Effects of parental migration on Chinese adolescents' mental health : a mixed method study

Abstract

Background and purpose: In the context of a large flow internal migration in China, 61 million children and adolescents are left behind in rural areas when their parents migrate for work. Yet, how various left-behind experiences affect adolescents’ mental health is under researched and little is known about how adolescents cope with parental migration. This study investigated the context and the mechanism under which parental migration affected adolescents’ mental health and how adolescents utilized meaning-focused coping during parent-child separation. Method: This study adopted a mixed method design. Adolescents who had been left behind were interviewed via purposive sampling. Data was open coded following principles of a phenomenological research. Subsequently, a cross-sectional survey using a multi-stage probability strategy obtained a representative sample of junior school aged adolescents in Western China. Negative and positive dimensions of mental health were respectively measured by the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale and Mental Health Continuum-Short Form. Chinese Adolescent Meaning-focused Coping Scale was developed and validated to measure how adolescents make meaning in adversity. Logistic regressions examined the effects of characteristics of migrant families, namely the type of migration, caregiving arrangements, and left-behind duration, on adolescents’ mental health. A structural equation model tested direct and indirect effects of left-behind experiences on mental health variables. Results: The qualitative sample included 17 adolescents with mean age 14.1. The quantitative sample included 1910 respondents (non-left-behind adolescents =832, 43.61%; left-behind adolescents = 1076, 56.39%) with mean age 13.66. Eight subthemes emerged and were grouped into four themes: living with prolonged parent-child separation, ambivalent feelings, constructed meaning of parental migration, and meaning-making strategies. The results suggested that despite detached parent-child relationships and increased daily hassles, adolescents showed resilience to make positive meaning of parental migration by focusing on the migration-related benefits and maintaining goal commitment. Quantitative results highlighted significant variations in left-behind adolescents’ mental health. Compared to those with no left-behind experience, adolescents whose both parents had migrated were more likely to be depressive while adolescents with migrant fathers were less likely to have flourishing mental health. Leaving adolescents alone with no caregiver significantly increased adolescents’ risk of being depressive. Adolescents with longer left-behind duration tended to have poor mental health, with a specific risk among those experiencing one to five years’ or over 10 years’ left-behind life. The structural equation modeling results suggested that previous left-behind experience, and being left behind currently by one of or both parents increased the levels of daily stress, in turn, affected depression and flourishing mental health indirectly. Meaning-focused coping could mediate negative impacts of daily stress on mental health outcomes. Discussions and implications: Findings contribute to the knowledge of adolescents’ meaning-focused coping in adverse situations. Social services are required to prevent Chinese adolescents from becoming depressive, particularly for those left behind by both parents with no caregiver. Interventions should focus on providing social support and enhancing adolescents’ coping ability to navigate daily stress. School-based programs can be provided to instill resilient beliefs into adolescents and facilitate adolescents establishing meaningful goals.