The Impact of Parental Remote Migration and Parent-Child Relation Types on the Psychological Resilience of Rural Left-Behind Children in China

Examining the Latent Dimensions of Social Anxiety Disorder

While the body of literature has investigated the latent dimensions of Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD), only few have directly anchored in the DSM-5 SAD symptoms. Similarly, a continuing issue on measuring mental health disorders pertains to whether a symptom's frequency, intensity, or both, are appropriate and sufficient indicators of severity. To address this gap, the present study developed and validated a DSM-5-based measurement tool, the Social Anxiety Symptom Severity Inventory (SASSI), which assesses both the intensity (intensity of disturbance) and frequency (frequency of occurrence) of SAD symptoms. In study 1 (n = 6458, college students), the results revealed a two-factor structure using exploratory structural equation modeling. In study 2 (n = 425, left-behind emerging adults), confirmatory factor analysis, measurement invariance testing, and latent class analysis were used. Findings demonstrated the importance of using both frequency and intensity of symptoms in assessing SAD severity. Moreover, a five-class solution best fitted the sample. Studies 1 and 2 demonstrated the good psychometric properties of SASSI and filled an important gap among available measures in assessing SAD severity through symptom frequency and intensity.

Psychological Resilience among Left-Behind Children in a Rural Area of Eastern China

Childhood is an important period for individuals’ psychological development. Due to long-term separation from the parents, left-behind children (LBC) more easily develop deviation in cognition and abnormal personality. In this study, we aimed to explore the status of psychological resilience among LBC in a rural area of eastern China. We carried out a cross-sectional survey including middle and high school students from Qingyuan County of Zhejiang Province. Psychological resilience was measured using a modified scale developed for Chinese children. Data from a total of 1086 participants were collected, and the mean ± standard deviation score of psychological resilience was 4.11 ± 0.42. Multivariable linear regression analyses revealed that being a class leader (p = 0.010) and having high self-evaluation of academic performance (p < 0.001) were related with psychological resilience. Moreover, high contact frequency between parents and children (p = 0.019) was associated with better psychological resilience among LBC. In conclusion, we found that being a class leader and having high self-evaluation of academic performance were associated with better psychological resilience among the children in this rural area and contact between parent and child was an essential factor associated with psychological resilience among LBC.

The bright side of digitization: Assessing the impact of mobile phone domestication on left-behind children in China's rural migrant families

This study examines the mobile phone practices of rural left-behind children (LBC) whose one or both parents migrate to cities for better earnings and the impact of such practices on migrant families in China. The study has used ethnographic approach by conducting participant observations and interviews of 21 LBC, residing in Guangren village, south China's Guangxi Autonomous Region. The study uses domestication theory to analyze these LBC's adoption of mobile phones in their daily routines and spaces in and out of their households. The key findings are as follows: (a) the LBC used mobile phones primarily to engage with their distant parent(s); (b) through collaborative efforts, they tried to enhance familial connections; and (c) they overcome the separation issue by co-participating in ongoing events, thus making the domestication of mobile phone a distant solving of real-world problems faced by migrant parent(s) and their LBC. The study concludes that LBC's innovative uses of mobile phones empowered them by building shared virtual space with their migrant parent(s), via which they handled the separation issue. In such shared virtual spaces, LBC's families have developed rich expressions of familial connections in various forms based on the limited perpetuate connectedness.

COVID-19 and Vulnerable Children Well-Being: Interview with Left-Behind Children in Rural China

Purpose of the study: This study sought to explore the psychological well-being, academic adjustment, and quality of parental attachment of LBC during COVID-19 based on Left-Behind Children’s (LBC) word of mouth. Method: In light of the abundance of quantitative studies, this qualitative study explored the psychological, academic, and parental attachment experiences of rural LBC during COVID-19. To this end, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 22 LBCs aged 10–15 in May 2021. Result: The study results reveal that LBCs developed severe psychological illnesses after the pandemic severely disrupted their already disturbed lives. Our findings showed that most LBCs feel they do not need their parents, which reflects their long record of hopelessness and agony regarding the absence of their parents. Conclusion: Although COVID-19 is a global problem, its impact was particularly devastating for LBCs who have nobody around who could help them with their academic, personal and social need. In the modern COVID-19 era, it seems that Chinese grandparenting has become unreliable in the face of radical change in contemporary Education, society, and the economic system. Therefore, this study suggests that the Chinese government should seek to identify and monitor these children by working with NGOs that target such children.

