Parental Absence Accompanies Worse Academic Achievements: Evidence Based upon a Sample of Left-Behind Children in Rural China

Mingchen Fu,Yan Xue,Ti-Fei Yuan,Wenjin Vikki Bo

doi:10.3389/feduc.2017.00038

Abstract

In China, with the rapid urbanization and large amount of labor force migrating from rural to urban areas, an enormous number of children living in rural China are in the absence of parental care. The objective of the study was to investigate the academic performance of left-behind children under various statuses of parental absence. We investigated 3076 children (1761 non-left-behind and 1315 left-behind) regarding their academic achievement in different subjects. We found that children with different status of parental absence would perform differently on Chinese, mathematics, and English learning. In addition, left-behind children would be significantly more likely to get low scores in academic examinations as compared with non-left-behind children. Strengths and limitations of the study are discussed.

Highlights

Specialty section: This article was submitted to Educational Psychology, a section of the journal Frontiers in Education
In China, with the rapid urbanization and large amount of labor force migrating from rural-to-urban areas, an enormous number of children living in rural China are in the absence of parental care
Due to the large-scale rural-to-urban migration of labors, an enormous number of children living in rural China are in the absence of parental care

Summary

Introduction

Specialty section: This article was submitted to Educational Psychology, a section of the journal Frontiers in Education. In China, with the rapid urbanization and large amount of labor force migrating from rural-to-urban areas, an enormous number of children living in rural China are in the absence of parental care. The objective of the study was to investigate the academic performance of left-behind children under various statuses of parental absence. Due to the large-scale rural-to-urban migration of labors, an enormous number of children living in rural China are in the absence of parental care. Researchers began to pay attention to the psychological status of left-behind children in China, as they live under the pressure of parental absence. There has been a lack of study exploring the influence of parental absence on children’s academic performance among the left-behind children.

Objectives

Methods

Results