Parental Migration, Parent-Child Communication, and Educational Expectation in Rural China: A Moderated Mediation Analysis

• In Event: Cross-Cultural Exploration of Schools as Sites for Adolescent Development

Abstract

Using the data from the two waves of the China Education Panel Survey, we examine the roles of parent-child communication and educational expectation among Chinese rural students (N = 2,275) with different left-behind characteristics (i.e., number of migrant parents). Model analysis shows a negative correlation between parental migration and parent-child communication, which in turn positively contributes to rural kids’ educational expectations. In addition, left-behind status moderates the association between parent-child communication and rural students’ educational expectation, in which the association becomes weaker when the number of migrant parents increases, altogether yielding a moderated mediation relationship. These results add to the existing understanding of the impact of parental migration on rural children’s received parental communication and further educational expectation.

Authors

• Jia Zhuang, Hong Kong Polytechnic University

• Jacky NG, Hong Kong Polytechnic University

• Qiaobing Wu, Hong Kong Polytechnic University