Listening to Children's Need to Matter in Skipped Generation Migrant Households: A Study in Rural Hunan, China

Journal article

This article explores the experiences of children who live in skipped generation households because of parental migration. Drawing on our matched interviews with 34 children and 20 grandparents from 19 skipped generation households in rural Hunan, central China, we examine what the children wanted significant adults to know about their care needs. We find that the children emphasised reciprocal caregiving; the caregivers' interactions in listening to and accompanying them; and the caregivers' understanding and valuing of their study efforts beyond grades, each of which assumed special significance in a context of socio‐economic challenges and long‐term parental migration. We reflect on the possibilities for translating these insights from our listening to the children into a social intervention to encourage reciprocal caregiver–child interactions that help children to feel that they ‘matter’.

Authors: Murphy, R; Mi, L; Huang, X

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Wiley
• Journal: Child & Family Social Work
• Article number: cfs.70222
• Publication date: 2026-05-27
• Acceptance date: 2026-05-12
• DOI: 10.1111/cfs.70222
• EISSN: 1365-2206
• ISSN: 1356-7500
• Language: English
• Keywords: care; reciprocity; children; rural; recognition; China; grandparents; listening; migration