In the Best Interest of Children? Unpacking the Dynamics of Parental Migration and Children's Life Satisfaction in Urban Northeast China

Abstract

As China's urbanisation approaches saturation, the dynamics of migration have shifted from rural out-migration to urban out-migration. This shift has rendered children of migrants remaining in urban China understudied. By comparing children of migrants and children of non-migrants in an urban border setting—Hunchun City, Northeast China, this study examines the association between parental migration and children's life satisfaction through various potential mediating indicators within two dimensions: parents' (a) material support and (b) emotional support. This study employs a mixed-methods approach, conducting an original data set with children (N = 639) and in-depth interviews with children, parents, grandparents and schoolteachers (N = 41). The findings reveal that across different types of parental migration (father-only, mother-only, both-parent migration), children with both parents migrating have significantly lower life satisfaction than children of non-migrants, while parents' emotional support mediates significantly more than the material support. It further suggests that children with both parents migrating develop a defensive stance toward their needs as a response to their parents' absence. Specifically, they exhibit resistance to seeking parental assistance when needed, raising critical questions regarding children's resilience and highlighting the complex interplay between family dynamics and children's subjective well-being in the context of parental migration.