IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/chinre/v11y2018i2d10.1007_s12187-017-9461-z.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Unpacking the Relationship between Parental Migration and Child well-Being: Evidence from Moldova and Georgia

Author

Listed:
  • Franziska Gassmann

    (Maastricht University)

  • Melissa Siegel

    (Maastricht University)

  • Michaella Vanore

    (Maastricht University)

  • Jennifer Waidler

    (Maastricht University)

Abstract

Using household survey data collected between September 2011 and December 2012 from Moldova and Georgia, this paper measures and compares the multidimensional well-being of children with and without parents abroad. While a growing body of literature has addressed the effects of migration for children ‘left behind’, relatively few studies have empirically analysed if and to what extent migration implies different well-being outcomes for children, and fewer still have conducted comparisons across countries. To compare the outcomes of children in current- and non-migrant households, this paper defines a multidimensional well-being index comprised of six dimensions of wellness: education, physical health, housing conditions, protection, communication access, and emotional health. This paper challenges conventional wisdom that parental migration is harmful for child well-being: while in Moldova migration does not appear to correspond to any positive or negative well-being outcomes, in Georgia migration was linked to higher probabilities of children attaining well-being in the domains of communication access, housing, and combined well-being index. The different relationship between migration and child well-being in Moldova and Georgia likely reflects different migration trajectories, mobility patterns, and levels of maturity of each migration stream.

Suggested Citation

  • Franziska Gassmann & Melissa Siegel & Michaella Vanore & Jennifer Waidler, 2018. "Unpacking the Relationship between Parental Migration and Child well-Being: Evidence from Moldova and Georgia," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 11(2), pages 423-440, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:chinre:v:11:y:2018:i:2:d:10.1007_s12187-017-9461-z
    DOI: 10.1007/s12187-017-9461-z
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12187-017-9461-z
    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/s12187-017-9461-z?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. repec:ilo:ilowps:460184 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Dean Yang, 2008. "International Migration, Remittances and Household Investment: Evidence from Philippine Migrants’ Exchange Rate Shocks," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 118(528), pages 591-630, April.
    3. Alkire, Sabina & Foster, James, 2011. "Counting and multidimensional poverty measurement," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(7), pages 476-487.
    4. Alkire, Sabina, 2002. "Dimensions of Human Development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 181-205, February.
    5. 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.
    6. Ingrid Robeyns, 2005. "The Capability Approach: a theoretical survey," Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(1), pages 93-117.
    7. Acosta, Pablo & Fajnzylber, Pablo & Lopez, J. Humberto, 2007. "The impact of remittances on poverty and human capital : evidence from Latin American household surveys," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4247, The World Bank.
    8. Sabina Alkire, Jose Manuel Roche, 2011. "Beyond Headcount: Measures that Reflect the Breadth and Components of Child Poverty," OPHI Working Papers 45, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    9. Jonathan Bradshaw & Petra Hoelscher & Dominic Richardson, 2007. "An Index of Child Well-being in the European Union," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 80(1), pages 133-177, January.
    10. David J. McKenzie & Nicole Hildebrandt, 2005. "The Effects of Migration on Child Health in Mexico," Economía Journal, The Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association - LACEA, vol. 0(Fall 2005), pages 257-289, August.
    11. Richard Williams, 2009. "Using Heterogeneous Choice Models to Compare Logit and Probit Coefficients Across Groups," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 37(4), pages 531-559, May.
    12. Gianna Claudia Giannelli & Lucia Mangiavacchi, 2010. "Children's Schooling and Parental Migration: Empirical Evidence on the ‘Left‐behind’ Generation in Albania," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 24(s1), pages 76-92, December.
    13. Mansuri, Ghazala, 2006. "Migration, school attainment, and child labor : evidence from rural Pakistan," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3945, The World Bank.
    14. Roelen, Keetie & Gassmann, Franziska, 2008. "Measuring Child Poverty and Well-Being: a literature review," MPRA Paper 8981, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. van de Glind, Hans., 2010. "Migration and child labour : exploring child migrant vulnerabilities and those of children left behind," ILO Working Papers 994601843402676, International Labour Organization.
    16. International Monetary Fund, 2006. "Republic of Moldova: Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper Annual Evaluation Report 2005," IMF Staff Country Reports 2006/185, International Monetary Fund.
    17. Howard White & Jennifer Leavy & Andrew Masters, 2003. "Comparative Perspectives on Child Poverty: A review of poverty measures," Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(3), pages 379-396.
    18. A. Atkinson, 2003. "Multidimensional Deprivation: Contrasting Social Welfare and Counting Approaches," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 1(1), pages 51-65, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Darius Leskauskas & Virginija Adomaitienė & Giedrė Šeškevičienė & Eglė Čėsnaitė & Kastytis Šmigelskas, 2020. "Self-Reported Emotional and Behavioral Problems of Left-behind Children in Lithuania," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 13(4), pages 1203-1216, August.
    2. Justina Račaitė & Jutta Lindert & Khatia Antia & Volker Winkler & Rita Sketerskienė & Marija Jakubauskienė & Linda Wulkau & Genė Šurkienė, 2021. "Parent Emigration, Physical Health and Related Risk and Preventive Factors of Children Left Behind: A Systematic Review of Literature," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(3), pages 1-14, January.
    3. repec:thr:techub:10033:y:2022:i:1:p:309-350 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Jeenat Binta Jabbar, 2022. "Effects of parental migration on the education of left-behind children," Technium Social Sciences Journal, Technium Science, vol. 33(1), pages 309-350, July.
    5. Sergiu Bălțătescu & Tomasz Strózik & Kadri Soo & Dagmar Kutsar & Dorota Strózik & Claudia Bacter, 2023. "Subjective Well-being of Children Left Behind by Migrant Parents in Six European Countries," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 16(5), pages 1941-1969, October.
    6. Iasmina Iosim & Patricia Runcan & Remus Runcan & Cristina Jomiru & Mihaela Gavrila-Ardelean, 2022. "The Impact of Parental External Labour Migration on the Social Sustainability of the Next Generation in Developing Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-12, April.
    7. Cho, Esther Yin-Nei & Yu, Fuk-Yuen, 2020. "A review of measurement tools for child wellbeing," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).

