2018 - 2019 Back

Rural-to-Urban Migration, Strain, and Juvenile Delinquency:

A Study of Eighth-Grade Students in Guangzhou, China

Prof. Celia LO, Texas Woman’s University


Abstract：This examination of minor and serious delinquency among eighth-graders in a large southern Chinese city, Guangzhou, also compared groups of these students, observing differences between the delinquency of migrants and that of urban natives. Data employed were originally collected for the study “Stuck in the City: Migration and Delinquency among Migrant Adolescents in Guangzhou.” The present study asked whether and how various sources of strain and social-control factors explained students’ delinquency, questioning how meaningfully migration status moderated several of the observed delinquency relationships. Of students in the sample, 741 reported being natives of Guangzhou, and 497 reported migrating to Guangzhou from a rural area. The study conceptualized internal migration as a strain factor leading to delinquency, but the analyses did not suggest direct association between internal migration and delinquency. Results generally supported Agnew’s theory, and, what’s more, they tended to confirm that migration status moderated juvenile delinquency.


Biography: Dr. Lo is currently Professor of Sociology and Chair of the Department of Sociology and Social Work at Texas Woman’s University. Throughout her career, she has been fascinated by the ways in which health, substance use, violence, and crime seem connected. Her research has explored social inequalities of many stripes, and has demonstrated the intersectionality of various social statuses—race/ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status—with health. People’s health in our globalizing world exhibits disparities reflecting long-standing, widespread injustices. Feeling passionately about people’s right to enjoy the best possible health, and to experience the most profound social justice, Dr. Lo wants to continue working on research that brings insight into health care access, mental health, chronic illness, obesity, victimization, and clean-water access. Dr. Lo wants to see health disparities severely diminished; her research is her means of promoting the change she wants to see.


Co-organized by: Department of Sociology, CUHK



Time            12:00 – 13:30, Thursday, 14 June 2018

Fee               Free Admission, HK$20.00 for Lunch

Venue           USC, 8/F, Tin Ka Ping Building, CUHK

Language    English