Relationship between attachment behavior and social adaptation among left-behind middle school students: mediation effect of sense of responsibility

Abstract

Objective To explore the relationship between responsibility and social adaptation of the left-behind middle school students and to provide evidence for mental health education of left-behind children. Methods 290 left-behind middle school students were selected by cluster-random-sampling. All of them were assessed by the middle school students' social adaptability scale (SAS-SSS), the inventory of parent and peer attachment(IPPA) and the scale of high school students' responsibility. Results The correlation between responsibility, attachment behavior and social adaptation of left-behind middle school students were significant(r=0.39, r=0.56, P<0.01). There were significant differences between gender on the responsibility(male(202.64±26.78) vs female(212.67±23.24)). Regression analysis showed that mother attachment, overall responsibility, general responsibility and special fault responsibility could predict the social adaptation(P<0.05). Responsibility and its factors played a mediating role between attachment and adaptation, taking 52.1%, 20.1%, 30.8%, 9.1%, 47.9%, 40.7% proportion of the total effect. Conclusion Responsibility is an important factor affecting the social adaptation of left-behind middle school students. Key words: Left-behind middle school students; Responsibility; Companion attachment; Parents attachment; Social adaptation