The Influence Of Mothers' Migrant Work On The Cognitive Development Of Preschool Children In Western Rural Areas

Amid rapid economic development and urbanization,millions of rural adults in China have migrated to urban areas in search of greater economic opportunities.Rural-to-urban migration has become the largest movement of people in modern history.And generate a large number of left-behind children.According to the 2017 UNICEF Annual Report on China,there are approximately 69 million children left behind as a result of migration,predominantly in rural areas.Among the population of left-behind children,there is a considerable and growing share of those who are preschool-aged.Among all left-behind children,those that are preschool-aged comprise the largest single age group in rural China,accounting for more than 38%.Nearly 54%of children left behind grow up without both parents.Though the absence of one or both parents has a mixed—identifying two largely competing effects,namely the positive income effect and the negative effect of lack of parental care.But research suggests that due to interactive parenting and adequate nutritional practices during early childhood are crucial for the healthy cognitive development of a child,are maternal absence due to migration during early childhood may create an even greater negative impact on a child's cognitive development.Research shows that interactive parenting and adequate nutritional practices during early childhood are crucial for the healthy cognitive development of a child.As mothers are typically the second parent to migrate,the primary caregiver responsibility is commonly assumed by grandparents.Consequently,this shift is likely to lead to significant changes in caregiver practices and behaviors that are complex and uncertain.For instance,divergent preferences exist between generations for allocating the household budget and the types of material investments made in children.In addition,the reduced knowledge of and/or attention by grandparents to the nutritional needs of children,as well as the importance of time invested in stimulating activities,could lead to further disruptions in caregiver practices and overall cognitive development.According to the theory of early childhood development,such negative effects may be hard to compensate,or the compensation costs are extremely high.The purpose of this study was to assess the impacts of maternal migration on the cognitive development of Preschool-Aged children left behind in rural western china.This article mainly uses the data of the nutritional intervention project,which conducted by Center for Experimental Economics in Education of the Shaanxi Normal University in a western province of China.In selecting households,we follow a multistage cluster sampling design.We randomly choose 1,802 children and their caregivers and conduct three follow-up surveys at six-month intervals from April 2013 to 2017,uses panel data containing five waves of data and analysis of the effects and influence mechanism of maternal migration on child cognitive development uses a child fixed-effects specification and other econometric methods.Our results show that maternal migration has significant and primarily negative effects on the cognitive development of children in rural China.We find that maternal migration also has negative effects on the WMI,VAI,and NVI of-0.109 SD,-0.132 SD,and-0.114 SD,respectively.When checking the mechanism of the impacts,we observe that maternal migration leads to a reduction in the time caregivers are engaged in stimulating activities with the child.Simultaneously,we observe that maternal migration has clear negative effects on nutritional quality,it may contribute to the negative effects of maternal migration on cognition scores.We find an 11.6 per cent reduction in the number of caregivers who reported that they had used a toy to play with the child during the past 24 hours.We find a 6.2 per cent reduction in caregivers telling stories to children in the past day.We also find a 10.8 per cent reduction in caregivers reporting that they sang songs to children in the past day.We observe that maternal migration has clear negative effects on the diet of a child.It may contribute to the negative effects of maternal migration on cognition scores.We find no distinguishable effects on meal frequency(a measure of quantity),but we find significant negative effects on minimum dietary diversity and on the feeding of iron-rich foods.We find an 8.0 per cent reduction on minimum dietary diversity.We also find a 14.1 per cent reduction on the feeding of iron-rich foodsBased on the above results,this paper puts forward three policy suggestions:First,China should invest in programs to support early childhood development in rural areas.Meanwhile,investments are needed for all children;specific targeting of those left behind is not necessarily warranted.Second,Another policy option may be cash transfers targeting households with young children,which might or might not be conditional on mothers delaying out-migration.Third,the government and society should disseminate scientific parenting behaviors and feeding behaviors knowledge to the caregivers of children,and at the same time increase subsidies for rural children's food and other subsidies.Finally,families whose mothers choose to migration should pay more attention to child parenting behavior and children's diet,so as to promote the healthy development of children.