The Association Between Parental Migration and Childhood Illness in Rural China

Many studies have examined the relationship between parental migration and child well-being, but few have examined the influences of parental migration on children’s illness and the changes over time in China’s internal migration context. Using longitudinal data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey from 1997 to 2009, this study examines how parental out-migration is associated with left-behind children’s health, by comparing those children with children of non-migrant parent families. Random-effect models show that fathers’, but not mothers’, migration is positively associated with the likelihood of being ill. The association between fathers’ migration and childhood illness diminished over time: The influence of the fathers’ migration on childhood illness lessened as migration rates rose. The study also found that having to do more household chores due to the father’s absence partly accounts for the negative effect of fathers’ migration on children’s health.