Migrating with parents or left-behind: Associations of internal migration with cognitive and noncognitive outcomes among chinese children

Migration not only represents geographical movements of residence but also plays an important role in the well-being of migrants and their children. This study is one of the first to empirically examine the cognitive and noncognitive consequences of children’s internal migration in China. Using data from the China Education Panel Survey (CEPS), the present study investigated the associations and possible mechanisms of internal migration with cognitive test scores and the Big Five personality traits among migrant and left-behind children. The results demonstrated that migrant children had significantly higher levels of cognitive skills and the Big Five noncognitive skills compared to their left-behind peers. The findings remained robust to a battery of validity checks. Further, the disparities in cognitive and noncognitive development between migrant and left-behind children were more prominent for children who were non-boarders, only-child in a household, and had a rural hukou. In addition, the mechanism analysis in this study suggested that parental supervision and peer relationship are two important pathways underlying the associations of internal migration with children’s cognitive and noncognitive outcomes. Our study highlights the importance of reducing institutional constraints on migration, implementing evidence-based interventions aiming to avoid involuntary parent–child separation, and facilitating the development of disadvantaged children during the process of internal migration.