Long-term impacts of parental migration on Chinese children’s psychosocial well-being: mitigating and exacerbating factors

Abstract

PurposeProlonged separation from migrant parents raises concerns for the well-being of 60 million left behind children (LBC) in rural China. This study aimed to investigate the impact of current and previous parental migration on child psychosocial well-being, with a focus on emotional and behavioral outcomes, while considering factors in family care and support.MethodsChildren were recruited from schools in migrant-sending rural areas in Zhejiang and Guizhou provinces by random stratified sampling. A self-administered questionnaire measured children’s psychosocial well-being, demographics, household characteristics, and social support. Multiple linear regression models examined the effects of parental migration and other factors on psychosocial difficulties.ResultsData from 1930 current, 907 previous, and 701 never LBC were included (mean age 12.4, SD 2.1). Adjusted models showed both previous and current parental migration was associated with significantly higher overall psychosocial difficulties, involving aspects of emotion, conduct, peer relationships, hyperactivity, and pro-social behaviors. Parental divorce and lack of available support demonstrated a strong association with greater total difficulties. While children in Guizhou had much worse psychosocial outcomes than those in Zhejiang, adjusted subgroup analysis showed similar magnitude of between-province disparities regardless of parental migration status. However, having divorced parents and lack of support were greater psychosocial risk factors for current and previous-LBC than for never LBC.ConclusionsParental migration has an independent, long-lasting adverse effect on children. Psychosocial well-being of LBC depends more on the relationship bonds between nuclear family members and the availability of support, rather than socioeconomic status.

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

“…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, ).…”

“…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, ).…”

Impact of parental migration on psychosocial well-being of children left behind: a qualitative study in rural China

“…The non-traditional family structures may be risks for future psychopathology in children [5], and exacerbate the vulnerabilities of children with less social support [6, 7]. Substantial evidence has demonstrated the psychological impact from parental absence.…”

Community-Based Intervention to Improve the Well-Being of Children Left Behind by Migrant Parents in Rural China

“…Many of the parents, carers and children talked of the importance of the Centres as places where homework could be supervised, and they attributed improvements in school performance to this. The inability of grandparents to supervise or help with homework, largely because of their own lack of educational opportunity, has been cited as one of the reasons why LBC fall behind at school in some parts of rural China [ 29 ].…”