Childhood parental migration and adult educational attainment in China

Previous studies on parental migration and children’s educational outcomes in China have predominantly focused on short-term outcomes, paying less attention to long-term effects and regional disparities. Adopting a life-course perspective, this study examines the long-term association between childhood parental migration onset and adult children’s educational attainment. Using data from the 2017 China Migrants Dynamic Survey, we estimate logistic and OLS models to examine adult children’s higher education attainment. The results show that childhood parental migration onset is significantly associated with higher odds of attaining higher education. This association is positive among agricultural-hukou households but negative among non-agricultural-hukou households. Among agricultural-hukou households, the positive association appears strongest in Central China, followed by Eastern and Western China. Descriptively, the association is larger for female than for male adult children. These findings offer a nuanced understanding of internal migration’s long-term educational implications and highlight the value of a life-course approach.