Parental support in education and social integration of migrant children in urban public schools in China

This study investigates the impacts of rural-urban migrant parents' support in education on their children's social integration in urban public schools in China. The data come from a nationally representative sample of 1615 rural-urban migrant children collected in 2014. We identified great variations in migrant children's social integration in schools. Migrant children with a good study environment and strict parental supervision at home have a stronger sense of belonging to the school and heightened socialisation with urban peers. The impacts remain highly significant after student, family and school-level confounders and class and school-level unobserved heterogeneity are all controlled for in the analysis. However, there is no evidence to suggest that communication with teachers leads to better integration. Social integration of migrant children also varies by gender, academic competence and school composition. These findings inform the design of policy interventions.