Abstract
This longitudinal study investigated the role of psychological difficulties and self-efficacy in the relationship between family cumulative risk and hope among children from low-income families. The participants were 392 Chinese children from low-income families; the study extended for 2 years, and participants completed data that were collected with the following questionnaires: the Family Cumulative Risk Index, Children's Hope Scale, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire-Difficulties subscale, and General Self-efficacy Scale. The results demonstrated that psychological difficulties played a mediating role in the relationship between family cumulative risk and hope; specifically, family cumulative risk predicted hope of children via psychological difficulties. Self-efficacy moderated the relationship between psychological difficulties and hope. This moderation supported “a drop in the ocean effect”; the protective effect of high self-efficacy worked only when psychological difficulties were at low levels. When psychological difficulties were at high levels, the buffering effect of self-efficacy on family cumulative risk was gradually weakened and eventually lost.
Highlights
In 1986, the Chinese government implemented a compulsory education policy—that it upholds to this day—providing education for grades 1 to 9 at no cost and requiring children to attend school through at least ninth grade
The samples at each follow-up survey did not differ in sex, T1 family cumulative risk (FCR), T1 psychological difficulties, T1 self-efficacy, and T1 hope scores (p > 0.05 for all)
Our results showed that most Chinese children from low-income families experienced family risk; this concurs with existing research (Burlaka et al, 2015; Asfour et al, 2017; Weitkamp and Seiffge-Krenke, 2019)
Summary
In 1986, the Chinese government implemented a compulsory education policy—that it upholds to this day—providing education for grades 1 to 9 at no cost and requiring children to attend school through at least ninth grade. Many students drop out of junior high school each year. Economic factors have been regarded as a major cause for dropping out of school (Brown and Park, 2002). Poverty has been significantly correlated with dropout behavior (Mo et al, 2013; Wang et al, 2015), mainly owing to high tuition costs post-ninth grade in China. Among impoverished rural Chinese students, one study upheld that 14% of the students had left school in the first month of ninth grade (Yi et al, 2012). Low-income households have been associated with poor health and increased risk for mental health problems, and these can persist throughout childhood and adulthood of an individual (Hodgkinson et al, 2017)
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