Long-term benefits of early childhood education on educational attainment in rural China: kindergarten V.S. preschool

More than 2 decades of economic reforms have brought great improvements in the quality of life for women and girls in China. Despite these improvements, in some areas, cultural values and norms concerning gender roles and traditional family structures still influence the values attached to sons and daughters and create strong incentives for son preference (Croll 2000; Li and Lavely 2003). The most striking evidence of the priority parents place on sons is demographic: the "missing girls" phenomenon of abnormally masculine sex ratios at birth. This phenomenon has become more extreme in the economic reform period (Banister 2004). Comments Copyright The University of Chicago Press. Reprinted from Comparative Education Review, Volume 51, Issue 2, May 2007, pages 131-157. Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/512023 This journal article is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/gansu_papers/2 Electronically published March 14, 2007 Comparative Education Review, vol. 51, no. 2. 2007 by the Comparative and International Education Society. All rights reserved. 0010-4086/2007/5102-0004$05.00 Comparative Education Review 131 Do Mothers in Rural China Practice Gender Equality in Educational Aspirations for Their Children? YUPING ZHANG, GRACE KAO, AND EMILY HANNUM More than 2 decades of economic reforms have brought great improvements in the quality of life for women and girls in China. Despite these improvements, in some areas, cultural values and norms concerning gender roles and traditional family structures still influence the values attached to sons and daughters and create strong incentives for son preference (Croll 2000; Li and Lavely 2003). The most striking evidence of the priority parents place on sons is demographic: the “missing girls” phenomenon of abnormally masculine sex ratios at birth. This phenomenon has become more extreme in the economic reform period (Banister 2004). However, whether parents privilege sons over daughters in making educational investments is a different question. Educational differences between girls and boys have become much more subtle in recent years (Hannum 2005; Connelly and Zheng 2007a, 2007b). This trend raises questions about whether traditional attitudes can still be linked to a disadvantage for girls in education. In this article, we focus on a poor rural area in northwestern China and investigate whether the gender attitudes of mothers can be linked to their plans for educating their own children in the future. Using recent longitudinal data from the Gansu Survey of Children and Families (GSCF), a survey of rural 9–12-year-old children, families, and schools in Gansu province, we explore whether mothers’ attitudes toward gender equality and oldage support, their expectations of future returns from children, mothers’ perceptions of a child’s promise for continuing schooling, and the child’s actual school performance are linked with mothers’ educational aspirations for the child, controlling for family characteristics. Our article proceeds as follows. We begin by reviewing earlier research on educational aspirations and on gender and education in developing countries. We next discuss the cultural and social contexts of rural China and of Gansu in particular. We then provide an overview of our data and proceed with the analyses. We first show descriptive tabulations of mothers’ beliefs and attitudes regarding gender equality and mothers’ anticipated future fiData collection for the Gansu Survey of Children and Families was supported by grants from the Spencer Foundation Small and Major Grants Programs (wave 1), by NIH grants 1R01TW005930-01 and 5R01TW005930-02 (wave 2), and by a grant from the World Bank (wave 2). Analysis was supported by the University of Pennsylvania Research Foundation.

Students of human fertility have been aware for a long time that there may be some special relation between the number (quantity) of children ever born to a family and the "quality" of their children as perceived by others if not by the parents. One need only cite the negative correlation between quantity and quality of children per family so often observed in both cross-section and time-series data. One of us (Becker 1960) more than a decade ago stressed the importance for understanding fertility (quantity) of the interaction between quantity and quality, and we are pleased to note that this interaction is emphasized in most of the papers in this Supplement, especially those by De Tray and Willis. Some economists have argued that the negative relation between quantity and quality often observed is a consequence of a low substitution elasticity in a family's utility function between parents' consumption or level of living and that of their children (see, e.g., Duesenberry 1960; Willis 1969). The approach followed by De Tray in this volume is different, but it makes equally special assumptions about the substitution between quantity and quality in the utility function and in household production.

