The Relationship Between Social Adaptation and Parenting Styles in Left-Behind and Non-Left-Behind Children: A Network Analysis.

Although prior research has typically examined the relationship between parenting styles and left-behind children's social adaptation using broad categories without identifying directly linked dimensions, the present study employed network analysis to conceptualise both as interconnected dimensional networks.

methodsA total of 2452 children (713 left-behind, 1739 non-left-behind) were included.

results(1) The results revealed that interpersonal adaptation and learning adaptation were core dimensions in the SA networks of both groups. (2) In the combined PS-SA network for left-behind children, the core dimensions were interpersonal adaptation, learning adaptation, father's rejection, and mother's rejection; for non-left-behind children, they were interpersonal adaptation, learning adaptation, mother's rejection, and mother's emotional warmth. (3) Network comparisons further indicated that the connections between father's rejection and interpersonal adaptation, father's rejection and learning adaptation, and father's emotional warmth and learning adaptation were stronger in the left-behind group, whereas the connections between mother's emotional warmth and positive emotional adaptation, and between interpersonal adaptation and learning adaptation, were stronger in the non-left-behind group.

conclusionsthese findings visualise and specify how distinct parenting dimensions relate to different facets of social adaptation, offering parents and schools potential targets for adaptation education tailored to left-behind children.