    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. Gassmann F. & Siegel M. & Vanore M. & Waidler J., 2013. "The impact of migration on children left behind in Moldova," MERIT Working Papers 2013-043, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    2. Byegon, Isaiah Kiprono & Kabubo-Mariara, Jane & Wambugu, Anthony, 2021. "Incidence, Depth and Severity of Multiple Child Deprivations in Kenya," African Journal of Economic Review, African Journal of Economic Review, vol. 9(1), January.
    3. Tiwari, Smriti, 2021. "Do macroeconomic fluctuations at destination matter in determining migrants’ return decisions?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    4. Espinoza-Delgado, José & López-Laborda, Julio, 2017. "Nicaragua: evolución de la pobreza multidimensional, 2001-2009," Revista CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), April.
    5. Gassmann, Franziska & Siegel, Melissa & Vanore, Michaella & Waidler, Jennifer, 2012. "The impact of migration on elderly left behind in Moldova," MERIT Working Papers 2012-082, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    6. Main, Gill, 2019. "Child poverty and subjective well-being: The impact of children's perceptions of fairness and involvement in intra-household sharing," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 49-58.
    7. Sachie Mizohata & Raynald Jadoul, 2013. "Towards International and Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration for the Measurements of Quality of Life," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 111(3), pages 683-708, May.
    8. Lisa Hjelm & Lucia Ferrone & Sudhanshu Handa & Yekaterina Chzhen, 2016. "Comparing Approaches to the Measurement of Multidimensional Child Poverty," Papers inwopa872, Innocenti Working Papers.
    9. Mario Biggeri & Jose Antonio Cuesta, 2021. "An Integrated Framework for Child Poverty and Well-Being Measurement: Reconciling Theories," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 14(2), pages 821-846, April.
    10. Oh, Jihyun, 2023. "Prevalence and factors associated with multidimensional child deprivation: Findings from the Future of Families and Child Well-Being Study," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    11. Morgan, Peter J. & Trinh, Long Q., 2018. "Heterogeneous Effects of Migration on Child Welfare: Empirical Evidence from Viet Nam," ADBI Working Papers 835, Asian Development Bank Institute.
    12. Geranda Notten & Keetie Roelen, 2010. "Cross-national comparison of monetary and multidimensional child poverty in the European Union: puzzling with the few pieces that the EUSILC provides," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series 13510, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    13. Viet Nguyen, Cuong, 2016. "Does parental migration really benefit left-behind children? Comparative evidence from Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 230-239.
    14. Sung-Geun Kim, 2015. "Fuzzy Multidimensional Poverty Measurement: An Analysis of Statistical Behaviors," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 120(3), pages 635-667, February.
    15. Delphine Boutin, 2011. "Envoi de fonds et allocation du temps des enfants au Niger : L’effet indirect des chocs négatifs," Larefi Working Papers 201105, Larefi, Université Bordeaux 4.
    16. Maryam Abdu & Enrique Delamonica, 2018. "Multidimensional Child Poverty: From Complex Weighting to Simple Representation," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 136(3), pages 881-905, April.
    17. Chen, Chih-Nan & Lin, Yei-Whei, 2020. "Well-being dynamics among poor children and young people in Taiwan: Capability approach-based investigation," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    18. Jakob Dirksen & Sabina Alkire, 2021. "Children and Multidimensional Poverty: Four Measurement Strategies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-36, August.
    19. Macours, Karen & Vakis, Renos, 2010. "Seasonal Migration and Early Childhood Development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(6), pages 857-869, June.
    20. Aggarwal, Reena & Demirgüç-Kunt, Asli & Pería, Maria Soledad Martínez, 2011. "Do remittances promote financial development?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(2), pages 255-264, November.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Migration; Children; Multi-dimensional poverty; Moldova; Georgia;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-Labor Market Discrimination
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:chinre:v:11:y:2018:i:2:d:10.1007_s12187-017-9461-z. 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.