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Smart rural futures: Will rural areas be left behind in the 4th industrial revolution?

ABSTRACT: The 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) is the term given to encompass a range of technological developments that many argue will fundamentally change society, much in the same way that electricity and digital technology did during previous industrial revolutions. This paper argues that current debates around 4IR are centred on the urban core, with rural areas being relegated to the peripherality and the remainder. The paper therefore examines these technologies from a rural perspective and considers what impact they could have in rural areas, both positive and negative. The analysis shows that the impacts of 4IR technologies could be just as important in rural as in urban places. Drawing on extant theories of rural development, the paper examines the physical and cultural barriers facing rural areas when attempting to engage with 4IR. The paper concludes by proposing that rural theorists engage with smart urban theoretical debates. New research should seek to understand the multi-faceted aspects of 4IR in rural regions, and to support the transition to smart rural futures.

SUBMITTER: Cowie P

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7443211 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Smart rural futures: Will rural areas be left behind in the 4th industrial revolution?

Cowie Paul P Townsend Leanne L Salemink Koen K

Journal of rural studies 20200823

The 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) is the term given to encompass a range of technological developments that many argue will fundamentally change society, much in the same way that electricity and digital technology did during previous industrial revolutions. This paper argues that current debates around 4IR are centred on the urban core, with rural areas being relegated to the peripherality and the remainder. The paper therefore examines these technologies from a rural perspective and consider ...[more]

PMID: 32863561

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Project description:BackgroundParent-child separation is a considerable adversity for left-behind children (LBC), but there is little evidence on the association between detailed characteristics of parent-child separation and social-emotional development among LBC. This study examined the characteristics of parent-child separation and its impacts on developmental delay among under-3 LBC in poor rural China.MethodsWe used data from 811 LBC surveyed in five poor counties in rural China in 2018. Detailed characteristics of their parental migration were recalled by their primary caregivers in face-to-face interviews. The children's social-emotional development was measured by using the Ages and Stages Questionnaire: Social-Emotional. Logistic regression was employed to examine the association of detailed characteristics of parent-child separation with early social-emotional problems after adjusting for the children's and primary caregivers' sociodemographic characteristics.Results287 (35.4%) children were left behind by fathers and cared for by mothers (FM-MC), while 524 (64.6%) were left behind by both parents and cared for by grandparents (PM-GC). The rate of social-emotional problems among LBC was 36.8% (PM-GC vs FM-MC: 40.6% vs 29.5%; aOR 1.51, 95% CI: 1.06 to 2.16). For paternal migration, the medians of the child's age at the first migration and average duration per migration were 3 months (IQR: 1 to 9 months) and 4.48 months (IQR: 2.38 to 7.54 months), respectively. For maternal migration, the corresponding values were 9 months (IQR: 6 to 13 months) and 4.65 months (IQR: 2.71 to 7.62 months), respectively. On average, LBC had been separated from fathers for 72% of their life due to paternal migration and from mothers for 52% of their life due to maternal migration. No significant association was found between the detailed characteristics of paternal migration and social-emotional development among LBC, while social-emotional problems among LBC were significantly associated with the proportion of cumulative duration of maternal migration in the child's lifetime (aOR 2.83; 95% CI: 1.13 to 7.10).ConclusionsLBC under 3 years had a high risk of social-emotional problems in poor rural China. Cumulative exposure to maternal migration may be detrimental to LBC's early social-emotional development. Programs are necessary to support these children as well as their families.

Project description:Existing research has found that parental migration may negatively impact the psychological adjustment of left-behind children. However, limited longitudinal research has examined if and how future orientation (individual protective factor) and social support (contextual protective factor) are associated with the indicators of psychological adjustment (i.e., life satisfaction, school satisfaction, happiness, and loneliness) of left-behind children. In the current longitudinal study, we examined the differences in psychological adjustment between left-behind children and non-left behind children (comparison children) in rural areas, and explored the protective roles of future orientation and social support on the immediate (cross-sectional effects) and subsequent (lagged effects) status of psychological adjustment for both groups of children, respectively. The sample included 897 rural children (Mage = 14.09, SD = 1.40) who participated in two waves of surveys across six months. Among the participants, 227 were left-behind children with two parents migrating, 176 were with one parent migrating, and 485 were comparison children. Results showed that, (1) left-behind children reported lower levels of life satisfaction, school satisfaction, and happiness, as well as a higher level of loneliness in both waves; (2) After controlling for several demographics and characteristics of parental migration among left-behind children, future orientation significantly predicted life satisfaction, school satisfaction, and happiness in both cross-sectional and longitudinal regression models, as well as loneliness in the longitudinal regression analysis. Social support predicted immediate life satisfaction, school satisfaction, and happiness, as well as subsequent school satisfaction. Similar to left-behind children, comparison children who reported higher scores in future orientation, especially future expectation, were likely to have higher scores in most indicators of psychological adjustment measured at the same time and subsequently. However, social support seemed not exhibit as important in the immediate status of psychological adjustment of comparison children as that of left-behind children. Findings, implications, and limitations of the present study were discussed.

Dataset Information

Smart rural futures: Will rural areas be left behind in the 4th industrial revolution?

Publications

Smart rural futures: Will rural areas be left behind in the 4th industrial revolution?

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