Online Communities as a Solution to the Left-Behind Children Problem? Evidence From a Counterfactual Analysis

• In Event: Parents and Parenting in Online Contexts: Opportunities and Challenges

Abstract

In this study, we examined the effectiveness of a project carried out by a non-profit organization in China to encourage migrant-worker parents to have more communication with their children “left behind” in the rural area. One group of the participants received a 10-month training program on parenting and communication skills. The other group, besides participating in the same training sessions, also participated in an online community created on Wechat where they could share their parents-children communication experience, ask related questions and access a variety of materials on communication and parenting skills. After controlling for the effect of education and emotional attachment to children, our analysis shows that participating in the online community led to a 10.6-minute increase in the average duration of each phone from the parents to their children, suggesting that participation in an online community could be an effective way to encourage parents to have more interaction with their children.

Authors

• Yang Bai, Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications, Penn State University

• LU WEI ROSE LUQIU