Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Are children of rural migrants more delinquent than their peers? A comparative analysis of delinquent behaviors in the City of Guangzhou, China

  • Published:
Crime, Law and Social Change Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The social impact of rural-to-urban migration in China has grasped domestic and international attention over the past decades. Sociological scholarship indicates that this working class may be subject to social stigma and additional psychological stress. As new generations emerge, the migrant workers’ children are publicized to engage in higher level of delinquency and deviant behavior in large Chinese cities. However, this understanding is supported by little empirical evidence as few studies focus on the delinquent behaviors of rural migrant children compared to their urban counterparts. The current study explores this comparison using a high school student survey (N = 1,490) conducted in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province. Important contributing factors to the prevalence and variety of self-report delinquency are discussed in the multi-theory framework. Findings suggest that this sample of rural migrant students are exposed to more risks but are not more delinquency-prone than non-migrant students; results show support to quite different socialization processes for the two groups: strong moral beliefs and good academic performance play key roles in the prevention of delinquency for rural migrant students while non-rural migrants are affected by school attachment and negative social activities. Peer delinquency is the strongest predictor of delinquency for both groups.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. The IMF calculated the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) based on purchasing power-parity (PPP) valuation of country GDP in current international dollar.

  2. A large body of sociological studies in China has been focusing on the stay-home children (“Liu Shou” Children) of migrant workers [e.g. 14] as many adult rural residents travel to large cities for employment, leaving their children at home cared by grandparents or other family members. Due to the detached relationship with their parents and poor social skills due to lack of supervision, these children were reported to have more behavioral problems than their peers [14]. Our study does not involve this population group, but rather those who were living in the city with their migrant parents (Guangzhou, Guangdong Province).

  3. There have been several “Strike-Hard” campaigns targeting crime rise in China and migrant workers were frequently targeted as a relevant group for sanction [19, 20]. An offense as could receive a punishment as severe as death.

  4. The government has recently started to loosen up the Hukou system by allowing some rural migrants to small cities stay and transfer to urban Hukou during the cities’ urbanization processes [22].

  5. This range of grades is equivalent to Grade 7 to 12 in the United States.

  6. In our sample, for regular schools, the ratio of students with urban verses rural hukou is 9:1; for vocational schools, this ratio is 1:1.

  7. High response rate is quite typical in Chinese surveys, particularly in school surveys [See e.g. 56].

  8. They could have been born within or outside of Guangzhou (or other cities), but the hukou status follows that of a parent. If a student is of rural status, it is very likely that both parents are of rural status.

  9. 42 students from the returned surveys (2.7 %) failed to respond to the hukou item and are therefore not be used in the study.

  10. Items on illegal downloading were included in the original questionnaire as one of the delinquent behaviors surveyed. However, the authors chose to exclude this item due to the common occurrence of this behavior among teenagers. In our study sample, 12 % of the 1,532 adolescent respondents reported having done this at least once, compared to the prevalence of other behaviors ranging from 4 to 9 %. The average frequency in the past 12 months is 5.2 times compared to the average frequency of other behaviors (.2 to .8). The inclusion of this item along with the other behaviors may inflate the delinquency measure since it is not commonly regarded as in the same category. A recent study reported around 80 % of young Internet users illegally downloaded materials [57]. In the Chinese context where digital piracy industries possess large market shares [58], this seldom-prosecuted practice is no longer regarded as risk taking.

  11. The last two demographic items measure the relative perception of the respondents (“Compared to most of the families you know, how is your family’s economic status?” and “Compared to your peers, how do you find the amount of your pocket money?”).

  12. Poisson model is not adopted in this study due to overdispersion of the variable delinquency variety score confirmed by likelihood-ratio test of alpha rejecting the hypothesis that alpha equals zero, thus negative binomial models are more appropriate than Poisson models.

  13. A follow-up analysis focusing on those RM students who did not report on delinquency shows that they are significantly more likely to be male, slightly older, higher academic performance, not communiting to school, and lower attachment level to teachers. However, these are not indicators strong enough to suspect the strength of the current findings.

  14. A comparison t test also confirmed that those in the whole sample who are reportedly delinquent have considerably lower level of shamefulness regarding delinquent and deviant acts (Mean: 24.2 v. 22.4, t = 5.27). Separate tests were also run by hukou status (Non-RM and RM) and both groups demonstrate that those who reported to be delinquent are much more likely to report lower shamefulness regarding delinquent deeds (Mean Non-RM: 24.5 v. 22.7, t = 4.39; Mean RM = 23.8 v. 22.0, t = 2.50).

References

  1. International Monetary Fund (IMF). (2014). World Economic Outlook Database: October 2014 Edition. URL: http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2014/02/weodata/index.aspx. Retrieved on Jan. 10, 2015.

