It’s Not Just about the Money: Gender and Youth Migration from Rural China

Statistics suggest that young men and women in China migrate at almost equal numbers, but we know less about gender differences in the decision to migrate. We examine the factors associated with migration decisions and the rationales given by young migrants. Our results are consistent with previous figures and show no overall gender differences in susceptibility to migration. However, we find that a sibship structure operates differently on the decisions of boys and girls. We also found that young men were more likely to report that they had moved for purposes of starting a business or personal development than young women, while young women were more likely to report that they had moved to support the tuition of a family member. We argue that, despite the gender parity of the migrant youth population, gender shapes migration decisions by affecting the family circumstances and migration motivations of men and women

It\u27s Not Just About the Money: Motivations for Youth Migration in Rural China

This study investigates the incentives for labor migration of youth in rural China using panel data from the Gansu Survey of Children and Families, a longitudinal study of youth in rural Gansu Province of China. We investigate the individual and altruistic economic motivations featured prominently in demographic and economic research on migration. However, we propose that the non-economic goal of personal development, a motivation suggested in numerous qualitative studies of women migrants in China and elsewhere, is also important, especially for young migrants. Analyzes indicate that, while young men and young women hold different motivations for migration, the desire for personal development is a common motivator for young migrants. Results suggest that non-economic incentives may play an important role in youth migration in rural China and that positioning in family structures shapes the susceptibility of individuals to migrate due to altruistic economic motivations

Who Goes, Who Stays, and Who Studies? Gender, Migration, and Educational Decisions among Rural Youth in China

Little is known about what affects the decision to migrate in China, despite the estimated 145 million rural migrants that reside in urban areas as of 2009. Drawing on a survey of youth from 100 villages in Gansu Province, we analyze migration and education decisions, with a focus on disparities associated with gender, sibship structure, and academic performance. Results show modest gender differences favoring boys in educational migration, but no gender differences in the overall likelihood of labor migration. Youth with older sisters are less likely to migrate, while youth with younger brothers are more likely to migrate. For girls, having older sisters is also negatively related to being a local or a migrant student, and better early academic performance is related to educational migration. For boys, labor migration may serve as a backup plan in the event of failing the high school entrance examination. Overall, results shed more light on the factors shaping educational migration than labor migration

Do Mothers in Rural China Practice Gender Equality in Educational Aspirations for Their Children?

More than 2 decades of economic reforms have brought great improvements in the quality of life for women and girls in China. Despite these improvements, in some areas, cultural values and norms concerning gender roles and traditional family structures still influence the values attached to sons and daughters and create strong incentives for son preference (Croll 2000; Li and Lavely 2003). The most striking evidence of the priority parents place on sons is demographic: the missing girls phenomenon of abnormally masculine sex ratios at birth. This phenomenon has become more extreme in the economic reform period (Banister 2004)

Somatic Complaints and Chinese-American Adolescents: Examining the Role of Parent-child Relationships

Mental health needs of Asian-American youth have been documented as substantial and increasing, but limited research has identified explanatory mechanisms or possible targets of intervention for reducing mental health symptoms. The present study contributed to the limited existing research on self-regulatory abilities as mechanisms that may explain the linkage between Chinese-American parenting styles and adolescent somatization. A community sample of Chinese-American parent-adolescent dyads (N= 104) residing in the greater Houston, TX area were recruited to complete a battery of questionnaires containing measures of adolescent somatization, self-regulatory abilities, and parental psychological control. Correlational and regression analyses were conducted to test hypothesized relationships and models. Parent-reported emotional and cognitive self-regulatory control variables were found to mediate the relationship between utilization of aspects of both parent and adolescent-reported parental psychological control and parent-reported adolescent somatization. Additionally, lower parent-adolescent Asian values agreement level was found to predict higher parent-reported somatic complaint occurrence. Results suggest that multiple aspects of self-regulation serve as mediating mechanisms by which parenting styles may influence adolescent somatic complaint occurrence. Findings have implications for understanding of pathways to somatization (and mental health outcomes overall) in the Asian-American youth population

It is all about “Hope”: evidence on the immigrant optimism paradox

This paper investigates the immigrant educational optimism hypothesis using data from Spain. Specifically, we examine the nature of higher educational expectations among migrant-origin families in comparison to non-migrant families, conditional upon students’ prior school performance and social background. Our dataset includes more than two thousand students in secondary schools in Madrid and, as an innovation in the literature, allows identical analyses for dyads of parents and children. Our results suggest that immigrant optimism is more likely the result of positive selection of parents as first movers than lack of understanding among migrant families of how to process information regarding their children’s educational prospects in the host country. Interestingly, students from migrant-origin families themselves do not share the same optimism as their parents. We argue that migration is linked with “hopeful” aspirations and identities, which is in line with research showing selection among labour migrants on the basis of unobservable characteristics

Educational optimism in China: migrant selectivity or migration experience?

This paper addresses the so-called paradox of immigrant optimism, which accounts for the higher educational expectations of immigrant–origin children, compared to non-immigrants in destination countries, conditional on social background and school attainment. We are interested in clarifying whether the mechanisms behind this optimism are related to migrant selectivity or family migration experience. To do this we use data from the China Education Panel Study, a representative survey of junior high school students in China. We use a two-pronged analytical strategy. Firstly, we look at whether having experienced family migration (within China) is associated with higher educational expectations. Secondly, we take a step back and explore whether adolescents who wish to migrate themselves when they grow up report higher educational expectations. Our findings confirm that adolescents who wish to migrate themselves when adults are already more optimistic even before any intentions of moving come to fruition. This we take as an indirect proof of selectivity. In contrast, we find no effect of family migration on expectations

Topical amitriptyline in healthy volunteers

Background and Objectives: The antidepressant amitriptyline is used as an adjuvant in the treatment of a variety of chronic pain conditions. This drug interacts with many receptors and ion channels, such as Na ϩ channels. In a randomized, double-blinded, and placebo-controlled trial, we investigated whether amitriptyline also is capable of providing cutaneous analgesia when applied topically in 14 healthy volunteers