Shenggen FanInternational Food Policy Research Institute and Institute of AgriculturalEconomics of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural SciencesLinxiu ZhangCenter for Chinese Agricultural Policy of the Chinese Academy of SciencesXiaobo ZhangInternational Food Policy Research InstituteI. IntroductionChina is one of the few countries in the developing world that has madeprogress in reducing its total number of poor over the past 25 years.

To investigate factors influencing maternal health care utilisation in western rural China and its relation to income before (2002) and after (2007) introducing a new rural health insurance system (NCMS). Data from cross-sectional household-based health surveys carried out in ten western rural provinces of China in 2003 and 2008 were used in the study. The study population comprised women giving birth in 2002 or 2007, with 917 and 809 births, respectively. Correlations between outcomes and explanatory variables were studied by logistic regression models and a log-linear model. Between 2002 and 2007, having no any pre-natal visit decreased from 25% to 12% (difference 13%, 95% CI 10-17%); facility-based delivery increased from 45% to 80% (difference 35%, 95% CI 29-37%); and differences in using pre-natal and delivery care between the income groups narrowed. In a logistic regression analysis, women with lower education, from minority groups, or high parity were less likely to use pre-natal and delivery care in 2007. The expenditure for facility-based delivery increased over the period, but the out-of-pocket expenditure for delivery as a percentage of the annual household income decreased. In 2007, it was 14% in the low-income group. NCMS participation was found positively correlated with lower out-of-pocket expenditure for facility-based delivery (coefficient -1.14 P < 0.05) in 2007. Facility-based delivery greatly increased between 2002 and 2007, coinciding with the introduction of the NCMS. The rural poor were still facing substantial payment for facility-based delivery, although NCMS participation reduced the out-of-pocket expenditure on average.

Education on the cheap: The long-run effects of a free compulsory education reform in rural china

To what extent do heterogeneous village contexts lead to diverging educational opportunities for the children living in them? This study investigates the relationship between residential context and educational inequality in rural China, drawing on data from the most recent, near-nationwide longitudinal survey. The study first shows that total inequality in child educational attainment in rural China is driven as much by inequality among villages as by inequality among households in the same village. Villages matter the most at the compulsory level of education: between living in two villages, population-average probabilities of discontinuing school at primary and lower secondary levels can differ by as much as 16 to 17 percentage points. Second, between the two structural dimensions of village contexts, access to off-farm employment opportunities, but not village resource constraints, is significantly associated with child educational attainment. Third, the study finds opposite associations of village out-migration opportunities with girls’ and boys’ educational attainment. These findings not only highlight the interplay between micro- and macro-level processes in shaping educational inequalities but also call attention to the social consequences of spatial inequality in economic development in rural China and beyond.

BackgroundBody height is a marker of childhood health and cumulative net nutrition during growth periods. However, sex-specific associations between body height and cognitive impairment are not well known in northern rural China.MethodsWe assessed sex differences in the association between body height and cognitive impairment in a low-income elderly population in rural China. A population-based cross-sectional study was conducted from April 2014 to August 2014 to collect basic information from elderly residents aged 60 years and older in rural areas of Tianjin, China. Body height and Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores were measured, and the relationships between these variables were assessed.ResultsA total of 1081 residents with a mean age of 67.7 years were enrolled in this study. After adjusting for age, educational attainment, smoking status, drinking status, and the presence of hypertension, diabetes, and hypercholesterolemia, higher body height was found to be associated with a decreased prevalence of cognitive impairment in elderly men. Each 1-dm increase in height was associated with a 37% decrease in the prevalence of cognitive impairment. However, there was no significant association between body height and cognitive impairment among elderly women.ConclusionIn conclusion, shorter body height was related to cognitive impairment independently of age, educational attainment, lifestyle factors, and health-related comorbid factors among low-income elderly men in rural China. Accordingly, shorter elderly men may be targeted for effective dementia prevention in rural China.

