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Abstract
A survey was administered to 219 Chinese immigrant women receiving prenatal and postnatal care in a community health center in New York City to examine the practice of and factors associated with “reverse-migration”—sending American-born children to China to be raised by extended family members, and bringing them back upon reaching school age. Results suggest that this practice was common (57%), and was significantly associated with certain maternal and family sociodemographic characteristics. Reasons leading to and perceived impact of reverse-migration separation were also explored. The long-term consequences of reverse-migration separation on child development or family dynamics are unknown. Further research is indicated on larger samples of low-income Chinese immigrant families to explore the prevalence and consequences of this practice.
The authors thank the Charles B. Wang Community Health Center staff for their valuable contribution, especially the following members of the steering committee: Loretta Au, Manna Chan-Espin, Teddy Chen, Betty Cheng, Holly Lee, Regina Lee, Susan Seto-Yee, Rebecca Sze, Thomas Tsang, and Jenny Zhang. We also thank Karen Cheal for her assistance in advanced data analysis. This study was supported by a grant from the United Hospital Fund.
