Does a Child’s School-age Affect Migrants’ Settlement Intention?

Abstract

Although children play an important role in family decisions, the effect of children on parents’ migration and settlement intentions has been overlooked in many studies. This paper investigates whether child age affects parental settlement intentions and how the effect varies with a child’s school age, using the 2016 China Migrants Dynamic Survey. Our research found that having an elementary school-age child has a positive impact on parents’ intentions to settle down, with the effect diminishing as the child ages into middle and high school. This means that migrants are motivated to settle in cities to give their children better opportunities to develop their human capital.