Using premier Language Environment Analysis technology to measure and analyze the home language environment, this observational study aims to describe the home language environment and child language ability, drawing on empirical data from 77 households with children aged 18–24 months from rural China. The results show large variation in measures of the home language environment and early language ability, similar to other rural Chinese samples. Results also demonstrate significant correlations between child age and the home language environment, maternal employment and the home language environment, father’s educational attainment and the home language environment, adult–child conversations and early language ability, and child vocalizations and early language ability.

This paper investigates trends in intergenerational patterns of educational attainment over time and space in China. Drawing on the Rural-Urban Migration in China and Indonesia (RUMiCI) Survey for 2008, which provides unique access to data on the educational attainments of up to three generations of people within the same household across China’s rural, urban and migrant populations, we find that inter-generational “mobility”, as reflected in low regression and correlation coefficients between child’s and parent’s education levels, is lower in rural and migrant populations than in urban ones. A closer look the sources of this correlation reveals that the low values observed in rural and migrant China stem from the fact that the vast majority of these children complete only junior high, with some children in the youngest cohorts actually moving down the education ladder relative to their parents. In contrast, for urban children, the only way is up, a combination of results that has clear and undesirable implications for China’s rural-urban divide. JEL Codes: I24 (Education and inequality), R00 (Urban, Rural, Regional, general), R20 (Household in ROO).

To estimate the prevalence, social patterning, treatment and control of hypertension among older people in the 10/66 Dementia Research Group developing country sites. Cross-sectional surveys of SBP, hypertension, and hypertension awareness, treatment and control among 17 014 people aged 65 years and over in eight urban and four rural sites in Latin America, India and China. Hypertension prevalence was higher in urban (range 52.6-79.8%) than rural sites (range 42.6-56.9%), and lower in men than women [pooled prevalence ratio 0.89, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.85-0.93]. Educational attainment was positively associated with hypertension in rural and least-developed sites. Age-standardized morbidity ratios, compared to USA (100), were higher in urban sites in Cuba (105), Dominican Republic (109), and Venezuela (107), similar in Puerto Rico (105), urban Mexico (99) and urban India (101), and lower in urban (75) and rural (61) Peru, rural Mexico (81), urban (91) and rural (84) China and rural India (65). In most Latin American centres, and urban China just over one-third of those with hypertension were controlled (BP < 140/90). Control was poor in rural China (2%), urban India (12%) and rural India (9%). The proportion controlled, not compositional factors (age, sex, education and obesity), explained most of the between-site variation in SBP. Uncontrolled hypertension is common among older people in developing countries, and may rise further during the demographic and health transitions. It is a major determinant of population SBP level. Strengthening primary care to improve hypertension management is necessary for primary prevention.

In this paper, we analyze how removing village-level primary schools and effectively merging these into larger township-level schools has affected educational attainment in rural China. We employ individual and village-level information from the China Household Ethnic Survey (CHES) which covers regions intensively affected by the removal campaign. We find a negative effect of school removals on primary school and junior high school completion rates. However, we also find positive effects on educational attainment beyond junior high school for those students who began their education in the new merged primary schools. This effect can be attributed to resource pooling and higher teacher quality in the new schools. The adverse effects are more severe for girls, especially if new schools did not provide boarding and are located far away from student residences, and also for children whose parents have low educational attainment, thus exacerbating gender inequality and intergenerational transmission of education inequality.

