Are Grandparents Better Caretakers? Parental Migration,Caretaking Arrangements,Children’s Self-Control,and Delinquency in Rural China

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of parental migration and alternative caretaking arrangements on children’s delinquency in rural China. Using data from the Parental Migration and Children’s Well-Being Survey, our results suggest that children’s delinquency is influenced by a dynamic interaction between caretaking arrangements and children’s self-control. More specifically, grandparenting appears to be an equivalent substitution for normative nuclear family parenting and has some advantage over caretaking by a remaining parent, especially for children with low self-control. These findings can serve as a starting point for a further conversation on the benefit of extended families and collective parenting, and on how to best use cultural resources in rural China under the constraint of parental migration and other structural barriers.