Parental migration status moderates the link between parent-child relationship and children's well-being through psychological distress

The effects of parental migration on the well-being of left-behind children (LBC) are varied. Several studies demonstrated that parental migration reduces children's psychological health but other research showed contradictory results. This study sought to clarify this issue by examining the mediating role of psychological distress and the moderating role of parental migration status in the association between the parent-child relationship and children's psychological distress. A total of 743 LBC and 688 non-LBC self-reported their parent-child relationship, psychological distress, and well-being. Findings showed that psychological distress mediated the association between parent-child relationship and children's well-being. This denotes that greater parent-child relationship results into lowered levels of psychological distress, and in turn, increases children's emotional, psychological, and social well-being. Moreover, the link between parent-child relationship and psychological distress was found to be contingent to parental migration status. Specifically, the negative association between parent-child relationship and psychological distress was especially strong among LBC in contrast to non- LBC. This implies that children with higher quality relationships with their parents tend to exhibit decreased severity of psychological distress symptoms, especially in children whose parents are working overseas. These results underscore the dynamic role of parent-child relationship in the well-being of LBC, and suggest ways to develop intervention programs that include cultivating skills in managing psychological distress and improving the emotional, psychological, and social well-being of LBC.

Mother's and Father's Migrating in China: Differing Relations to Mental Health and Risk Behaviors Among Left-Behind Children

Background

In China, the figure for left-behind children (LBC) of migrants stood at 68. 77 million in 2015. Despite being seen as a whole in the last few decades, LBC today differ broadly in parental migrating status. This study focused on LBC with both parents migrating (BLBC), LBC with only mothers migrating (MLBC), LBC with only fathers migrating (FLBC), and previous LBC with one or both parents migrating (PLBC), separately. We aimed at exploring the extent to which LBC were being affected by each migrant parent on both mental health and risk behaviors.

Methods

Data from 4,832 children were collected by a school-based survey in both rural and urban areas of China's Anhui province. Each participant anonymously completed a self-administered questionnaire containing the sociodemographics, the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), the items from the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS), and Young's Internet Addiction Test for Chinese (YIAT-C). Data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and the Chi-squared test. Associations were estimated by multiple linear regression and logistic regression analyses adjusted for several confounders.

Results

The results suggested that BLBC (p &lt; 0.001), MLBC (p &lt; 0.05), FLBC (p &lt; 0.01), and PLBC (p &lt; 0.001) significantly scored higher for total difficulties along with emotional symptoms and conduct problems than never left-behind children (NLBC). Besides, BLBC, FLBC, and PLBC further reported a significantly higher rate of smoking (p &lt; 0.001, p &lt; 0.01, and p &lt; 0.001, respectively) and drinking (p &lt; 0.01, p &lt; 0.05, and p &lt; 0.01, respectively) than did NLBC. Also, MLBC appeared higher risks of smoking problems [OR = 2.31, 95% CI (1.45–3.69), p &lt; 0.001] and the internet addiction [OR = 2.15, 95% CI (1.24–3.72), p &lt; 0.01], when compared to NLBC.

Conclusions

The findings provided insight into LBC within the different contexts of parental migrations and contributed to a better understanding of their specific and potentially persistent health risks. Correspondingly, the study highlighted the implications for differentiating LBC to capture the more vulnerable group and tailored interventions to prioritize.

Word of Mouth from Left-Behind Children in Rural China: Exploring Their Psychological, Academic and Physical Well-being During COVID-19

COVID-19 has had considerable effects on people's lives worldwide, particularly left-behind children in China as they tragically witnessed the outbreak. From the outset, millions of left-behind children in rural areas experienced extensive physical and psychological disturbances because their migrant parents who lived in the city or another province could not be with them. This study explored the psychological, academic, and physical well-being of rural left-behind children during COVID-19. We captured the experiences of 10- to 15-year-old children and adolescents who were left behind by their migrant parents before the COVID-19 outbreak. The results of the present study suggest that left-behind children have exhibited severe psychological illnesses since the pandemic has limited their social interactions with peers and increased improper caretaking from grandparents.

Influence factors for upper respiratory tract infection in Chinese rural children: A cross-sectional study

AIM

The prevalence rate of upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) is high in children. Influencing factors for URTI have been reported in Chinese urban children, but those have not been explored in rural children. In China, children in the rural areas are a disadvantaged group. Therefore, this study aims to explore influencing factors for URTI in Chinese rural children.

METHODS

This is a cross-sectional study based on the 1991-2015 China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS). In total, 5,289 children were eligible for the analysis, including 3,684 rural children and 1,605 urban children. The generalized estimating equation was used to determine the influencing factors, and results were expressed as odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs).

RESULTS

The results showed that rural children aged 7-12 and 13-17 years had lower odds of URTI than those aged 0-1 year, with OR value of 0.17 (95% CI, 0.11-0.27) and 0.12 (95% CI, 0.08-0.19), respectively. Compared with uneducated mothers, those with education level of primary school (OR: 0.59, 95% CI, 0.42-0.84), lower middle school (OR: 0.53, 95% CI, 0.38-0.73), and upper middle school and technical school (OR: 0.62, 95% CI, 0.40-0.95) were associated with the lower odds of URTI in rural children. Children, whose mothers were office workers, had 46% lower odds of URTI than those with farmer mothers (OR: 0.54, 95% CI, 0.34-0.84).

CONCLUSIONS

This study found that mother's education level, children's age, and mother's occupation were significant influencing factors for URTI, which suggested the importance to improve mother's health-related knowledge and working conditions in Chinese rural areas.