  2. Liu, J. (2006). Modernization and crime patterns in China. Journal of Criminal Justice, 34(2), 119–130.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Lo, T. W., & Jiang, G. (2006). Inequality, crime and the floating population in China. Asian Journal of Criminology, 1(2), 103–118.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Liu, J. (2004). Social transition and crime in China: an economic motivation thesis. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology, 37(suppl), 122–138.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Liu, J. (2005). Crime patterns during the market transition in China. British Journal of Criminology, 45(5), 613–633.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Cao, L., & Dai, Y. (2001). Inequality and crime in China. In J. Liu, L. Zhang, & S. E. Messner (Eds.), Crime and social control in a changing China (pp. 73–85). Westport: Greenwood Press.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Zhao, S., & Kipnis, A. (2000). Criminality and the policing of migrant workers. The China Journal, 43, 101–110.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Woronov, T. E. (2004). In the eye of the chicken: Hierarchy and marginality among Beijing’s migrant school children. Ethnography, 5(3), 289–313.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Liu, Z. (2005). Institution and inequality: the hukou system in China. Journal of Comparative Economics, 33(1), 133–157.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Chan, K. W., & Zhang, L. (1999). The hukou system and rural–urban migration in China: processes and changes. The China Quarterly, 160, 818–855.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Chan, K. W., & Buckingham, W. (2008). Is China abolishing the hukou system? The China Quarterly, 195, 582–606.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Lin, J., & Liu, T. (2013). Report on the criminal offending of “new generation” migrant workers. Public Security Science Journal (Journal of Zhejiang Police College), 139, 71–75.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Lin, P., Yu, F., & Zhang, D. (2008). The issue of crime committed by “new generation” migrant workers. China Youth Studies, 2, 29–34.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Wen, M., & Lin, D. (2012). Child development in rural China: children left behind by their migrant parents and children of nonmigrant families. Child Development, 83(1), 120–136.

    Article  MathSciNet  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Xu, J. (2014). Urbanization and inevitable migration: Crime and migrant workers. In L. Cao, I. Sun, & B. Hebenton (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of Chinese criminology (pp. 209–223). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Bao, W. N., Haas, A., & Pi, Y. (2004). Life strain, negative emotions, and delinquency: an empirical test of general strain theory in the People’s Republic of China. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 48(3), 281–297.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Cheung, N. W., & Cheung, Y. W. (2008). Self-control, social factors, and delinquency: a test of the general theory of crime among adolescents in Hong Kong. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 37(4), 412–430.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Wong, D. S. (2001). Pathways to delinquency in Hong Kong and Guangzhou (South China). International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 10(1–2), 91–115.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Trevaskes, S. (2010). Policing serious crime in China: From “strike hard” to “kill fewer” (Vol. 35). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Sun, I. Y., & Wu, Y. (2010). Chinese policing in a time of transition, 1978–2008. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, 26(1), 20–35.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Li, X., Stanton, B., Fang, X., & Lin, D. (2006). Social stigma and mental health among rural-to-urban migrants in China: a conceptual framework and future research needs. World Health & Population, 8(3), 14.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. State Council of People’s Republic of China. (2014). Reform on Household Registration System. URL: http://politics.people.com.cn/n/2014/0730/c70731-25369521.html. Retrieved on Aug. 4, 2015.

  23. National People’s Congress of People’s Republic of China (NPC). (1958). The Regulations on Household Registration in the People’s Republic of China. URL: http://www.npc.gov.cn/wxzl/gongbao/2000-12/10/content_5004332.htm. Retrieved February 29, 2016.

  24. Wang, B., Li, X., Stanton, B., & Fang, X. (2010). The influence of social stigma and discriminatory experience on psychological distress and quality of life among rural-to-urban migrants in China. Social Science & Medicine, 71(1), 84–92.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. National Bureau of Statistics, China (NBS). (2015). National Migrant Workers Annual Report for 2014. Published on Apr. 29, 2015. URL: http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjsj/zxfb/201504/t20150429_797821.html. Retrieved on Aug. 4, 2015.

  26. Wang, D., Chai, Y., Zhang, X., & Guo, B. (2007). Report on migrant worker crime problem. Journal of Chinese People’s Public Security University (Social Sciences Edition), 126, 9–15.

    Google Scholar 

  27. Lin, W. (2010). A study on juvenile crime statistics. Journal of China Youth Social Studies, 3, 29–36.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Fang, J. (2003). An empirical study on crime of the floating population. Qiu Suo (Chinese), 6, 132–134.

    Google Scholar 

  29. Jin, C. (2015). A study on crime of new generation migrant workers in china (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Macau, Macau.

  30. Wong, K., Fu, D., Li, C. Y., & Song, H. X. (2007). Rural migrant workers in urban China: living a marginalised life. International Journal of Social Welfare, 16(1), 32–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Chen, X., Stanton, B., Kaljee, L., Fang, X., Xiong, Q., Lin, D., Zhang, L., & Li, X. (2011). Social stigma, social capital reconstruction, and rural migrants in urban China: a population health perspective. Human Organization, 70(1), 22–32.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  32. Chai, J. C., & Karin Chai, B. (1997). China’s floating population and its implications. International Journal of Social Economics, 24(7/8/9), 1038–1051.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Yang, T., Xu, X., Li, M., Rockett, I. R., Zhu, W., & Ellison-Barnes, A. (2012). Mental health status and related characteristics of Chinese male rural–urban migrant workers. Community Mental Health Journal, 48(3), 342–351.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  34. Zhong, B. L., Liu, T. B., Chiu, H. F., Chan, S. S., Hu, C. Y., Hu, X. F., Xiang, Y. T., & Caine, E. D. (2013). Prevalence of psychological symptoms in contemporary Chinese rural-to-urban migrant workers: an exploratory meta-analysis of observational studies using the SCL-90-R. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 48(10), 1569–1581.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  35. Démurger, S., Gurgand, M., Li, S., & Yue, X. (2009). Migrants as second-class workers in urban China? A decomposition analysis. Journal of Comparative Economics, 37(4), 610–628.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Alexander, P., & Chan, A. (2004). Does China have an apartheid pass system? Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 30(4), 609–629.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Li, E. (2016). China’s urban underclass population and penal policy. Criminology and Criminal Justice, 16(1), 80–98.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. He, P. (2013). The politics of numbers: Crime statistics in China. In L. Cao, I. Y. Sun, & B. Hebenton (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of Chinese criminology. Oxon: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  39. Gove, W. R., Hughes, M., & Geerken, M. (1985). Are uniform crime reports a valid indicator of the index crimes? An affirmative answer with minor qualifications. Criminology, 23(3), 451–502.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. National Bureau of Statistics, China (NBS). (2014). National Migrant Workers Annual Report for 2013. Published on May 12, 2014. URL: http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjsj/zxfb/201405/t20140512_551585.html. Retrieved on Aug. 1, 2015.

  41. Liu, C., & Cheng, J. (2008). The urban adaptation of the “second generation” migrant workers: status and progress. Population Research (Chinese), 32(5), 48–57.

    MathSciNet  CAS  Google Scholar 

  42. Zhang, L. (2008). Juvenile delinquency and justice in contemporary China: a critical review of the literature over 15 years. Crime, Law and Social Change, 50(3), 149–160.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  43. Bao, W. N., Haas, A., & Xie, Y. (2015). Life Strain, social control, social learning, and delinquency the effects of gender, age, and family SES among Chinese adolescents. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, Online First: 0306624X15577162.

  44. Sampson, R. J. (1986). Crime in cities: the effects of formal and informal social control. Crime and Justice, 8, 271–311.

  45. Hirschi, T. (2002). Causes of delinquency. Piscataway: Transaction publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  46. Deng, S., & Roosa, M. W. (2007). Family influences on adolescent delinquent behaviors: applying the social development model to a Chinese sample. American Journal of Community Psychology, 40(3–4), 333–344.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  47. Jiang, S., Lambert, E., & Wang, J. (2007). Correlates of formal and informal social/crime control in China: an exploratory study. Journal of Criminal Justice, 35(3), 261–271.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  48. Greenberger, E., Chen, C., Beam, M., Whang, S. M., & Dong, Q. (2000). The perceived social contexts of adolescents’ misconduct: a comparative study of youths in three cultures. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 10(3), 365–388.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  49. Hirschi, T. (1969). A control theory of delinquency. In F. P. Williams III & M. D. McShane (Eds.), Criminology theory: Selected classic readings (pp. 289–305). Cincinnati: Anderson Publishing Co.

