Journal
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Volume 57, Issue 4, Pages 691-698Publisher
SPRINGER BASEL AG
DOI: 10.1007/s00038-011-0314-0
Keywords
Depression; Mental health; Migration; Internal migration; Sending areas; China
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Funding
- NICHD NIH HHS [R24 HD058486] Funding Source: Medline
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China has experienced large-scale internal migration and growing mental health disorders. Limited research has examined the relationship between the two processes. We examined the association between labor out-migration and depressive symptoms of family members left behind in migrant-sending areas. We conducted a multistage probability sample survey of Chinese adults in 2008 (Internal Migration and Health in China), including 787 people in rural migrant-sending areas. To study whether adults in out-migrant households were more likely to experience depressive symptoms (CES-D) than were adults in non-migrant households, we used multivariate regressions and adjusted for a wide range of confounding factors and for the complex sampling design. Adults in households with labor out-migrants were more likely to report depressive symptoms than those in households without out-migrants, presumably a result of the absence of family members. However, monetary remittances from labor migrants buffered the mental health costs of out-migration. Labor out-migration has important consequences for the mental health in migrant-sending communities. There is an urgent need to address the psychological costs of migration and to promote regular remittances.
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