Estimating the Impacts of Cross-Border Migration on Children’s Well-Being in Hong Kong: Application of Propensity Score Matching Method

Background and Purpose: Hong Kong holds a unique geopolitical status as a Special Administrative Region of China after the turnover of sovereignty from the UK, connecting two closely connected while distinct economic, social, and political systems on the HK-mainland China boundary. Such a unique geopolitical context gives rise to cross-border marriages and birth tourism. Except for local children who are born and raised in Hong Kong (HKLS), three other groups of children are identified according to their varied migration and residential backgrounds: cross-border students (CBS) who hold Hong Kong permanent residency, reside in mainland China, but attend Hong Kong schools and commute between mainland China and Hong Kong on a daily basis; new immigrant students (NIS) who are born in the mainland, of Chinese nationality, usually immigrate with their parents, and have stayed in Hong Kong for less than seven years; and HK-born students living in mainland China (HKMS) who hold Hong Kong permanent residency but reside and attend schools in mainland China. Relevant studies mainly focus on one or two groups of these students, and to date little is known about the causal impacts of different patterns of cross-border migration on children’s well-being. This study attempted to narrow the gap, compare different groups of children, and estimate the causal impacts of school choice, residential location, migration status, and migration strategy on a wide set of indicators of children’s well-being. We contribute to the field by providing a comprehensive picture of the consequences of cross-border migration on children’s different aspects of life.

Methods: Data of the study were collected through a large-scale, cross-sectional, school-based survey in Hong Kong and Shenzhen, a city adjacent to Hong Kong in Southern China, consisting of 2,610 students from the 4^th to 9th grade (445 CBS, 348 NIS, 430 HKMS, and 1,387 HKLS). 26 indicators from 5 dimensions (physical health, mental health, resilience, educational outcomes, inter-personal relationships) were selected to measure different aspects of children’s well-being. Propensity score matching (PSM) method was employed to assess the influences of school choice, residential location, migration status and migration strategy on children’s well-being.

Results: The PSM results suggest no significant impact of residential location. CBS and HKLS fare similarly across almost all well-being indicators. Migration status even leads to better development in some circumstances. NIS significantly outperformed HKLS, especially in dimensions of mental health, resilience, educational outcomes, and inter-personal relationships. Family migration strategy has mixed influences on children’s well-being. NIS demonstrate higher levels of physical health, and inter-personal relationships, and slightly lower levels of educational outcomes than CBS. Last, school location brings both benefits and costs on children. HKMS report higher levels of resilience and educational outcomes than CBS, and mixed findings appear in their physical health and inter-personal relationships.

Conclusions and Implications: Our findings reveal the complicated and multi-faceted impacts of cross-border migration between mainland China and Hong Kong. We point out that family migration strategies and school location bring both opportunities and challenges on children’s well-being. Policy and practice implications of these findings are further discussed.