Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Association Between Parental Absence and Depressive Symptoms in Adolescence: Evidence From a National Household Longitudinal Survey

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Child Psychiatry & Human Development Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Longitudinal evidence demonstrating the association between parental absence and depressive symptoms in adolescence is limited. The present study aimed to explore this relationship in a Chinese national representative sample. This research was based on the China Family Panel Studies and included 1481 subjects. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the self-reported Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression questionnaire. A multiple logistic regression model with a generalized estimating equation was used to test the association between parental absence and adolescent depressive symptoms. In the baseline year, 2012, 29.03% and 43.75% of adolescents had maternal and paternal absence, respectively. The prevalence of depressive symptoms increased from 23.23% to 28.12% in subsequent years. After controlling for covariates, maternal absence was positively associated with depressive symptoms (odds ratio 1.69, 95% confidence interval 1.06–2.68). Maternal absence led to depression in adolescents. It may be beneficial for adolescents with depression to spend more time with their mothers.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

Data Availability

Publicly available datasets were analyzed in this study. This data can be found here: https://opendata.pku.edu.cn

Code Availability

The code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

References

  1. GBD 2017 Disease and Injury Incidence and Prevalence Collaborators (2018) Global, regional, and national incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability for 354 diseases and injuries for 195 countries and territories, 1990–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. Lancet 392:1789–1858. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)32279-7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Smith K (2014) Mental health: a world of depression. Nature 515:181. https://doi.org/10.1038/515180a

    Article  ADS  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Zisook S, Lesser I, Stewart JW, Wisniewski SR, Balasubramani GK, Fava M et al (2007) Effect of age at onset on the course of major depressive disorder. Am J Psychiatry 164:1539–1546. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2007.06101757

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Blazer DG, Kessler RC, McGonagle KA, Swartz MS (1994) The prevalence and distribution of major depression in a national community sample: the National Comorbidity Survey. Am J Psychiatry 151:979–986. https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.151.7.979

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. World Health Organization. Depression [EB/OL]. Available at: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/depression.

  6. Hesketh T, Ding QJ (2005) Anxiety and depression in adolescents in urban and rural China. Psychol Rep 96:435–444. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.96.2.435-444

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Zhou M, Zhang G, Rozelle S, Kenny K et al (2018) Depressive symptoms of Chinese children: prevalence and correlated factors among subgroups. Int J Environ Res Public Health. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15020283

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  8. Antman FM (2011) International migration and gender discrimination among children left behind. Am Econ Rev 101:645–649. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.101.3.645

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  9. Jordan LP, Graham E (2012) Resilience and well-being among children of migrant parents in South-East Asia. Child Dev 83:1672–1688. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2012.01810.x

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  10. Wang F, Lu J, Lin L, Zhou X (2019) Mental health and risk behaviors of children in rural China with different patterns of parental migration: a cross-sectional study. Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health 13:39. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13034-019-0298-8

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  11. Gibson BS, Gondoli DM, Johnson AC, Steeger CM et al (2011) Component analysis of verbal versus spatial working memory training in adolescents with ADHD: a randomized, controlled trial. Child Neuropsychol 17:546–563. https://doi.org/10.1080/09297049.2010.551186

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Zhao C, Wang F, Li L, Zhou X et al (2017) Long-term impacts of parental migration on Chinese children’s psychosocial well-being: mitigating and exacerbating factors. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 52:669–677. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-017-1386-9

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  13. He B, Fan J, Liu N, Li H et al (2012) Depression risk of “left-behind children” in rural China. Psychiatry Res 200:306–312. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2012.04.001

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Wang F, Lin L, Xu M, Li L et al (2019) Mental health among left-behind children in rural China in relation to parent-child communication. Int J Environ Res Public Health. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16101855

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  15. Zhang X, Li M, Guo L, Zhu Y (2019) Mental health and its influencing factors among left-behind children in South China: a cross-sectional study. BMC Public Health 19:1725. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-8066-5

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  16. Tao XW, Guan HY, Zhao YR, Fan ZY (2014) Mental health among left-behind preschool-aged children: preliminary survey of its status and associated risk factors in rural China. J Int Med Res 42:120–129. https://doi.org/10.1177/0300060513503922

