What Happens to the Health of Elderly Parents When Adult Child Migration Splits Households? Evidence from Rural China

Tianxiang Li, Beibei Wu, Fujin Yi, Bin Wang and Tomas Baležentis
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Tianxiang Li: College of Economics & Management, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China
Beibei Wu: College of Economics & Management, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China
Fujin Yi: College of Economics & Management, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China
Bin Wang: Anhui Institute of Economics, Hefei 230000, China

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 5, 1-14

Abstract: There is little understanding about the effects of adult child migration on the health of elderly parents left behind in the light of economic contribution and time allocation (farm work and emotional cohesion). Using the pooled data from three latest issues of China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) in the rural areas, this study assesses the impact of child migration on parents’ health by employing instrumental variable approach to deal with the endogeneity problem. Overall, the evidence suggests that adult child migration impairs parental health as indicated by lower self-reported health (SRH), body mass index (BMI), physical activity of daily living (PADL), and higher depression score. Moreover, parents who are female, poorly-educated, and living with one adult child at least are the most vulnerable groups in terms of poor health outcomes. The negative impact of farming burden on the health of parents left behind outweighs the positive impact of economic support and emotional cohesion. Thus, child migration exerts a significantly negative impact on parental health. Establishing medical and social security systems for the elderly is important to complement the traditional family support in rural China.

Keywords: adult child migration; parental health; inter-generational support; instrumental variables (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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