Maternal/paternal migration, delinquent friendship, and depressive symptoms among left-behind children in China

Abstract

Massive internal migration in China has greatly disadvantaged children who are left behind. This study unravels the mechanism underlying the association between parental migration and children’s mental health through the lenses of social networks and gender. Using data collected in Sichuan, one of the provinces with the largest number of left-behind children in China, this study finds that maternal and paternal migration differ in their associations with left-behind children’s depressive symptoms. While paternal migration is not associated with children’s mental health, maternal migration is found to be significantly correlated with children’s depressive symptoms. Moreover, the negative association is also detected in children with mothers who returned from migration destinations. However, such an association does not vary between sons and daughters. We also find that the negative association between maternal migration and left-behind children’s mental health is partly explained by children’s delinquent social ties. Children who have experienced or are experiencing maternal migration are more likely to make friends who exhibit delinquent behavior. Such friendships are further associated with left-behind children’s vulnerability to depressive symptoms. This demonstration of the intersectionality of social networks and gender contributes to the literature on family, migration, and health.

Acknowledgement

The authors want to thank Jere Behrman, Katrina Leupp, and Emily Hannum for their comments on the earlier version of this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The project is supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation (SES#1524282) and the National Social Science Foundation of China (15AZD053) (Zai Liang, Principal Investigator), whose support is gratefully acknowledged.

Notes on contributors

Shichao Du

Shichao Du is an assistant professor of Sociology at Fudan University, China. His research interests lie in families, social networks, cultural sociology, and health as well as the interplay among them. His work has appeared in Social Science & Medicine, Higher Education, Population Research and Policy Review, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, American Journal of Preventive Medicine, The China Quarterly, Journal of Biomedical and Health Information, and Chinese Sociological Review, among others.

Zai Liang

Zai Liang is Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Chair at the University at Albany and Visiting Chair Professor at Xi’an Jiaotong University. He is Chair-Elect of the International Migration Section of the American Sociological Association and the recipient of the 2018 SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Research and Creative Activities. Until December 2023, he was serving as director and co-director of Urban China Research Network. His main research interests are migration/immigration, urbanization, and urban sociology. He is also the author of the newly published book From Chinatown to Everywhere Town.