A Comparison of the Resilience, Anxiety, and Life Satisfaction of Chinese Left-Behind Children and International Students

Abstract

The present study compared the resilience level, anxiety level, and life satisfaction level of Chinese left-behind children (LBC) and international students (IS) between 11 and 15 years old and investigated the relationships between these three variables and physical activity (PA). Chinese LBC (n = 86) from Guiyang City, Guizhou Province, China and Chinese IS (n = 60) in Vancouver, Canada filled out a survey that measured their resilience level, anxiety level, life satisfaction level, the duration and frequency of PA of different types and intensities in various domains, PA Enjoyment, and participants’ attitudes toward PA. In addition, 10 participants were randomly chosen to participate in an interview after completing the survey. The survey results showed that IS possessed higher resilience level and life satisfaction level than LBC, and both groups had no significant difference in anxiety level; LBC engaged in more PA than IS. Besides, resilience level was positively related to the amount of light PA in household or yard work domain as well as PA enjoyment; anxiety level was negatively related to PA enjoyment as well as annual household income; life satisfaction was positively related to the total amount of PA across all domains as well as PA enjoyment. Participants also mentioned in the interviews the effectiveness of PA in distracting them from worries and other negative emotions, which in turn helped reduce their anxiety and improve their resilience and life satisfaction. Therefore, participating in more PA could be a promising way to improve resilience level and life satisfaction level or reduce anxiety level for the two groups.