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How parental migration affects early social-emotional development of left-behind children in rural China: a
Huifeng Shi1, Chunxia Zhao2, Yan Dou1
1Department of Maternal and Child Health, Peking University School of Public Health, 38 Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100191, China.
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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