Background:Educational attainment is generally associated with reduced reliance on Social Security and disability benefits; however, the Minorities’ Diminished Returns (MDRs) theory suggests that the socioeconomic benefits of education are weaker for minoritized populations. This study investigates the relationship between educational attainment and welfare receipt among American Indian/Alaska Native (AIAN) and White adults in the United States.Objective:Using the MDRs framework, we analyzed data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) 2023 to examine how educational attainment impacts welfare receipt among AIAN and White adults.Methods:We analyzed a nationally representative sample of AIAN and White adults from the NHIS 2023 dataset. Welfare receipt was assessed as the receipt of any public assistance or welfare payments from state or local welfare offices. Educational attainment was categorized into three levels: less than high school (reference), high school diploma to some college, and college degree or higher. Logistic regression models were used to assess the relationship between educational attainment and welfare receipt, with separate analyses for AIAN and White adults to evaluate differential effects.Results:Higher educational attainment (high school diploma to some college and college degree or higher) was associated with lower odds of welfare receipt across both groups. However, the protective effect of a college degree was significantly weaker for AIAN adults compared to White adults. Consequently, AIAN adults remain at a higher risk of welfare reliance even with higher education, consistent with the Minorities’ Diminished Returns (MDRs) framework.Conclusions:Although educational attainment generally reduces welfare reliance, this protection is less pronounced for AIAN adults than for White adults. This discrepancy suggests that structural factors, segregation, and social stratification may undermine the economic and health benefits of education for racialized groups in the U.S. Addressing these disparities requires policy interventions that extend beyond education, emphasizing quality job opportunities, healthcare access, and reduced labor market discrimination for individuals with advanced educational credentials, regardless of race.

This study examines how post-secondary educational attainment among young veterans of the first gulf war affects their mental health status. The all-volunteer military attracts recruits by offering them veterans' educational benefits. Education should help veterans adjust to civilian life. Few studies have shown whether education following military service helps improve veterans' mental health, however. Viewing resiliency, life span and life course, and social geography theories through the lens of social ecology, it is hypothesized that selected contextual factors in the personal, interpersonal, and organizational domains could mediate or moderate the relationship between education and veterans' mental health. Informational social networks showed an association with obtaining mental illness treatment. Recent treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) showed an association with use of veterans' educational benefits. Residing with a small nuclear family in conjunction with having higher levels of health and educational benefits and a higher family income was associated with higher educational attainment.

ABSTRACTLimited research has explored the sources, heterogeneity, and implications of a shrinking yet persistent gender gap in educational attainment in rural areas. This study addresses these gaps by analyzing the 15‐year Gansu Survey of Children and Families in rural China, applying structural equation modeling and logistic regression, and conducting multilevel modeling as a robustness check. Results show that family socioeconomic factors explain little of the modest female disadvantage in educational attainment. In contrast, gender‐role educational expectations and aspirations, as well as gender‐role household labor practices, each partially explain the disadvantage. Only their combined effects fully account for the gender gap, highlighting that cultural values and practices are more persistent contributors to the lingering gender disparity in rural education. Furthermore, this modest rural female disadvantage is driven entirely by low‐achieving girls, with no significant gender difference among high achievers. Finally, after completing formal education, rural females and males exhibit distinct disparities in work and marriage. Rural females are significantly less likely to engage in nonfarm work but more likely to enter marriage than their male counterparts. These findings call for policy and theoretical approaches more focused on addressing deep‐rooted gender norms and cultural practices in rural areas to advance gender equality.

The association of season of birth with cognitive development, academic performance and educational attainment has been well documented in western countries. However, little research has been conducted in developing countries to examine the seasonality of cognitive achievement. In this study, we analyzed data of a nationally representative sample of over 8500 rural adults born in the 1960s and early 1970s from the 2010 China Family Panel Studies survey. The results of logistic regression models demonstrate a significant association of birth month with educational attainment even with relevant individual and parental information controlled. Specially, we found that rural respondents born in the months of March and April are much less likely to obtain a high school degree than those born late in the year from October to December. The seasonal pattern is also found to significantly affect current cognitive achievements of the respondents even after their educational attainment and family social economic conditions are taken into account. Finally, we discussed the merits of age position theory and fetal origin interpretation as potential mechanisms for the seasonal pattern of education attainment, and suggest that seasonal changes of nutritional intake for pregnant mothers are the most likely cause.