A prospective study of psychological resilience and depression among left-behind children in China

Wu, Yun; Zhao, Xue; Ding, Xiuxiu; Yang, Haojie; Qian, Zhiguo; Feng, Fan; Lu, Shanshan; Hu, Chao; Gong, Feng-Feng; Sun, Yehuan

doi:10.1177/1359105315610811

Cited by 60 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…First, the negative association between family resources and mental health addressed the seemingly inconsistent findings on the impact of parental migration on LBC's mental health. On the one hand, numerous studies have documented that LBC tend to experience symptoms of depression (J. Guo et al, ; Tomsa & Jenaro, ; Y. L. Wu et al, ), social anxiety (Dai & Chu, ; Man et al, ; Shi, Bai, Shen, Kenny, & Rozelle, ; Zhang & Xu, ), and other distress‐related symptoms (Ling et al, ; Su et al, ; Wickramage et al, ; C. Zhao et al, ). On the other hand, several studies indicate that LBC are less likely to experience poor mental health outcomes (Asis, ; Asis & Ruiz‐Marave, ; X. Guo et al, ) and that they tend to fare comparably with or better than non‐LBC (Asis, ; Graham & Jordan, ; Parreñas, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, the huge number of labor migrants has raised concerns regarding its social cost to families (Asis, ; Garabiles, Ofreneo, & Hall, ), and particularly to left‐behind children (LBC). A number of studies has shown that children who are left behind by their parents have poor mental health (Hu, Lu, & Huang, ; Ling, Fu, & Zhang, ; Mazzucato et al, 2015; Wen & Lin, ; Wickramage et al, ; C. Zhao, Wang, Li, Zhou, & Hesketh, ) and are likely to be at higher risk of experiencing symptoms of depression (J. Guo et al, ; He et al, ; Tomsa & Jenaro, ; L. Wang et al, ; Y. L. Wu et al, ), anxiety (Dai & Chu, ; Man, Mengmeng, Lezhi, Ting, & Jingping, ; Tomsa & Jenaro, ; Zhang & Xu, ), and social anxiety (Zhang & Xu, ). LBC have also been known to manifest low quality of life (Jia & Tian, ), low life satisfaction and happiness (F. Fan, Su, Gill, & Birmaher, ; Gao et al, ), difficulty in social adjustment (Jia & Tian, ), low self‐concept (X. Wang et al, ), and poor academic performance (Amuedo‐Dorantes & Pozo, ; Asis & Ruiz‐Marave, ).…”

Section: Mental Health Of Children: the Role Of Family As A Resourcementioning

confidence: 99%

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Personal psychological resources mediate parent–child relationship and mental health among left‐behind children

et al. 2019

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Discrepant findings on the impact of parental migration on left-behind children's (LBC) psychological health have been noted in the literature. While several studies have shown the negative effects of parental migration, burgeoning research has demonstrated contradictory findings. The present study aimed to clarify this issue by examining the association between family resources and mental health as mediated by personal psychological resources (PPRs). A sample comprised of 466 LBC (aged 11-17 years) answered a set of questionnaires assessing parent-child relationship, PPRs, and mental health symptoms. The results showed that PPRs, particularly emotional resources, significantly mediated the link between family resources and mental health. This suggests that LBC who have rich family resources (i.e., close parent-child relationship) have lower mental health problems due to higher emotional resources (i.e., satisfaction in life). Conversely, those who reported having poor family resources experienced a lower level of PPRs (i.e., emotional well-being), which in turn, increased their risk of having psychological distress. The "caravanning" of resources from family to personal resources is vital in protecting LBC's mental health.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Mental Health Of Children: the Role Of Family As A Resourcementioning

confidence: 99%

Personal psychological resources mediate parent–child relationship and mental health among left‐behind children

et al. 2019

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“…But numerous studies have found higher prevalence of psychological [4] and behavioural problems [5, 6] in LBC than in NLBC in all age groups [4, 7, 8]. For example, LBC at older age were more likely to suffer from negative emotional experiences like depression [9], anxiety [7], loneliness [10] and neglect [11, 12], and have more conduct problems, including smoking [13] and alcohol consumption [14]. Besides, increasing number of left-behind adolescents were also reportedly sensitive, hostile and paranoid in their interpersonal relationship [15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mental health and its influencing factors among left-behind children in South China: a cross-sectional study

Zhang

Guo

et al. 2019

BMC Public Health

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BackgroundWith rapid development of China’s economy, there were over 68.7 million left-behind children (LBC) in China whose mental health has become a problem of public concern. The present cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the status of mental health and its associated factors of LBC aged 3–16 years old in both rural and urban areas.MethodsA total of 4187 children (aged 3–16), including 1471 LBC and 2716 non-left-behind children (NLBC), were recruited from 50 communities (22 in urban areas and 28 in rural areas) in Guangdong, China in August, 2014. The mental health problems were assessed using the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ).ResultsNo statistically significant difference of SDQ subscales scores about difficulties were found between LBC and NLBC on the whole participants as well as in rural areas or in urban areas within the same age group after adjustments were made (all p > 0.05). However, compared with NLBC in the same areas, urban LBC tended to have higher prosocial behaviours scores, while rural LBC had the lowest prosocial behaviours scores not only in the whole age group but also in different age subgroups (p < 0.05). Besides, compared with urban LBC, rural LBC were not worse in SDQ subscales scores except for prosocial behaviour at 7–9 age group (p = 0.003). Furthermore, higher paternal educational level and longer duration of parental absence, were associated with less difficulties in both rural and urban LBC. Besides, shorter duration of talk per-time but higher communication frequency were associated with less difficulties in rural LBC.ConclusionsThe present study demonstrated that in general, no difference of mental health problems were found between LBC and NLBC. Besides, longer duration of parental absence, shorter duration of talk per time but more communication frequency, and higher paternal educational level tend to have better development of mental health. The findings reinforce the importance of the stability of caregivers and the effective parent-child communication for Chinese rural LBC.

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“…Wu and other researchers studied the left-behind children's resilience and depression in 2015 [6]. Zhang researched on the mental health status of left-behind children from the perspectives of isolation, lack of love, selfishness, rebellious attitude and weak rational consciousness in 2016 [7].…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Research on Influencing Factors of Rural Children's Psychological Development in China

Ying¹,

Yu²

2018

Proceedings of the 2017 2nd International Seminar on Education Innovation and Economic Management (SEIEM 2017)

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Abstract-There is little systematic research on the psychological development of rural children as a whole in previous studies. This study was designed to examine rural children's psychological development and its influencing factors. Responses from 2,410 rural children throughout the Central China were collected through a survey research. Factor analysis was used to analyze the variables of psychological development for rural children. Results indicate: (a) rural children are developing well in psychology, (b) the order of the important factors influencing rural children's psychological development are gregariousness, parental reliance and subjective well-being, (c) peer group is an important variable of subjective well-being of rural children. Based on the research conclusions, the paper proposes that families, schools, the society and the government should make joint efforts to raise the gregariousness awareness of rural children, to resolve the problems of rural children whose parents are migrant workers, and to guarantee rural children's mental health.

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A prospective study of psychological resilience and depression among left-behind children in China

Cited by 60 publications

References 37 publications

Personal psychological resources mediate parent–child relationship and mental health among left‐behind children

Personal psychological resources mediate parent–child relationship and mental health among left‐behind children

Mental health and its influencing factors among left-behind children in South China: a cross-sectional study

Research on Influencing Factors of Rural Children's Psychological Development in China

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