The Girls Who Stay Behind: The influence of parental migration on subjective well-being of Stayed-Behind Girls in Chitwan District, Nepal.
Summary
Background. Twenty percent of poverty reduction in Nepal is due to international and domestic migration. Among these migrants are parents who are trying to find better financial opportunities. However, there is still a lack of knowledge on the effects of parental migration on the wellbeing of their daughters who stayed
behind. This pilot study focuses on understanding what the influences are of domestic and international parental migration, age of stayed-behind girls (SBGs), type of school, as well as which parent migrate on, SBGs’ subjective well-being (SWB).
Methods. A self-administered quantitative survey was conducted at six different schools among girls (n = 275) age 12-16 in Chitwan District, Nepal (2020). To operationalize SWB, the average Quality of Life (QoL) was used. The data were analysed through one Mann-Whitney U test, two binomial logistic regressions, one Kruskal Wallis H test, and two simple linear regressions.
Results. 44.4% of the participants had one or two parents who migrated. There are no intergroup (SBGs and Non-SBGs) difference on SWB. But intragroup difference shows that SBGs with a higher SWB are more likely to study at a private school than a public school, and SBGs with both parents migrated have a higher SWB than SBGs with mother-based migration. Domestic or international migration and the age of SBG when a parent migrated are not predictors and factors that influence SWB
Conclusions. The findings in this study suggest that parental migration (yes/no) does not influence SWB of girls but going to a private school and having both parents migrated does increase SWB of SBGs. In conclusion, several suggestions are made for necessary future research to provide SBGs with adequate support and care, as well as a push for critical reflection on previous empirical studies and assumed correlations.