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What contributes to alienation towards parents in left-behind children: development of alienation ecological system
Xiaoxiao Sun1, Xuemei Qin2, Peixia Shi1
1Department of Pain, Southwest Hospital, Army Medical University, Chongqing, 400038, China.
Background:
Left-behind children (LBC), defined as those with at least one parent absent from home for over six months, experience greater alienation towards their parents than non-LBC. However, what contributes to their alienation towards parents remains unrevealed. Attachment theory mainly discusses the antecedents of parent-child attachment from parenting behavior. Alienation develops much later during children's growth than attachment, which may generate gradually from parenting behavior and environment. Combined with ecological system theory, this study aims to develop an alienation ecological system theoretical framework by evaluating the antecedents of alienation towards parents from family and child perspectives within Chinese LBC.
Methods:
Between September and October 2022, 23 LBC and 42 parents participated in interviews, following a survey with the inventory of alienation toward parents.
Results:
LBC with younger siblings, divorced parents, and mothers with lower educational level reported higher alienation. The interview obtained 3 categories (parental, interpersonal, and personal factors), 8 clusters, and 20 codes. In the alienation theoretical framework, inharmonic parents' relationship interacted with inadequate parental rearing styles. The two folds of parental factors might contribute to personal factors (lower emotional stability, unique behavioral characteristics, and lower self-esteem). Parental and personal factors interacted with interpersonal factors (lower willingness, less frequency, superficial communication, poor communication results with parents, lower perceived closeness, and less interpersonal interaction), collectively contributed to alienation towards parents.
Conclusion:
These findings are among the first to elucidate how parental, interpersonal, and personal factors affect children's alienation towards parents. The newly developed alienation ecological system theoretical framework tries to understand the development of alienation. These results offer valuable suggestions for future family and school interventions, i.e., to prevent high alienation towards parents in LBC, more attention should be paid on parental, interpersonal, and personal factors.
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