scholarly journals Research with children in rural China: Reflecting on the process

2021 ◽  
pp. 147332502110319
Author(s):  
Shuang Wu ◽  
Viviene E Cree
Keyword(s):  
Rural China ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Participatory Methods ◽  
West China ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
Majority World ◽  
South West ◽  
Research With Children ◽  
Conducting Research ◽  
Research Students

Conducting research with children raises significant ethical and practical difficulties; when the context is rural China, where there has been no tradition of qualitative research with children, these become especially heightened. This article, written by a student and her supervisor, introduces a pilot study conducted in 2018 as part of a Master’s degree programme at a Scottish university. The study was designed to trial two child participatory methods with the aim of scaling these up in a full PhD project; the research focused on the experiences and needs of ‘left-behind children’ in a town of South-West China. The study threw up a number of challenges for the student which are explored in the article. Whilst not wishing to over-claim on the basis of a student project, we suggest that these highlight the reality that methodologies and ‘good practice’ guidelines developed in a ‘Western’/’minority world’ context may not always be wholly compatible with a very different research environment such as this one. This conclusion presents a significant challenge for all those who are conducting research with children in the ‘Global South’/’majority world’, as well as for those who are supporting research students who may experience similar dilemmas in the ‘real world’ of research.

Left Behind by COVID-19

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 17-31
Author(s):  
Jue Wang
Keyword(s):  
Family Life ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Rural China ◽  
Gender Inequalities ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
Socially Isolated

“Left-behind” children in rural China are those whose parents seek work in urban areas and leave them behind in their hometowns. In this article, I focus on the experiences of five young “left-behind” girls who were socially isolated because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on the Chinese authorities’ instruction to schools to “Stop classes, but don’t stop learning,” I examine microlevel data on the tensions and challenges experienced by these girls during the COVID-19 lockdown. I look at how the pandemic has affected these girls in relation to school and family life and suggest that it has exposed and magnified gender inequalities, particularly those related to the maltreatment exerted by their guardians and/or brothers, that have left them even further behind.

Three mutations analysis of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency in neonates in South-west China

2007 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 463-467
Author(s):  
CHUN DENG ◽  
CHUN-BAO GUO ◽  
YOU-HUA XU ◽  
BING DENG ◽  
JIA-LIN YU
Keyword(s):  
Dehydrogenase Deficiency ◽  
West China ◽  
South West ◽  
Glucose 6 Phosphate Dehydrogenase

Grandparent-child cohesion, friendship quality, and left-behind children’s positive/negative affect in rural China

2021 ◽  
pp. 135910532110499
Author(s):  
Jingxin Zhao ◽  
Jing Ge ◽  
Qianyu Li
Keyword(s):  
Negative Affect ◽  
Positive Affect ◽  
Rural China ◽  
Friendship Quality ◽  
Interaction Effects ◽  
Positive And Negative Affect ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
Emotional Adaptation ◽  
Reinforcement Model ◽  
Intimate Exchange

This study examined the roles of grandparent-child cohesion and friendship quality in left-behind children’s positive and negative affect compared with non-left-behind children. Data from 557 participants indicated that grandparent-child cohesion and friendship quality predicted children’s emotional adaptation. Friend trust and support and intimate exchange had a stronger predictive effect on positive affect among non-left-behind children. Moreover, the interaction effects between grandparent-child cohesion and friendship quality on children’s positive affect supported the reinforcement model, while the interaction effects on negative affect supported the reinforcement model among left-behind children but supported the compensation model among non-left-behind children.

scholarly journals SEPARATED KIN: RURAL-URBAN MIGRATION AND MENTAL HEALTH TRAJECTORIES OF OLDER ADULTS LEFT BEHIND IN RURAL CHINA

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S880-S880
Author(s):  
Zhiyong Lin
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Rural China ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Migrant Children ◽  
Urban Migration ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
Rate Of Increase ◽  
The Impact

Abstract As the processes of urbanization and globalization have intensified across the world, a burgeoning literature has documented the impact of emigration on the health of family members left behind in emigrant communities. Although the association between children’s migration and parental well-being is well documented, few have examined the health implications of children’s migration in the milieu of multiple children and further differentiated between children’s short-term and long-term migration. Therefore, I argue that it is not the geographic locality of a single child but the composition of all children’s location that matters. I further suggest that the impact of children’s migration on parental wellbeing is conditioned on the duration of children’s migration. Using a six waves longitudinal data (2001-2015) collected in rural China, this paper compares mental health (measured as depressive symptoms) trajectories of old adults (aged 60 and older) across different compositions of local and migrant children over a 14-year span. Results from growth curve models show that parents having more migrant children relative to local children experience a more rapid increase in depressive symptoms. In addition, older adults who have their most children migrate away for three or more waves of data have experienced the steepest rate of increase in depressive symptoms. These findings provide new evidence to support the life course processes of mental health disparities among older adults from the perspective of intergenerational proximity.

PARENTAL AND SIBLING MIGRATION AND HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE AMONG RURAL CHILDREN IN CHINA

2015 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
MING WEN ◽  
KELIN LI
Keyword(s):  
Blood Pressure ◽  
Rural China ◽  
Random Effect ◽  
Rural Children ◽  
Urban Migration ◽  
Nutrition Survey ◽  
Prospective Survey ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
Health And Nutrition

SummaryThis study examines the associations between parental and sibling rural-to-urban migration and blood pressure (BP) of rural left-behind children (LBC) in rural China. Analysis was based on the 2000, 2004, 2006 and 2009 waves of longitudinal data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey, which is an ongoing prospective survey covering nine provinces with an individual-level response rate of 88%. Blood pressure levels were measured by trained examiners at three consecutive times on the same visit and the means of three measurements were used as the final BP values. An ordinal BP measure was then created using a recently validated age–sex-specified distribution for Chinese children and adolescents, distinguishing normal BP, pre-hypertension and hypertension. Random effect modelling was performed. Different migration circumstances play different roles in LBC's BP with mother-only and both-parent migration being particularly detrimental and father-only and sibling-only migration either having no association or a negative association with LBC's BP levels or odds of high BP. In conclusion, the link between family migration and left-behind children's blood pressure is complex, and depends on who is the person out-migrating.

Conducting research with children: the limits of confidentiality and child protection protocols

2005 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 397-409 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma Williamson ◽  
Trudy Goodenough ◽  
Julie Kent ◽  
Richard Ashcroft
Keyword(s):  
Child Protection ◽  
Research With Children ◽  
Conducting Research

The Effect of Parental Migration on the Educational Attainment of Their Left-Behind Children in Rural China

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 1037-1080 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie Xuefei Wang
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Model ◽  
Educational Attainment ◽  
Instrumental Variables ◽  
Rural China ◽  
Probit Model ◽  
School Enrollment ◽  
Reduced Form ◽  
Parental Migration ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
Negative Effect

Abstract About 60 million children under the age of 18 are left behind by their parents in rural China. This paper studies the effect of migrant parents on the educational attainment of their left-behind children in rural China. A theoretical model of optimal schooling in the context of parental migration is proposed. Then, reduced-form equations are estimated using probit model, instrumental variables probit model, and linear instrumental variables model. Results show that parental migration has a negative effect on children’s school enrollment. This negative effect is significant and sizable on the school enrollment of boys, but insignificant on the school enrollment of girls. The most important source of this robust negative effect on boys is the absence of fathers. Results suggest that left-behind mothers or relatives cannot fulfill fathers’ role successfully in disciplining boys and help with their educational needs.

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