The Influence of Discrepancies between Parents' Educational Aspirations and Children's Educational Expectations on Depressive Symptoms of Left-Behind Children in Rural China: The Mediating Role of Self-Efficacy

Although long-term separation has made discrepancies between parents’ educational aspirations and children’s own educational expectations among families with left-behind children (LBC), limited researches on the influence of these discrepancies on children’s mental health are carried out at present. Based on China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) conducted in 2018, we selected 875 LBC aged 9~15 as the sample, explored the influence of the direction and degree of these discrepancies on LBC’s depressive symptoms by hierarchical regression, and examined the mediating role of children’s academic self-efficacy and mediation effect pathway with Baron and Kenny method and Bootstrap mediation analysis methods. Results showed that LBC’s mental health was worse when parents’ educational aspirations were higher than their children’s educational expectations, compared to that without discrepancies. The degree of such discrepancies was negatively associated with LBC’s mental health. In the relationship between the direction of discrepancies and LBC’s depressive symptoms, academic self-efficacy played a mediating role partially. In addition, the study indicated that mothers played a significant role in the development of LBC’s mental health. These findings also provided critical evidence for the intervention practice of LBC’s mental health.

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

BACKGROUND

Negative coping strategies and behavioral problems are common among Chinese left-behind children, which are relate to a variety of negative consequences. At this stage of development, the relevant factors of coping strategies need to be further studied, in which social support and self-esteem are worthy of our attention. The aim of this study is to detect the current situation of self-esteem, social support, and coping styles of left-behind children (LBC) in rural China.

METHODS

322 children from 3 schools in China enrolled in this study, including 236 LBC and 86 non-left-behind children (NLBC) to assess self-esteem, social support and coping strategies.

RESULTS

The LBC group had lower self-esteem score and lower total social support (subjective support, objective support and support-seeking behavior) than the NLBC group. In terms of coping strategies, the LBC group was lower than the NLBC group in problem-solving and rationalization. The self-esteem score in LBC was significant positive associated with the subjective support score, objective support score, problem-solving and help-seeking score. In addition, self-esteem has significant mediating effect between subjective support and problem-solving, subjective support and help-seeking, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

The finding indicate that Chinese LBC's self-esteem and social support need to be improved. Given the significant correlativity between self-esteem, subjective support and coping strategy, it is necessary to promote Chinese LBC's self-esteem and social support, especially subjective support.

Measuring resilience in children: a review of recent literature and recommendations for future research

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

Understanding variability in developmental outcomes following exposure to early life adversity (ELA) has been an area of increasing interest in psychiatry, as resilient outcomes are just as prevalent as negative ones. However, resilient individuals are understudied in most cohorts and even when studied, resilience is typically defined as an absence of psychopathology. This review examines current approaches to resilience and proposes more comprehensive and objective ways of defining resilience.

RECENT FINDINGS

Of the 36 studies reviewed, the most commonly used measure was the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (n = 6), followed by the Child Behavior Checklist (n = 5), the Resilience Scale for Chinese Adolescents (n = 5), the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (n = 4), and the Child and Youth Resilience Scale (n = 3).

SUMMARY

This review reveals that studies tend to rely on self-report methods to capture resilience which poses some challenges. We propose a complementary measure of child resilience that relies on more proactive behavioral and observational indicators; some of our preliminary findings are presented. Additionally, concerns about the way ELA is characterized as well as the influence of genetics on resilient outcomes prompts further considerations about how to proceed with resiliency research.

The Relationship between Family Harmony with Stress, Anxiety, and Depression in Adolescents

Introduction: Adolescents are a group vulnerable to mental health problems, including stress, anxiety, and depression. This study aimed to examine the interlink of a harmonious family with stress, anxiety, and depression in adolescents.Methods: This study employed descriptive correlational design with cross-sectional approach and examined 851 high school adolescents aged between 16-18 years who were recruited using a total sampling method from five high school in Malang City. Stress, anxiety and depression in adolescents was assessed employing the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS - 21), while, to assess family harmony, a questionnaire   developed by the researcher was used. Data were analyzed through descriptive statistics and bivariate tests using Spearman Rank Correlation.Results: It was revealed that 428 adolescents (50.3%) were male, 321 adolescents (37.7%) came from parents who worked privately, and 482 adolescents (56.6%) had their parents' social status above the minimum wage standard. Eight hundred and two adolescents (94.2%) had harmonious families, while the remaining 49 adolescents (5.8%) had non-harmonious families. Our study concluded that family harmony had a significant relationship with adolescent stress levels (p-value 0.013). On the other hand, the analysis showed that family harmony was not related to adolescents' anxiety (p-value 0.071) and depression level (p-value 0.13). A harmonious family makes children mentally healthy, able to adapt to the environment while a family that is not harmonious can trigger stress because conditions are not as expected, coupled with the burden of schoolwork, stressors from teachers and peers.Conclusion:The results of the research showed that harmony in the family had a significant effect on stress in adolescents. Therefore, it is necessary to provide education and counseling to the family to prevent fights in the family so that it can reduce the emergence of stress in adolescents.