Correlations Between Social Support and Loneliness, Self-Esteem, and Resilience Among Left-Behind Children in Mainland China: A Meta-Analysis

Abstract

BackgroundSocial support is frequently reported to be correlated with loneliness, self-esteem, and resilience among left-behind children in mainland China. However, to date, there is no consensus on the extent to which those factors are correlated with social support among left-behind children. We thus performed a meta-analysis to quantitatively synthesize the previous findings.MethodsTwo investigators systematically and independently searched PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, PsycINFO, Wan Fang, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and China Science Technology Journal Database (VIP) on January 9, 2022. Pooled Pearson's correlation coefficients between social support and loneliness, self-esteem, and resilience were calculated by Stata 16.0 software using random effects model.ResultsForty-seven studies involving a total of 30 212 left-behind children were identified. A large degree of negative correlation was found between social support and loneliness [summary r: −0.36 (95% CI: −0.42– −0.30), p < 0.001]. Large positive correlations were found between social support and self-esteem, and resilience [self-esteem: summary r: 0.33 (95% CI: 0.24–0.41), p < 0.001; resilience: summary r: 0.45 (95% CI: 0.38–0.50), p < 0.001]. The pooled correlations revealed some discrepancies when stratified by some moderators. Sensitivity analysis also revealed the robustness of the findings. The Egger regression and Duvall and Tweedle trim-and-fill procedure suggest the absence of publication bias.ConclusionThe current meta-analysis provided solid evidence that social support has a high degree of negative correlation with loneliness and a high degree of positive correlation with self-esteem and resilience among left-behind children in mainland China. This indicated that left-behind children with high levels of social support tend to have lower levels of loneliness and higher levels of self-esteem and resilience. More studies, especially large prospective studies, are warranted to verify our findings.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of the effectiveness of social support on turnover intention in clinical nurses

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Hearing young children’s perspectives: Reflections on research into left-behind children’s lived experience in Chinese rural areas

“…Jiang et al, 2019; Zhang et al, 2019) and in research published in English about left-behind children (e.g. Ao and Briffett Aktaş, 2022; Huang et al, 2022). However, some researchers who began their studies with these negative suppositions, actually found netural or even positive outcomes in their conclusions.…”

Loneliness and close relationships with parents and friends: National representative study of adolescents in Denmark

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