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Lu Y (2012) Household migration, social support, and psychosocial health: the perspective from migrant-sending areas. Soc Sci Med 74:135–142. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.10.020

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Kharel M, Akira S, Kiriya J, Ong KIC et al (2021) Parental migration and psychological well-being of left-behind adolescents in Western Nepal. PLoS ONE 16:e0245873. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0245873

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  19. Bufferd SJ, Dougherty LR, Carlson GA, Rose S et al (2012) Psychiatric disorders in preschoolers: continuity from ages 3 to 6. Am J Psychiatry 169:1157–1164. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2012.12020268

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  20. Merikangas KR, Nakamura EF, Kessler RC (2009) Epidemiology of mental disorders in children and adolescents. Dialogues Clin Neurosci 11:7–20. https://doi.org/10.31887/DCNS.2009.11.1/krmerikangas

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  21. Johnson D, Dupuis G, Piche J, Clayborne Z et al (2018) Adult mental health outcomes of adolescent depression: a systematic review. Depress Anxiety 35:700–716. https://doi.org/10.1002/da.22777

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Lewinsohn PM, Clarke GN, Seeley JR, Rohde P (1994) Major depression in community adolescents: age at onset, episode duration, and time to recurrence. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 33:809–818. https://doi.org/10.1097/00004583-199407000-00006

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Xie Y, Hu J (2014) An introduction to the China family panel studies (CFPS). Chin Sociol Rev 47:3–29. https://doi.org/10.2753/CSA2162-0555470101.2014.11082908

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Xie Y, Lu P (2015) The sampling design of the China family panel studies (CFPS). Chin J Sociol 1:471–484. https://doi.org/10.1177/2057150x15614535

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  25. Radloff LS (1977) The CES-D scale: a self-report depression scale for research in the general population. Appl Psychol Meas 1:385–401. https://doi.org/10.1177/014662167700100306

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Radloff LS (1991) The use of the center for epidemiologic studies depression scale in adolescents and young adults. J Youth Adolesc 20:149–166. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf01537606

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. Institute of Social Science Survey. China Family Panel Studies 2016 database introduction and data cleansing report. Available at: http://www.isss.pku.edu.cn/cfps/docs/20201201085335172101.pdf

  28. Wen M, Su S, Li X, Lin D (2015) Positive youth development in rural China: the role of parental migration. Soc Sci Med 132:261–269. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.07.051

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Peng X (2011) China’s demographic history and future challenges. Science 333:581–587. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1209396

    Article  ADS  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. Chen X, Wang L, Wang Z (2009) Shyness-sensitivity and social, school, and psychological adjustment in rural migrant and urban children in china. Child Dev 80:1499–1513. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2009.01347.x

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Zhou C, Lv Q, Yang N, Wang F (2021) Left-behind children, parent-child communication and psychological resilience: a structural equation modeling analysis. Int J Environ Res Public Health. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18105123

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  32. Li M, Ren Y, Sun H (2020) Social anxiety status of left-behind children in rural areas of Hunan province and its relationship with loneliness. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 51:1016–1024. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-020-01045-x

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  33. Lu J, Lin L, Roy B, Riley C et al (2020) The impacts of parent-child communication on left-behind children’s mental health and suicidal ideation: a cross sectional study in Anhui. Child Youth Serv Rev. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.104785

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  34. Liu Z, Li X, Ge X (2009) Left too early: the effects of age at separation from parents on Chinese rural children’s symptoms of anxiety and depression. Am J Public Health 99:2049–2054. https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.2008.150474

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  35. Mazzucato V, Cebotari V, Veale A, White A et al (2015) International parental migration and the psychological well-being of children in Ghana, Nigeria, and Angola. Soc Sci Med 132:215–224. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.10.058

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  36. Bhargava A, Tan X (2018) A longitudinal analysis of internal migration, divorce and well-being in China. J Biosoc Sci 50:706–722. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0021932017000499

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  37. Adhikari R, Jampaklay A, Chamratrithirong A, Richter K et al (2014) The impact of parental migration on the mental health of children left behind. J Immigr Minor Health 16:781–789. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-013-9809-5

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  38. Fellmeth G, Rose-Clarke K, Zhao C, Busert LK et al (2018) Health impacts of parental migration on left-behind children and adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Lancet 392:2567–2582. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(18)32558-3

