Were there long-term health effects of exposure to parental migration on adult children? Evidence from rural China

Little is known about the role of parental rural-to-urban migration during childhood in shaping individuals’ health conditions. Using data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey, this study explores the long-term effect of parental migration during childhood on adult health outcomes. The extended regression model is employed to address the potential endogeneity of parental migration with an instrument variable. The results indicate that exposure to parental migration in childhood has a significant negative impact on adult height. Robustness checks using Body Mass Index and self-rated health status validate our findings. Mechanism analysis shows that parental migration significantly reduces left-behind children’s dietary quality in terms of food consumption patterns and dietary diversity. Given the insufficient protections related to left-behind children, there is a need for preventive intervention to mitigate the health disparity in the long term caused by parental migration. JEL classification I15, J13, O12