Parental migration and children’s educational aspirations: China and Mexico in a comparative perspective

Abstract Previous studies have provided mixed evidence on how parental migration might affect children who remain behind, highlighting the important role of contextual differences. Using newly collected data from the 2017 Survey of Migration and Children in western China and the Mexican Family Life Survey (2009–2012 waves), we compare the effects of different types of parental migration on boys and girls in two settings. The results show that boys with two migrant parents have lower educational aspirations in both settings; the aspirations of Mexican girls are more likely to be negatively influenced by maternal migration while girls in western China benefit from parents’ previous migration experience. We argue that the impacts of parental migration are shaped by economic development, cultural attitudes toward education, and gender relations in broader contexts.