Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 20, 2025

Determining Soil-transmitted Helminth Infection Status and Physical Fitness of School-aged Children
Published on: August 22, 2012
Parental migration and self-reported health status of adolescents in China: A cross-sectional study
Weijia Lu1, Anwen Zhang2, Elias Mossialos3
1Shenzhen Health Development Research Centre, 5 Yuan Ling Wu Jie, Shenzhen 518028, China.
Background:
Over 100 million children are parented by migrant workers in China. The aim of this study was to investigate how self-reported adolescent physical and mental health are associated with parental migration.
Methods:
Based on cross-sectional data of 13996 students in 112 schools drawn from a nationally representative sample of middle school students in China, this study used self-reported measures for adolescent physical and mental health. Ordered logistic regression was used for the analysis of self-reported physical health, and linear regression was used for the analysis of self-reported mental health, both adjusting for socio-economic covariates and school fixed effects, to determine how adolescent health is associated with parental migration.
Findings:
In urban areas, migrant adolescents were physically healthier (OR=1.19, 95% CI: 1.03-1.36), and similarly mentally healthy (b=-0.07, 95% CI: -0.37-0.23), compared to urban adolescents from intact families; in rural areas, left-behind adolescents were less physically (OR=0.84, 95% CI: 0.76-0.94) and mentally (b=0.45, 95% CI: 0.24-0.66) healthy than rural-intact adolescents, holding other variables constant. Left-behind adolescents had less close parent-adolescent relationships than rural-intact adolescents with both father (OR=0.63, 95% CI: 0.56-0.71) and mother (OR=0.62, 95% CI: 0.54-0.70).
Interpretation:
Our study highlights a great need for health interventions aimed at left-behind adolescents in China and globally, and the important roles of parent-adolescent relationships in addressing the health needs of left-behind adolescents.
Related Concept Videos
Self-Evaluation: Self-Enhancement and Self-Verification
Longitudinal Research
Ethnic Identity within a Larger Culture
Influence of Parents and Peers on Identity
Parental Influence on Identity Development
Parents serve as primary guides and managers in an adolescent's life, offering support instrumental in decision-making and personal growth....
Sources of Self-Esteem I: Family Experience
Cross-Sectional Research

