I Miss My Mum and Dad: Children's Well-Being and Parents' Job Migration In Estonia

Estonia is fastly developing country, which has experienced many societal and economic changes after regaining independence in 1991. Although there has been many positive developments, the global crises has influenced the lives of many people in Estonia. One of the most recent developments is a growing job migration out from Estonia. According to Statistics Estonia since 2010 the number of people going to work and live abroad has been constantly increasing and in 2012 it has been doubled compared with previous years. Negative net migration together with negative reproduction rate has been the main indicator influencing drop in population of such a small country. Another tendency that is poorly studied is the well-being of children whose parents have gone abroad. In some cases they are taking their children with them, but in relatively same number of cases they are leaving children behind with one parent or if mother and father both leave, other relatives take care of the children. There have been also cases where children are left just by themselves without any proper care, in some cases just older children taking care of their younger siblings. Aim of the current study is to analyze social and psychological well-being (life satisfaction, personal well-being and relationships in school and at home) in group of children who are left behind by one or more parents and to compare the findings with control group – children who are living together with their parents in Estonia. For the analysis most recent data is used from the Jacob’s Foundation survey Children’s World (data collected in autumn 2013). Altogether 3000 children from Estonia are studied, covering the ages 8, 10 and 12, around which is the most vulnerable age in sense of psychological and social attachment and challenges of growing up.