    Google Scholar 

  50. Laub, J. H., & Sampson, R. J. (1993). Turning points in the life course: why change matters to the study of crime. Criminology, 31(3), 301–325.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  51. McNeely, C. A., Nonnemaker, J. M., & Blum, R. W. (2002). Promoting school connectedness: evidence from the national longitudinal study of adolescent health. Journal of School Health, 72(4), 138–146.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  52. Zhang, L., & Messner, S. F. (1996). School attachment and official delinquency status in the People’s Republic of China. Sociological Forum, 11(2), 285–303.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  53. Haynie, D. L. (2002). Friendship networks and delinquency: the relative nature of peer delinquency. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 18(2), 99–134.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  54. Welsh, W. N., Greene, J. R., & Jenkins, P. H. (1999). School disorder: the influence of individual, institutional, and community factors. Criminology, 37(1), 73–116.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  55. Demanet, J., & Van Houtte, M. (2012). School belonging and school misconduct: the differing role of teacher and peer attachment. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 41(4), 499–514.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  56. Zhang, L., Messner, S. F., & Liu, J. (2007). A multilevel analysis of the risk of household burglary in the city of Tianjin, China. British Journal of Criminology, 47(6), 918–937.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  57. Bouhnik, D., & Deshen, M. (2013). Adolescents’ perception of illegal music downloads from the internet: an empirical investigation of Israeli high school students’ moral attitude and behavior. Proceedings of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 50(1), 1–11.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  58. Montgomery, L., & Fitzgerald, B. (2006). Copyright and the creative industries in China. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 9(3), 407–418.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  59. Krohn, M. D., & Massey, J. L. (1980). Social control and delinquent behavior: an examination of the elements of the social bond. The Sociological Quarterly, 21(4), 529–544.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  60. Gardner, W., Mulvey, E. P., & Shaw, E. C. (1995). Regression analyses of counts and rates: poisson, overdispersed Poisson, and negative binomial models. Psychological Bulletin, 118(3), 392.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  61. Osgood, D. W. (2000). Poisson-based regression analysis of aggregate crime rates. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 16(1), 21–43.

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  62. Shen, A., & Hall, S. (2015). The same the whole world over? A review essay on youth offending from the 1980s and youth justice in contemporary China. International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice, 43(2), 273–291.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  63. Ngai, N. P., & Cheung, C. K. (2005). Predictors of the likelihood of delinquency a study of marginal youth in Hong Kong, China. Youth and Society, 36(4), 445–470.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  64. Matza, D. (1964). Delinquency and drift. Piscataway: Transaction Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  65. Sykes, G. M., & Matza, D. (1957). Techniques of neutralization: a theory of delinquency. American Sociological Review, 22(6), 664–670.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  66. Liu, J., Coplan, R. J., Chen, X., Li, D., Ding, X., & Zhou, Y. (2014). Unsociability and shyness in Chinese children: concurrent and predictive relations with indices of adjustment. Social Development, 23(1), 119–136.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  67. Junger-Tas, J. (2012). Delinquent behaviour in 30 countries. In J. Junger-Tas, I. H. Marshall, D. Enzmann, M. Killias, M. Steketee, & B. Gruszczynska (Eds.), The many faces of youth crime (pp. 69–93). New York: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  68. Ferguson, C. J., San Miguel, C., & Hartley, R. D. (2009). A multivariate analysis of youth violence and aggression: the influence of family, peers, depression, and media violence. The Journal of Pediatrics, 155(6), 904–908.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  69. Liu, Z., Li, X., & Ge, X. (2009). Left too early: the effects of age at separation from parents on Chinese rural children’s symptoms of anxiety and depression. American Journal of Public Health, 99(11), 2049–2054.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  70. Wang, Y. C. (2014). In search of the Confucian family interviews with parents and their middle school children in Guangzhou, China. Journal of Adolescent Research, Online First: 0743558414538318.

  71. Bao, W. N., Haas, A., Chen, X., & Pi, Y. (2012). Repeated strains, social control, social learning, and delinquency: testing an integrated model of general strain theory in China. Youth and Society, Online First: 0044118X11436189.

  72. Tilton-Weaver, L. C., Burk, W. J., Kerr, M., & Stattin, H. (2013). Can parental monitoring and peer management reduce the selection or influence of delinquent peers? Testing the question using a dynamic social network approach. Developmental Psychology, 49(11), 2057–2070.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  73. Thornberry, T. P., & Krohn, M. D. (2000). The self-report method of measuring delinquency and crime. In D. Duffee (Ed.), Measurement and analysis of crime and justice: Criminal justice (pp. 33–83). Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs.

    Google Scholar 

  74. Zhang, L., Messner, S. F., Liu, J., & Zhuo, Y. A. (2009). Guanxi and fear of crime in contemporary urban China. British Journal of Criminology, 49(4), 472–490.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, University of Macau, Macau, China

    Jianhong Liu

  2. School of Public Affairs, Penn State Harrisburg, Harrisburg, PA, USA

    Siyu Liu

Authors
  1. Jianhong Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Siyu Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jianhong Liu.

Appendix

Appendix

Table 4 Items of the independent variable scales
Full size table

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Liu, J., Liu, S. Are children of rural migrants more delinquent than their peers? A comparative analysis of delinquent behaviors in the City of Guangzhou, China. Crime Law Soc Change 66, 465–489 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10611-016-9638-2

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10611-016-9638-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation