Huang Youqin, Liang Zai, Song Qian, Tao Ran
Department of Geography and Planning, State University of New York, Albany, NY 12222,
Department of Sociology, State University of New York, Albany, NY, 12222,
Int J Urban Reg Res. 2020 May;44(3):484-504. doi: 10.1111/1468-2427.12649. Epub 2018 Jul 20.
As China is experiencing an urban revolution with massive rural-to-urban migration, millions of children are profoundly affected by their parents' migration and their decision on family arrangement. With the discriminatory Hukou system and harsh living conditions in cities, the dilemma migrant parents face is whether they should bring children to cities or leave them behind. This decision determines the household, school and community environment children live in, which in turn shapes their wellbeing. With a unique strategy of comparing "left behind children" to "migrant children" and a gendered perspective, this paper examines how different family arrangements among migrants and consequent housing conditions and gender dynamics affect children's educational wellbeing. Our findings demonstrate the complex impact of family arrangement on children, which is conditioned on wage income and the gender of absent parent and the child. We find that children from less favorable socioeconomic backgrounds benefit more from moving to cities. Children living with both parents and those living with mother and grandparents tend to do better. While the effect of housing conditions is marginal, family arrangement has a gendered effect on children. Related policy recommendations are provided.
由于中国正在经历一场大规模农村人口向城市迁移的城市革命，数百万儿童深受父母迁移及其家庭安排决策的影响。在歧视性的户籍制度和城市恶劣的生活条件下，农民工父母面临的困境是，他们是应该把孩子带到城市还是留在农村。这一决定决定了孩子们生活的家庭、学校和社区环境，进而影响他们的幸福。本文采用一种独特的策略，将“留守儿童”与“流动儿童”进行比较，并从性别视角出发，研究农民工家庭不同的安排方式以及随之而来的住房条件和性别动态如何影响儿童的教育福祉。我们的研究结果表明，家庭安排对儿童的影响是复杂的，这取决于工资收入、父母和孩子的性别。我们发现，社会经济背景较差的孩子从搬到城市中受益更多。与父母双方一起生活的孩子以及与母亲和祖父母一起生活的孩子往往表现更好。虽然住房条件的影响不大，但家庭安排对孩子有性别差异的影响。本文还提供了相关政策建议。
