Health status of children left behind in rural areas of Sichuan Province of China: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

BackgroundIn recent decades, many workers from rural areas in China migrated to urban cities in search of a better livelihood. Due to the household registration policy and other financial barriers, more than 40 million of children were left behind in their rural home by their migrated parents in 2015. In this cross-sectional study, we aimed to investigate the influence of being left behind on these children’s physical and mental health.MethodsA self-administered questionnaire was completed by participants about their demographic background and health status. Chi-square Test was conducted to investigate the influence.ResultsA total of 1662 participants responded and completed all the questions in the questionnaire. Significant differences existed between left-behind children group and non-left-behind children group on several health issues such as not going to school due to sickness (p = 0.080), completeness of the vaccination scheme (p = 0.036) and feeling of loneliness (p = 0.039). However, regarding symptoms like fever, cough or respiratory difficulties, diarrhea and twitch, as well as mental health problems like unhappiness and insomnia, no significant difference was found. Gender difference was also demonstrated showing that girls were more vulnerable than boys to certain symptoms and emotional problems.ConclusionThis study indicated that both being left-behind and gender had an impact on the children’s health. It is necessary to further reform the household registration system to improve rights of equal access to employment, education and health resources for workers and their children from rural areas in China.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12914-019-0191-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Impact of Parental Migration on Health of Left Behind Children

“…It is also the most precious values in life since it is related to the overall health of a society and nation (Islam, Khan, & Mondal, 2019). Tang, Choi, Deng, Bian, and Hu (2019) believe health as the symbol of a happy and satiated life. Good health relies on income, diet habit, lifestyles and emotional aspects (Gao et al, 2010).…”

“…When one of the parents departs abroad for migration, the rest of the family members suffer back in home. That is to say, they have to undergo some psychological and emotional distresses like sadness, insomnia, obsessive thinking, loneliness, and crying (Adhikari, 2019;Dahal, 2016;Gao et al, 2010;Tang et al, 2019). Approximately 43 percent of the children age12-17 years are found to have psychological distresses due to parental migration in Thailand .…”

Self-esteem, Social Support and Coping Strategies of left-behind Children in Rural China, and the Intermediary Role of Subjective Support：a cross-sectional survey

“…Although they used different assessment scales than the current study, the results were similar. Low self-esteem was associated with depression, anxiety, internet addiction, and psychological and behavioral problems (7,30,35). Few LBC in our study used mature coping strategies, such as problem-solving, help-seeking, and rationalization.…”

Self-esteem, Social support and coping Strategies of left-behind Children in Rural China, and the intermediary role of subjective support

“…Although they used different assessment scale with us, the results were similar. Low self-esteem induced depression, anxiety, internet addiction, and psychiatry and behavior problems [33,7,26]. It is important to note that different levels of self-esteem can cause LBC to adopt different coping strategies.…”

“…According to the report of All-China Women's Federation in 2013, China now has approximately 61.03 million LBC, which represents an increase of 2.42 million since 2005, and this accounts for 21.88% of the Chinese children population today [6]. Most of them are in the rural areas of the following provinces: Sichuan Province, Guangdong Province, Jiangxi Province, Anhui Province, Henan Province, and Hunan Province [7].…”