ArticleBMC public health2019
Mental health and its influencing factors among left-behind children in South China: a cross-sectional study.
Article in BMC public health, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Urbanisation and mental health in left-behind children: systematic review and meta-analysis using resilience framework.Pediatric research · 2025Pooled it
- A mixed-methods systematic review of mental health activities among urban left-behind children in mainland China.Frontiers in public health · 2024Pooled it
- Association between Chinese only-child university students' psychological symptoms and lifestyle behaviors.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Psychological well-being of adolescents in Pokhara, Nepal: A comparison between migrated and non-migrated parents.PLOS mental health · 2025Article
- The association of sex and attitudes towards parental migration with anxiety symptoms in left-behind children: a large-scale cross-sectional study.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Migrant parent-child separation in the first three years of life and mental health problems at preschool age: A cross-sectional study.Journal of migration and health · 2025Article
- Associations between left-behind children's characteristics and psychological symptoms: a cross-sectional study from China.BMC psychiatry · 2024Article
- Association Between Parental Absence and Depressive Symptoms in Adolescence: Evidence From a National Household Longitudinal Survey.Child psychiatry and human development · 2024Article
- Sleep patterns and smartphone use among left-behind children: a latent class analysis and its association with depressive symptoms.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Article
- Does social capital aid in leveling the income gradient in child mental health? A structural analysis of the left-behind and not-left-behind Chinese children.BMC public health · 2023Article
- Development of psychological resilience and associations with emotional and behavioral health among preschool left-behind children.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2023Article
- Chinese version ofFrontiers in psychiatry · 2023Article
- COVID-19 and Vulnerable Children Well-Being: Interview with Left-Behind Children in Rural China.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- The impact of school life and family involvement on Western China junior high school students' wellbeing at multidimensional levels.Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique · 2022Article
- School problems among left-behind children of labor migrant parents: a study in Vietnam.Health psychology report · 2022Article
- Associations between screen time, physical activity, and depressive symptoms during the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak among Chinese college students.Environmental health and preventive medicine · 2021Article
- Association of Child Mental Health with Child and Family Characteristics in Rural China: A Cross-Sectional Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Relationship Between Childhood Left-Behind Experience and Quality of Life Among Chinese University Freshmen: Place of Origin Matters.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2021Article
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4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundWith rapid development of China's economy, there were over 68.7 million left-behind children (LBC) in China whose mental health has become a problem of public concern. The present cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the status of mental health and its associated factors of LBC aged 3-16 years old in both rural and urban areas.
methodsA total of 4187 children (aged 3-16), including 1471 LBC and 2716 non-left-behind children (NLBC), were recruited from 50 communities (22 in urban areas and 28 in rural areas) in Guangdong, China in August, 2014. The mental health problems were assessed using the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ).
resultsNo statistically significant difference of SDQ subscales scores about difficulties were found between LBC and NLBC on the whole participants as well as in rural areas or in urban areas within the same age group after adjustments were made (all p > 0.05). However, compared with NLBC in the same areas, urban LBC tended to have higher prosocial behaviours scores, while rural LBC had the lowest prosocial behaviours scores not only in the whole age group but also in different age subgroups (p < 0.05). Besides, compared with urban LBC, rural LBC were not worse in SDQ subscales scores except for prosocial behaviour at 7-9 age group (p = 0.003). Furthermore, higher paternal educational level and longer duration of parental absence, were associated with less difficulties in both rural and urban LBC. Besides, shorter duration of talk per-time but higher communication frequency were associated with less difficulties in rural LBC.
conclusionsThe present study demonstrated that in general, no difference of mental health problems were found between LBC and NLBC. Besides, longer duration of parental absence, shorter duration of talk per time but more communication frequency, and higher paternal educational level tend to have better development of mental health. The findings reinforce the importance of the stability of caregivers and the effective parent-child communication for Chinese rural LBC.
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