Depression among Migrant and Left-Behind Children in China in Relation to the Quality of Parent-Child and Teacher-Child Relationships

PLOS ONE, Dec 2019

The objective of this study was to examine rates of depression among migrant children (MC) and left-behind children (LBC) as compared to non-left-behind children (NLBC) and also to examine the relationship between depression among these children and the quality of their parent-child and teacher-child relationships. This study collected data from a large sample of 3,759 children aged from 8 to 17 years, including 824 who had been left behind by one parent (LBCO), 423 who had been left behind by both parents (LBCB), 568 MC and 1944 NLBC. Children’s Depression Inventory–Short Form was used to measure child depression. Parent-Child Relationship Scale (PCRS) and Teacher-Child Relationship Scale (TCRS) were used to measure the quality of parent-child and teacher-child relationships, respectively. The results showed that the prevalence of depression was 10.5% among NLBC, 13.1% among LBCO, 16.1% among LBCB, and 20.1% among MC. Depression was related to parent-child relationship quality and teacher-child relationship quality. Negative parent-child relationship was more relevant to depression than negative teacher-child relationship among LBCB, while negative teacher-child relationship was the most correlated with depression among MC.

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Depression among Migrant and Left-Behind Children in China in Relation to the Quality of Parent-Child and Teacher-Child Relationships

December Depression among Migrant and Left-Behind Children in China in Relation to the Quality of Parent-Child and Teacher-Child Relationships Jing Guo 0 1 Xuezhu Ren 0 1 Xiaohua Wang 0 1 Zhiyong Qu 0 1 Qianyun Zhou 0 1 Chun Ran 0 1 Xia Wang 0 1 Juan Hu 0 1 0 1 Department of Sociology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology , Wuhan , P. R. China , 2 School of Education, Huazhong University of Science and Technology , Wuhan , P. R. China , 3 School of Social Development and Public Policy, Beijing Normal University , Beijing , P. R. China , 4 Beijing Haidian Institute for Educational Research , Beijing , P. R. China , 5 Community health service center, Huazhong University of Science and Technology , Wuhan , P. R. China 1 Editor: Jacobus van Wouwe , TNO, NETHERLANDS The objective of this study was to examine rates of depression among migrant children (MC) and left-behind children (LBC) as compared to non-left-behind children (NLBC) and also to examine the relationship between depression among these children and the quality of their parent-child and teacher-child relationships. This study collected data from a large sample of 3,759 children aged from 8 to 17 years, including 824 who had been left behind by one parent (LBCO), 423 who had been left behind by both parents (LBCB), 568 MC and 1944 NLBC. Children's Depression Inventory-Short Form was used to measure child depression. Parent-Child Relationship Scale (PCRS) and Teacher-Child Relationship Scale (TCRS) were used to measure the quality of parent-child and teacher-child relationships, respectively. The results showed that the prevalence of depression was 10.5% among NLBC, 13.1% among LBCO, 16.1% among LBCB, and 20.1% among MC. Depression was related to parent-child relationship quality and teacher-child relationship quality. Negative parent-child relationship was more relevant to depression than negative teacherchild relationship among LBCB, while negative teacher-child relationship was the most correlated with depression among MC. - OPEN ACCESS Funding: The study was only supported by “the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities”, HUST: 2015AE004. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. Introduction In China, left-behind children (LBC) are defined as “children under 18 who have been left behind at their original residence while one or both parents migrate into other places for work, and have been not living together with them for at least six months”[ 1 ]. Migrant children (MC) are defined as “children under 18 who have left their original residence and migrated to a big city at least six months ago”[ 2 ]. Non-left-behind rural children (NLBC) are “children under 18 who live with both parents at their original residence”. With the rapid increase, in recent years, in the number of migrant workers who have moved from rural areas to cities or factory enclaves for better work opportunities, the numbers of MC and LBC have been growing fast in China. It is estimated that around 61 million children were left behind in their rural hometowns by their parents, and nearly 35.81 million migrant children relocated to cities with their parents, in 2013[ 3 ]. Numerous studies have found that MC and LBC are more likely to report poor interpersonal relationship satisfaction, and depression [ 4,5,6 ]. Therefore, the current study focused on depression among migrant and left-behind children and on the relationship between child depression and the quality of teacher-child and parent-child relationships. In China, the majorities of migrant workers are employed in low-paying jobs and live in crowded conditions in cities. Moreover, China’s place-based public resource distribution and management systems pose formidable obstacles, for rural-to-urban migrants, to access to public goods like primary education and medical care [ 7 ]. Thus, a considerable number of migrant workers cannot afford to bring their children to the destination cities. A consequence of this is a long-term parental separation from children, which can be quite injurious to the mental health of the left-behind children. On the other hand, for those rural children who live with their parents in cities, they are not entitled to the same privileges as urban children because of the Hukou system of household registration. Consequently, most rural children are unable to enroll in city public schools. Although there are unregistered schools in cities set up specifically for migrant children, those schools are usually small, lack qualified teachers, and do not have standard teaching materials or adequate sanitation facilities[ 4 ]. The evidence that is available suggests that children of migrant workers may not be experiencing positive peer and teacher– student relationships [ 6 ]. Negative relationships with (...truncated)


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Jing Guo, Xuezhu Ren, Xiaohua Wang, Zhiyong Qu, Qianyun Zhou, Chun Ran, Xia Wang, Juan Hu. Depression among Migrant and Left-Behind Children in China in Relation to the Quality of Parent-Child and Teacher-Child Relationships, PLOS ONE, 2015, 12, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0145606