Wellbeing of Children of Skilled Migrants to Australia

Adamovich, Victoria Shu-ling

Wellbeing of Children of Skilled Migrants to Australia

Adamovich, Victoria Shu-ling

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Publication Type:: Thesis
Issue Date:: 2024

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Adamovich, Victoria Shu-ling
dc.date.accessioned	2025-03-28T03:06:36Z
dc.date.available	2025-03-28T03:06:36Z
dc.date.issued	2024
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/186264
dc.description	University of Technology Sydney. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.	en_US.UTF-8
dc.description.abstract	Nearly half of all Australians now have one or more parents born overseas, with the biggest intake of migrants over the last two decades coming from China and India (ABS, 2021). Skilled migrants now account for 70% of permanent visa grants and they enter Australia wealthier and better educated than the average Australian. They are also much more hypermobile than previously, adopting what has been termed ‘flexible citizenship’ and ‘astronaut parenting’ migration practices. These families migrate for strategic purposes and sometimes multiple times. Families may also be separated across continents, with children being parented by mothers while fathers continue to work abroad. What are the impacts of these family arrangements on children? While much research has focused on the wellbeing of migrant children from disadvantaged backgrounds, we need also to understand the children of skilled migrants. Despite their privileged backgrounds, how is their social and emotional adjustment following migration? My research site at a high-fee private girls’ school in Sydney with concentrations of wealthy migrant families from Asia provides rich accounts of such impacts. My survey and interview data with students and mothers showed that newly arrived students and those with absent fathers often faced more difficulties in their social and emotional wellbeing. Immense parental expectations placed on these students to succeed could also negatively affect their wellbeing. The findings are critical to understanding the impact of migration on the youngest members of the family unit, who are often voiceless but strongly affected by the parents' choices. The study should spur schools, teachers, and parents to understand what factors contribute to the wellbeing of the children of the biggest group of new migrants to Australia.	en_US.UTF-8
dc.format	Thesis (MA)
dc.language.iso	en_US	en_US.UTF-8
dc.relation	https://opus.lib.uts.edu.au/bitstream/10453/186264/1/thesis.pdf
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.rights	The author owns the copyright in this thesis including all reproduction and reuse rights for the work. The work may not be altered without the permission of the copyright owner. Attribution is essential when quoting or paraphrasing from this thesis.
dc.rights	© 2024 Victoria Shu-ling Adamovich
dc.rights	au.edu.uts.lib/cph
dc.title	Wellbeing of Children of Skilled Migrants to Australia	en_US.UTF-8
dc.type	Thesis
utslib.copyright.status	open_access	*

Abstract:

Nearly half of all Australians now have one or more parents born overseas, with the biggest intake of migrants over the last two decades coming from China and India (ABS, 2021). Skilled migrants now account for 70% of permanent visa grants and they enter Australia wealthier and better educated than the average Australian. They are also much more hypermobile than previously, adopting what has been termed ‘flexible citizenship’ and ‘astronaut parenting’ migration practices. These families migrate for strategic purposes and sometimes multiple times. Families may also be separated across continents, with children being parented by mothers while fathers continue to work abroad. What are the impacts of these family arrangements on children? While much research has focused on the wellbeing of migrant children from disadvantaged backgrounds, we need also to understand the children of skilled migrants. Despite their privileged backgrounds, how is their social and emotional adjustment following migration? My research site at a high-fee private girls’ school in Sydney with concentrations of wealthy migrant families from Asia provides rich accounts of such impacts. My survey and interview data with students and mothers showed that newly arrived students and those with absent fathers often faced more difficulties in their social and emotional wellbeing. Immense parental expectations placed on these students to succeed could also negatively affect their wellbeing. The findings are critical to understanding the impact of migration on the youngest members of the family unit, who are often voiceless but strongly affected by the parents' choices. The study should spur schools, teachers, and parents to understand what factors contribute to the wellbeing of the children of the biggest group of new migrants to Australia.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/186264