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This study investigates the long-term, gender-specific impacts of parental migration during childhood on educational attainment in adulthood. While migration can bring economic benefits through remittances, it also disrupts family caregiving arrangements, triggers emotional distress, and changes values and preferences. Using data from the China Family Panel Study, this article examines how paternal, maternal, and dual-parent outmigration before age 12 influences children's year of completed schooling by adulthood. The findings show that the father's outmigration is associated with an increase in educational attainment, particularly when the father leaves for shorter durations and in early childhood. Conversely, the mother's outmigration is associated with a reduction in years of education, with stronger impacts when the migration lasts longer (over 1 year) and occurs in later childhood (ages 4–12). The impact of parental outmigration also varies by the child's gender and rural-urban context.
Lei et al. (Tue,) studied this question.