Abstract
Migrants usually exhibit similar or better health outcomes than native-born populations despite facing socioeconomic disadvantages and barriers to healthcare use; this is known as the “migrant paradox.” The migrant paradox among children is highly complex. This study explores whether the migrant paradox exists in the health of internal migrant children in China and the role of schools in reducing children’s health disparities, using a multi-stage stratified cluster sampling method. Participants were 1,641 student and parent pairs from Grades 4, 5, and 6 of eight primary schools in Beijing. The following school types were included: state schools with migrant children comprising over 70% of total children (SMS), private schools with migrant children comprising over 70% (PMS), and state schools with permanent resident children comprising over 70% (SRS). Children were divided into Groups A, B, C or D by the type of school they attended (A and B were drawn from SRSs, C was from SMSs, and D was from PMSs) and whether they were in the migrant population (B, C, and D were, but A was not). Related information was collected through medical examination and questionnaires completed by parents and children. Prevalence of caries, overweight and obesity, poor vision, and self-reported incidence of colds and diarrhea in the previous month were explored as health outcomes. The results partially demonstrated the existence of the migrant paradox and verified the role of schools in lowering health disparities among children; there are theoretical and practical implications for improving the health of migrant children.
Highlights
Compared with the native population, migrants often have relatively low social status and income level and insufficient access to health services [1, 2], all of which are health risk factors
There have been relatively few studies of the health disparities between migrant and permanent resident children; whether migrant paradox exists among school-age children is unclear. To fill this gap in the literature, the present study explores whether the “migrant paradox” exists in migrant children and analyzes the influence of schools and socioeconomic status (SES) on health disparities among children
One state and one private school with migrant children comprising over 70% of total children in the school was chosen in each district, paired with two state primary schools of similar sizes in which permanent resident children comprised over 70% of total children in the school
Summary
Compared with the native population, migrants often have relatively low social status and income level and insufficient access to health services [1, 2], all of which are health risk factors. Many health indices, such as self-reported health, pregnancy outcomes, and body weight in infants, are better in migrant populations than in native populations [3,4,5]. Some studies in recent years have questioned this interpretation of the data They have proposed that these observations are linked to the origins of the populations under consideration, as well as demographic characteristics and choices of health indices used in conducting research [9,10,11,12,13]
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