu & Chang’an Li, 2023. "Migration and Rural Sustainability: Relative Poverty Alleviation by Geographical Mobility in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-27, April.
    17. Guy Stecklov & Paul Winters & Marco Stampini & Benjamin Davis, 2003. "Can Public Transfers Reduce Mexican Migration? A study based on randomized experimental data," Working Papers 03-16, Agricultural and Development Economics Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO - ESA).
    18. Marta Favara & Catherine Porter & Tassew Woldehanna, 2019. "Smarter through social protection? Evaluating the impact of Ethiopia’s safety-net on child cognitive abilities," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(1), pages 79-96, January.
    19. Karina Acosta & Hengyu Gu, 2022. "Locked up? The development and internal migration nexus in Colombia," Documentos de Trabajo Sobre Economía Regional y Urbana 19931, Banco de la República, Economía Regional.
    20. Macours, Karen & Vakis, Renos, 2010. "Seasonal Migration and Early Childhood Development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(6), pages 857-869, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:ariqol:v:17:y:2022:i:5:d:10.1007_s11482-021-09987-7. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.