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  39. Zhao C, Egger HL, Stein CR, McGregor KA (2018) Separation and reunification: mental health of Chinese children affected by parental migration. Pediatrics. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2018-0313

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  40. Pottinger AM (2005) Children’s experience of loss by parental migration in inner-city Jamaica. Am J Orthopsychiatry 75:485–496. https://doi.org/10.1037/0002-9432.75.4.485

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  41. Senaratne BC, Perera H, Fonseka P (2011) Mental health status and risk factors for mental health problems in left-behind children of women migrant workers in Sri Lanka. Ceylon Med J 56:153–158. https://doi.org/10.4038/cmj.v56i4.3893

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  42. Zhou M, Sun X, Huang L, Zhang G et al (2018) Parental migration and left-behind children’s depressive symptoms: estimation based on a nationally-representative panel dataset. Int J Environ Res Public Health. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15061069

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  43. Wen M, Lin D (2012) Child development in rural China: children left behind by their migrant parents and children of nonmigrant families. Child Dev 83:120–136. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2011.01698.x

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  44. Zhou C, Sylvia S, Zhang L, Luo R et al (2015) China’s left-behind children: impact of parental migration on health, nutrition, and educational outcomes. Health Aff 34:1964–1671. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2015.0150

    Article  Google Scholar 

  45. Wang L, Mesman J (2015) Child development in the face of rural-to-urban migration in china: a meta-analytic review. Perspect Psychol Sci 10:813–831. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691615600145

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  46. Attar-Schwartz S, Tan JP, Buchanan A, Flouri E et al (2009) Grandparenting and adolescent adjustment in two-parent biological, lone-parent, and step-families. J Fam Psychol 23:67–75. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0014383

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  47. Government of China. Announcement on the care and education for rural school aged left-behind children by Ministry of Education and four other agencies. 2013. Available at: http://www.gov.cn/zwgk/2013-01/10/content_2309058.htm.

  48. Twisk JWR (2013) Applied longitudinal data analysis for epidemiology: a practical guide. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  49. Kessler RC, Walters EE (1998) Epidemiology of DSM-III-R major depression and minor depression among adolescents and young adults in the national comorbidity survey. Depress Anxiety 7:3–14

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  50. Yang HJ, Soong WT, Kuo PH, Chang HL et al (2004) Using the CES-D in a two-phase survey for depressive disorders among nonreferred adolescents in Taipei: a stratum-specific likelihood ratio analysis. J Affect Disord 82:419–430. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2004.04.008

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  51. Byrne BM, Stewart SM, Lee PWH (2004) Validating the beck depression inventory-II for Hong Kong community adolescents. Int J Test 4:199–216. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327574ijt0403_1

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank China Family Panel Studies Office and Institute Social Science Survey at Peking University. Thanks to Project 985 of Peking University for funding the implementation of the CFPS project.

Funding

This work was supported by the research project of Ningxia Medical University (No. XT2019009) and the key research and development project of Ningxia Autonomous Region (No. 2021BEG02030).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health and Management, Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan, 750004, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China

    Zhenfan Yu, Yurun Du, Naifan Hu & Jiangping Li

  2. Department of Immunization Programme, Ningxia Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Yinchuan, 750004, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China

    Ying Zhang

  3. Key Laboratory of Environmental Factors and Chronic Disease Control, Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan, 750004, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China

    Jiangping Li

Authors
  1. Zhenfan Yu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Yurun Du
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Naifan Hu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Ying Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Jiangping Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

ZY: validation, formal analysis, writing—original draft; YD: validation, formal analysis; NH: validation, writing—original draft; YZ: project administration, validation; JL: validation, supervision, writing and revision conceptualization.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jiangping Li.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Ethics Approval

The CFPS is a nationally representative, biennial household survey that has been performed since 2010, organized by the Institute of Social Science Survey, Peking University. The Peking University Biomedical Ethics Review Committee provided ethical approval for the survey (Approval number: IRB00001052-14010).

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary Information

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary file1 (DOCX 24 kb)

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Yu, Z., Du, Y., Hu, N. et al. Association Between Parental Absence and Depressive Symptoms in Adolescence: Evidence From a National Household Longitudinal Survey. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 55, 405–414 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-022-01415-7

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-022-01415-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation