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Adult child migration and elderly parental health in rural China

Fang Chang (Center for Experimental Economics in Education, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, China)
Yaojiang Shi (Center for Experimental Economics in Education, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, China)
Hongmei Yi (School of Advanced Agricultural Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China)
Natalie Johnson (Rural Education Action Program (REAP), Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA)

China Agricultural Economic Review

ISSN: 1756-137X

Publication date: 7 November 2016

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effect of adult children migration on the health status of elderly parents. Increased labor migration in developing countries that lack adequate social security systems and institutionalized care for the elderly is a phenomenon that is important to understand. When their adult children go away to work, it is not clear what effect there will be on “left-behind” elderly parents.

Design/methodology/approach

This study employs nearly nationally representative data from five provinces, 25 counties, 101 villages and 2,000 households, collected from two waves of data in 2007 and 2011. This sample comprises a subset of households which include both elderly individuals (above 60 years old) and their grown (working-aged) children in order to estimate the impact of adult child migration on the health of elderly parents in rural China.

Findings

This study finds that adult child migration has a significant positive impact on the health of elderly family members.

Practical implications

These findings are consistent with the explanation that migration raises family resources, which in turn may contribute to better health outcomes for elderly household members.

Originality/value

This is the first paper to attempt to identify the relationship between household migration and the health of elderly parents within the Chinese context.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Social Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 15CJL005) and The National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 71033003) and the 111 project from Ministry of Education of China (Grant No. B16031).

Citation

Chang, F., Shi, Y., Yi, H. and Johnson, N. (2016), "Adult child migration and elderly parental health in rural China", China Agricultural Economic Review, Vol. 8 No. 4, pp. 677-697. https://doi.org/10.1108/CAER-11-2015-0169

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Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2016, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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