The Impact of Childhood Left-Behind Experience on the Mental Health of Late Adolescents: Evidence from Chinese College Freshmen

Abstract

A paucity of public service afforded to migrant workers often begets a wide range of social problems. In China, hundreds of millions of migrant worker parents have to leave children behind in their hometowns. This paper investigated the long-term effects of the childhood experience of being left behind on the mental well-being of late adolescents. Mandatory university personality inventory (UPI) surveys (involving psychosomatic problems such as anxiety, depression, and stress) were conducted at a university in Jiangsu, China, during 2014–2017. The study sample consisted of 15,804 first-year college students aged between 15 and 28 years. The PSM method and the OLS regression model were employed. Controlling for the confounding factors (gender, age, single-child status, hometown location, ethnicity, and economic status), our empirical investigation demonstrated that childhood left-behind experience significantly worsened the mental health of the study sample, increasing the measure of mental ill-being by 0.661 standard deviations (p < 0.01). Moreover, the effects were consistently significant in subsamples divided by gender, single-child status, and hometown location; and the effects were greater for females, single-child students, and urban residents.

Relationship Between Childhood Left-Behind Experience and Quality of Life Among Chinese University Freshmen: Place of Origin Matters

“…The greater LBE-QOL association among urban freshmen than among rural freshmen observed in this study is similar to the greater negative effect of childhood LBE on mental health among urban freshmen than among rural college freshmen observed in a prior study (13). Because the interactive effect of LBE and place of origin was independent of sociodemographic variables, physical health, depressive symptoms, and academic stress, we speculated that some place-specific contextual factors may magnify or mitigate the detrimental effect of childhood LBE on QOL among University freshmen.…”

“…In the main effect model, the significant LBE-QOL association suggests that LBE was independently associated with poor QOL among University freshmen. In previous University students-based studies, childhood LBE was reported to be significantly associated with mental health problems (11)(12)(13)(14)(15), but in the present study, we revealed the independent LBE-QOL association among University freshman students, extending the long-term health outcomes of childhood LBE from mental health problems to worsened QOL. Parents' company and supervision play a vital role in the development and functioning of their children and in preparing them to manage the challenges they will confront in their academic, social, occupational, and cultural lives as adults (42).…”

“…However, findings from two comparative studies do not support this hypothesis. One study reported a similar prevalence of psychological symptoms among rural and urban LBE University students, and the other study reported significantly better mental health among rural LBE students than among urban LBE students (12,13). This suggests that the effect of LBE on the mental health may differ between University students of rural origin and urban origin.…”

“…Accumulating evidence has shown a higher risk of wasting, stunning, slow physical development, poor nutritional status, obesity, depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, suicidal ideation, substance use, and poor health-related quality of life (QOL) among leftbehind children than among children from intact families (5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10). Importantly, the negative mental health effect of childhood left-behind experience (LBE) does not diminish over time but persists to late adolescence and young adulthood; for example, compared to University students without childhood LBE, those with LBE are at a significantly higher risk for developing depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, low selfesteem, suicidal and self-harm behaviors, and other mental health problems (11)(12)(13)(14)(15).…”

Parental migration and psychological well-being of children. Longitudinal evidence from Ghana

“…Further evidence from China, has shown disadvantage for children who stay behind in outcomes such as anxiety, loneliness, and depression, especially when both parents migrate (Gao et al, 2007;Liu, Li and Ge, 2009;Hu, Lu and Huang 2014;Su et al, 2013;Xu et al, 2017). A recent study conducted with Chinese college freshmen, who were left behind by migrant parents in their childhood, found their psychological health negatively impacted in comparison to their peers (Wu et al, 2021). This study brings into sharp focus the vulnerability of children when their parent/s migrate/s while they are still young and the long-lasting impact it can have on the individual's psychological well-being.…”