Children’s agency and wellbeing in the context of rural-to-urban migration in China

Numerous studies have examined children’s wellbeing in the context of migration in China, but many of them are from the perspectives of adults, and children’s voices rarely receive enough attention. Drawing on the social relational theory and new social studies of childhood, this research aims to explore how children with different migration statuses perceive and shape their agency and wellbeing within families in the context of migration. This research examines not only how children exercise their agency in migration-related decisions and in daily routines and activities living with migration, but also what factors are associated with the ways they exercise agency and how their agency-proxy variable is related to their wellbeing. This research adopts a mixed-methods design. First, using data from the China Education Panel Survey (CEPS), this research examined the relationship between migration statuses, parenting styles, and children’s wellbeing. Second, a qualitative study was conducted to capture children’s voices. Purposive sampling was employed to select participants, including 25 left-behind children in Wanzhou, Chongqing and 36 migrant children in Changzhou, Jiangsu. Semi-structured interviews with children were conducted, transcribed, and analysed following the process of thematic analysis. Adults were interviewed to provide supplementary information. The quantitative study shows that children’s migration and left-behind statuses are associated with their parents’ parenting styles; and parenting styles are associated with children’s wellbeing outcomes. The qualitative study shows that left-behind children and migrant children can exert agency by perceiving migrating, staying, and returning in different ways, by contributing to families practically, emotionally, and hopefully, and by using various strategies to influence the interplay between children and parents/caregivers. Nevertheless, facing the roles and expectations of being a good child, the power of adults, and the structural constraints imposed on migrant families, children made compromises, kept silent, and suppressed their feelings and thoughts. The findings contribute to the conceptualisation of children’s agency as individuals and as members of a family. Children are not passive recipients within families in the context of migration; however, they cannot always successfully exercise their agency. Parents, caregivers, and practitioners need to empower children to feel and act as agents

Rural-to-urban migration, discrimination experience, and health in China: Evidence from propensity score analysis.

This research examines how rural-to-urban migration influences health through discrimination experience in China after considering migration selection bias. We conducted propensity score matching (PSM) to obtain a matched group of rural residents and rural-to-urban migrants with a similar probability of migrating from rural to urban areas using data from the 2014 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS). Regression and mediation analyses were performed after PSM. The results of regression analysis after PSM indicated that rural-to-urban migrants reported more discrimination experience than rural residents, and those of mediation analysis revealed discrimination experience to exert negative indirect effects on the associations between rural-to-urban migration and three measures of health: self-reported health, psychological distress, and physical discomfort. Sensitivity analysis using different calipers yielded similar results. Relevant policies and practices are required to respond to the unfair treatment and discrimination experienced by this migrant population

2023 Australian Youth Barometer:Understanding Young People in Australia Today

The Australian Youth Barometer gauges the pressures currently experienced by young Australians. For this third edition of the Australian Youth Barometer, we surveyed over 500 young Australians aged 18 to 24, and interviewed another thirty, on a range of topics including the economy and work, education, health and wellbeing, relationships, and civic participation

Correlating multi-scale structure characteristics to mechanical behavior of Caprinae horn sheaths

Horns are used by Bovidae animals for intraspecific combat; as such they are among Nature's toughest materials that require resistance to extreme loads. As a typical subfamily among Bovidae, Caprinae own light-wight horn with balanced strength and toughness. However, their structure and the salient mechanisms that underlie their mechanical behavior remain uncertain. This work clarifies the effect of multi-scale structure characteristics on mechanical behaviors of horn sheath by comparing Cashmere goat, White goat and Black sheep. With the methods of fractographic observations, conformational analysis, acoustic emission and finite element methods. Conformation of keratin and strength of fibre were proposed to influence the tensile/flexural performance a lot under both dried and hydrated condition. The corrugated lamellae structure was assumed to promote crack deflection and enhance dried samples, which showed more advantageous for applications of flexural loading. It is hard to impute the difference of mechanics to any one factor, and the synergism of multi-scale mechanisms is important to mechanical properties in Caprinae horn sheath. This research is expected to further encourage the horn-inspired design of secondary load-carrying lightweight composites

Gene Co-Expression Analysis Reveals Transcriptome Divergence between Wild and Cultivated Sugarcane under Drought Stress

Drought is the main abiotic stress that constrains sugarcane growth and production. To understand the molecular mechanisms that govern drought stress, we performed a comprehensive comparative analysis of physiological changes and transcriptome dynamics related to drought stress of highly drought-resistant (ROC22, cultivated genotype) and weakly drought-resistant (Badila, wild genotype) sugarcane, in a time-course experiment (0 h, 4 h, 8 h, 16 h and 32 h). Physiological examination reviewed that ROC22, which shows superior drought tolerance relative to Badila, has high performance photosynthesis and better anti-oxidation defenses under drought conditions. The time series dataset enabled the identification of important hubs and connections of gene expression networks. We identified 36,956 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in response to drought stress. Of these, 15,871 DEGs were shared by the two genotypes, and 16,662 and 4423 DEGs were unique to ROC22 and Badila, respectively. Abscisic acid (ABA)-activated signaling pathway, response to water deprivation, response to salt stress and photosynthesis-related processes showed significant enrichment in the two genotypes under drought stress. At 4 h of drought stress, ROC22 had earlier stress signal transduction and specific up-regulation of the processes response to ABA, L-proline biosynthesis and MAPK signaling pathway–plant than Badila. WGCNA analysis used to compile a gene regulatory network for ROC22 and Badila leaves exposed to drought stress revealed important candidate genes, including several classical transcription factors: NAC87, JAMYB, bHLH84, NAC21/22, HOX24 and MYB102, which are related to some antioxidants and trehalose, and other genes. These results provide new insights and resources for future research and cultivation of drought-tolerant sugarcane varieties