Influencing Factors on Left-Behind Children’s Mental Health

Abstract

A polarization between urban and rural areas has urged a a growing number of people leave their hometown and go to bigger cities in search for better paying jobs. This has led to a goring number of left behind children in China. Left behind children tend to endure worse mental health. This study hopes to find the influencing factors that might impact the effect of parental separation on left behind children’s mental health. By studying this, people can better protect the mental well-being of the left behind children. This study used secondary analysis, which requires synthesizing previous findings. Previous findings lack in depth investigation into each influencing factor. This study discovered that female left behind children (LBC)have higher rates of mental illness than male LBC, younger LBC have higher rates of mental illness than older LBC, and LBC who communicate with their parents less frequently have higher rates of mental illness than those who maintain close contact with them.