Children Left Behind in Romania: Anxiety and Predictor Variables

Abstract

Children left behind while their parents immigrate or travel for employment are becoming a widespread phenomenon for economic reasons, creating potentially stressful and inadequate developmental support for a substantial portion of some countries' working class populations. This study assessed the emotional status and coping skills of two matched samples of 163 Romanian children left behind and 163 comparable children living with their parents. The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children, the Anger Expression Scale for Children, the Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire, and the Children's Coping Strategies Checklist were utilized. Higher anxiety and depression were observed in left-behind children compared to the control group living with parents. Hierarchical multiple regression supported the relevance of coping strategies, controlled for sociodemographic characteristics, to help explain anxiety in left-behind children. Strategies to promote psychological health and general well being are discussed.

The impact of parental labour migration on left‐behind children's educational and psychosocial outcomes: Evidence from Romania

“…The results are also in line with the existing research evidence for lower secondary school‐aged children, which shows that parental migration is particularly detrimental to the mental health of children in this age group (Gao et al., ; Shi et al., ; Wang et al., ; Zhou et al., ). The findings are in line with the results of Tomşa and Jenaro () where depressive symptoms have been observed among Romanian children left at home. Furthermore, our estimates on physical health complement previous studies highlighting the greater risk of health problems among children aged 10–16 years old that is associated with parental migration (Gao et al., ; Li et al., ).…”

“…Furthermore, Vanore, Mazzucato, and Siegel () show that parental migration is not always associated with negative psychosocial health outcomes for Moldavian left‐behind children. This contradicts the findings from Tomşa and Jenaro (), who document depression in left‐behind children in Romania. The evidence from Albania, where the percentage of migrating fathers is much higher than those of migrating mothers, shows that living in a transnational family increases the probability of dropping out of school (Giannelli & Mangiavacchi, ), particularly among girls and those living in rural areas (Dabalen & Miluka, ).…”

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

“…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, ).…”

Parental absence predicts suicide ideation through emotional disorders

“…Literature indicated that children would show negative emotions like anxiety, angry, and fear as responses of being separated from parents [ 1 ]. Along with the development of the modern society, long-term parental absence has become a considerable issue that attracts the attention of researchers [ 2 – 4 ]. On the one hand, increased divorce rates have been frequently reported [ 5 ].…”

“…On the one hand, increased divorce rates have been frequently reported [ 5 ]. On the other hand, large-scale labor migration has being occurring in many areas of the world, leading to a huge number of children being left in home with the absence of parental cares [ 3 – 4 ].…”