Abstract
Objectives
This study assessed the early social–emotional development of left-behind children (LBC) in rural China and determined the mediating factors linking parental migration to LBC’s developmental outcome.
Methods
We used cross-sectional data of 845 LBC under 3 years old from five counties in rural China in 2018. Social–emotional problems were assessed by the ages and stages questionnaires: social–emotional. Family structure, function, and child nurturing care practices were measured to explore their roles in potential pathways of parental migration affecting early social–emotional development.
Results
36.4% of LBC were identified with social–emotional problems; the rate was higher among LBC with migrant parents than those with migrant fathers (39.9% vs. 30.5%, adjusted OR: 1.40 [95% CI 1.01, 1.93]). Results of structural equation modeling reveal that caregivers’ low education and depressive symptoms, poor migrant–caregiver communication, family poverty, and no assistant caregiving weakened home parenting environment, and then contributed to LBC’s social–emotional problems.
Conclusions
LBC in early childhood may be at a high risk of social–emotional problems, which are primarily caused by the transition of family structure and function and consequently weakened home environment.
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Change history
12 November 2020
The authors would like to correct errors in the publication of the original article. The errors described below and correct details provided.
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Acknowledgements
Thank you to Dr Shan Lu and her research group at Capital Normal University for providing systematic training in the use of the IT-HOME for the investigators. The authors also gratefully acknowledge the support of participants, UNICEF China, Chinese Center for Health Education, and local government officials and health workers.
Funding
This study was funded by the United Nations Children’s Fund (0860/A0/05/502/001/032 Grant).
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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Ethics Review Board of Peking University (Approval Number IRB00001052-17109) and with the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
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Informed consent was obtained from all caregivers included in the study.
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The original online version of this article was revised: Errors in table 2 and the last subtitle of Results section corrected.
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Shi, H., Zhao, C., Dou, Y. et al. How parental migration affects early social–emotional development of left-behind children in rural China: a structural equation modeling analysis. Int J Public Health 65, 1711–1721 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-020-01509-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-020-01509-w