Parental self‐esteem, parent–child relationships, and authoritative parenting of Chinese migrant parents of left‐behind children: Implications for social policy and services

Abstract

In this study, we aimed to examine whether and how parental self-esteem and parent-child relationships interact and associate with the authoritative parenting of Chinese rural-to-urban migrant mothers and fathers of left-behind children. Results from a cross-sectional survey of 295 Chinese migrant parents living in Shenzhen revealed no statistically significant differences between migrant mothers and fathers in parental self-esteem, parent-child relationships, and authoritative parenting. Both parental self-esteem and parent-child relationships had positive associations with authoritative parenting among two groups of respondents; however, the perceived parent-child relationship quality was a more important predictor than parental selfesteem. There was also an interaction effect between parental self-esteem and parent-child relationships on migrant mothers' authoritative parenting. The findings indicate that migrant parents' perception of their encounters with their children has a profound influence on their parenting behaviors. Social services should, thus, be provided to strengthen both virtual and face-to-face parent-child interactions via mobile phone parenting and periodic visits. New policies should be developed to provide migrant parents with more options regarding family reunion. K E Y W O R D SChina, left-behind children, migrant parents, parent-child relationship, parenting