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Parental Migration and Left-Behind Children’s Depressive Symptoms

Estimation Based on a Nationally-Representative Panel Dataset

Bibliographic Data

ID15499707
AuthorsMi Zhou (0000-0002-9067-1101, Shenyang Agricultural University), Xiaotong Sun (0000-0001-5628-0994, Shenyang Agricultural University), Li Huang (0000-0001-5365-7899, Shenyang Agricultural University, corresponding author), Guangsheng Zhang (0000-0002-9776-0529, Liaoning University, corresponding author), Kaleigh Kenny (0000-0003-3970-0023, Stanford University), Hao Xue (0000-0001-6583-993X, Northwest University), Emma Auden (Shaanxi Normal University), Scott Rozelle (0000-0001-5053-0243, Stanford University)
Year2018
Volume15
Issue6
Pages1069-1069
Publication date2018-05-24
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1661-7827 • E-ISSN: 1660-4601
PublisherMultidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (PUBLISHER • CH)
DOI10.3390/ijerph15061069
PMID29795049
OpenAlexW2803974372
LanguageEN
Citations received18
References cited21

China's rapid urbanization in the past several decades have been accompanied by rural labor migration. An important question that has emerged is whether rural labor migration has a positive or negative impact on the depressive symptoms of children left behind in the countryside by their migrating parents. This paper uses a nationally representative panel dataset to investigate whether parental migration impacts the prevalence of depressive symptoms among left-behind children in China. Using DID and PSM-DID methods, our results show that parental migration significantly increases the depression scores of 10 and 11-year-old children by 2 points using the CES-D depression scale. Furthermore, we also find that the negative effect of decreased parental care is stronger than the positive effect of increased income in terms of determining the depressive symptoms status of children in rural China

Anxiety · China · Depression (economics · Depressive symptoms · Economic growth · Economics · Estimation · Geography · Left behind · Mental health · Panel data · Panel survey · Psychiatry · Rural area · Sociology · Urbanization · Demography · Health disparities and outcomes · Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving · Medicine · Migration and Labor Dynamics · Psychology

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Unique citing works18
Citations per year2,25
Citation span2018 - 2025 (8)
Citation velocityrecent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 18
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