Norori Natalia, Barrass Lucy, Redaniel Maria Theresa, Lee Nanette R, Howe Laura D, Knipe Duleeka
Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
NIHR ARC West, Population Health Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
J Migr Health. 2025 Jan 25;11:100308. doi: 10.1016/j.jmh.2025.100308. eCollection 2025.
Previous work has shown that children 'left-behind' as a consequence of parental migration experience worse outcomes, although the majority of this evidence focuses on short- rather than long-term effects.
Using data from the Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey cohort (n = 1651), we assessed the association of paternal emigration (identified based on evidence of remittances sent back by mother's spouse) during childhood with the mental health and educational attainment at age 18 of Filipino children, adjusted for sex, socioeconomic position and paternal education. We explored whether timing of emigration, and household composition modified associations observed.
Children who had migrant fathers were found to be 1.24 times more likely to have high educational attainment at age 18 than children who did not have migrant fathers, although the association was imprecise (95 % confidence intervals: 0.83-1.85). We found no statistical evidence of a difference between children who experienced paternal migration compared to those who did not in terms of depressive symptoms or suicidal ideation at age 18. There was evidence that experiencing paternal migration in older childhood (≥10 years) was associated with better mental health. We found evidence that household composition modified associations for depressive symptoms.
This study does not suggest a detrimental long-term impact of paternal emigration on children 'left-behind, either for educational attainment or mental health. This may reflect beneficial effects of paternal migration and/or pre-existing socioeconomic and health differences amongst families who do and do not experience paternal migration.
先前的研究表明，父母移民导致的“留守儿童”情况会产生更糟糕的结果，尽管大部分此类证据关注的是短期而非长期影响。
利用宿务纵向健康与营养调查队列（n = 1651）的数据，我们评估了童年时期父亲移民（根据母亲配偶寄回的汇款证据确定）与菲律宾儿童18岁时的心理健康和教育程度之间的关联，并对性别、社会经济地位和父亲教育程度进行了调整。我们探讨了移民时间和家庭构成是否会改变观察到的关联。
发现有移民父亲的孩子在18岁时获得高学历的可能性是没有移民父亲的孩子的1.24倍，尽管这种关联并不精确（95%置信区间：0.83 - 1.85）。我们没有发现统计学证据表明，与未经历父亲移民的孩子相比，经历父亲移民的孩子在18岁时的抑郁症状或自杀意念存在差异。有证据表明，在童年后期（≥10岁）经历父亲移民与更好的心理健康有关。我们发现有证据表明家庭构成会改变抑郁症状的关联。
这项研究并未表明父亲移民对“留守儿童”的教育程度或心理健康有长期的不利影响。这可能反映了父亲移民的有益影响和/或经历或未经历父亲移民的家庭之间先前存在的社会经济和健康差异。
