Sons and Daughters: Effects of Children's Out-migration on Intergenerational Support in Rural China

Using data from the longitudinal surveys of “Well-being of Elderly in Anhui Province, China” conducted in 2001 and in 2003 respectively, this paper employs the logistic random effects model to examine the gender difference in the effect of adult children’s out-migration on intergenerational support. The results show that while migrant daughters are more likely to increase financial support to their older parents, which narrows the gap between sons and daughters, migrant sons have a lower probability of increasing instrumental support, which also narrows the gender difference in instrumental support. Since migrant daughters have a greater probability of increasing their emotional support of their parents, the gap between sons and daughters in intergenerational emotional support is further widened. Although the division of family support in rural China has not changed completely, differences between sons and daughters in intergenerational support are reduced under the out-migration of adult children.