IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/socpsy/v66y2020i2p188-197.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The impacts of maternal separation experience and its pattern on depression and dysfunctional attitude in middle school students in rural China

Author

Listed:
  • Xiu-jing Cao
  • Yi-xuan Huang
  • Ping Zhu
  • Zhi-gang Zhang

Abstract

Background: In China, because of the growth of economically driven rural-to-urban migration, there are lots of children in rural area who are separating or have separation experience with their parents. Until now, few studies focused on solely maternal separation and no research studied whether its pattern will affect children’s later psychological status. Aim: The aim of this study was to determine whether early or late maternal separation affects depression and dysfunctional attitude in middle school students and what is the role of cumulative duration and meeting frequency. Methods: Maternal separation experience was obtained by using questionnaires. We got early maternal separation group first. Then, late maternal separation and control group were obtained with the same number by matching grade, sex and family socioeconomic status. All the students in the three groups completed the scales of Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI) and Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (DAS). Results: Both CDI and DAS scores of early separation group are higher than the other two groups. When we split the data by sex, only females presented the same results. When cumulative duration is short, there is significant difference in both scores of CDI and DAS among the three groups, which showed the scores of early separation group are higher than the other two groups. When the cumulative duration is long, there is no significant difference among the three groups. When meeting frequency is high, there is no significant difference among the three groups. When it is low, there is significant difference among the three groups, which showed the CDI and DAS scores of early separation group are higher than the other two groups. Furthermore, the same results are also found in females. Conclusion: Early maternal separation may exert negative influence on student’s depression and dysfunctional attitude. The sex, cumulative duration and meeting frequency may also play important roles in the effect.

Suggested Citation

  • Xiu-jing Cao & Yi-xuan Huang & Ping Zhu & Zhi-gang Zhang, 2020. "The impacts of maternal separation experience and its pattern on depression and dysfunctional attitude in middle school students in rural China," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 66(2), pages 188-197, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:socpsy:v:66:y:2020:i:2:p:188-197
    DOI: 10.1177/0020764019895795
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0020764019895795
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0020764019895795?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Liu, Z. & Li, X. & Ge, X., 2009. "Left too early: The effects of age at separation from parents on Chinese rural children's symptoms of anxiety and depression," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 99(11), pages 2049-2054.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Xie, Xiaoxia & Huang, Chien-Chung & Chen, Yafan & Hao, Feng, 2019. "Intelligent robots and rural children," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 283-290.
    2. Mazzucato, Valentina & Cebotari, Victor & Veale, Angela & White, Allen & Grassi, Marzia & Vivet, Jeanne, 2015. "International parental migration and the psychological well-being of children in Ghana, Nigeria, and Angola," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 215-224.
    3. Lijun Chen & Di Qi & Dali Yang, 2020. "The Urbanization Paradox: Parental Absence and Child Development in China - an Empirical Analysis Based on the China Family Panel Studies Survey," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 13(2), pages 593-608, April.
    4. Zhang, Xiaoqing & Ray, Sharon A. & Liu, Xia & Smith, Dylan M. & Hou, Wei, 2023. "What makes left-behind children resilient? And how? The role of hope on the resilience of Chinese left-behind children," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    5. Xinxin Wang & Shidan Xu & Yubo Zhuo & Julian Chun-Chung Chow, 2023. "Higher Income but Lower Happiness with Left-Behind Experience? A Study of Long-Term Effects for China’s Migrants," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 18(1), pages 411-434, February.
    6. Mayang Rizky & Sofni Indah Arifa Lubis & Nila Warda & Yudi Fajar M. Wahyu & Emmy Hermanus & Niken Kusumawardhani & Hafiz Arfyanto & Joseph Natanael Marshan & Nina Toyamah, "undated". "Kesentosaan Anak-Anak yang Hidup dalam Kemiskinan yang Ditinggal oleh Ibunya yang Menjadi Pekerja Migran: Studi Kasus di Dua Kabupaten di Indonesia," Working Papers 3794, Publications Department.
    7. Cadsby, C. Bram & Song, Fei & Yang, Xiaolan, 2020. "Are “left-behind” children really left behind? A lab-in-field experiment concerning the impact of rural/urban status and parental migration on children's other-regarding preferences," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 715-728.
    8. Qin Zhang & Yuhan Luo & Hao Chen & Xinghui Zhang & Senbi Deng & Weixi Zeng & Yun Wang, 2019. "Migrate with Parent(s) or Not? Developmental Outcomes between Migrant and Left-behind Children from Rural China," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 12(4), pages 1147-1166, August.
    9. Feng Wang & Leesa Lin & Mingming Xu & Leah Li & Jingjing Lu & Xudong Zhou, 2019. "Mental Health among Left-Behind Children in Rural China in Relation to Parent-Child Communication," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-10, May.
    10. Yang, Shuai & Wang, Yan & Lu, Yuan & Zhang, Hanhan & Wang, Feng & Liu, Zhijun, 2023. "Long-term effects of the left-behind experience on health and its mechanisms: Empirical evidence from China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 338(C).
    11. Yuying Tong & Weixiang Luo & Martin Piotrowski, 2015. "The Association Between Parental Migration and Childhood Illness in Rural China," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 31(5), pages 561-586, December.
    12. Huifeng Shi & Chunxia Zhao & Yan Dou & Xiaoqian Duan & Lingyan Yang & Yufeng Du & Xiaona Huang & Xiaoli Wang & Jingxu Zhang, 2020. "How parental migration affects early social–emotional development of left-behind children in rural China: a structural equation modeling analysis," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 65(9), pages 1711-1721, December.
    13. Chunkai Li & Qiaobing Wu & Zurong Liang, 2019. "Effect of Poverty on Mental Health of Children in Rural China: The Mediating Role of Social Capital," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 14(1), pages 131-153, March.
    14. Xiong, Juyang & Hipgrave, David & Myklebust, Karoline & Guo, Sufang & Scherpbier, Robert W. & Tong, Xuetao & Yao, Lan & Moran, Andrew E., 2013. "Child health security in China: A survey of child health insurance coverage in diverse areas of the country," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 15-19.
    15. Wu, Qiaobing & Lu, Deping & Kang, Mi, 2015. "Social capital and the mental health of children in rural China with different experiences of parental migration," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 270-277.
    16. Li, Mengshi & Duan, Xiaoqian & Shi, Huifeng & Dou, Yan & Tan, Chang & Zhao, Chunxia & Huang, Xiaona & Wang, Xiaoli & Zhang, Jingxu, 2021. "Early maternal separation and development of left-behind children under 3 years of age in rural China," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    17. Smeekens, Chantal & Stroebe, Margaret S. & Abakoumkin, Georgios, 2012. "The impact of migratory separation from parents on the health of adolescents in the Philippines," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(12), pages 2250-2257.
    18. Larry L. Howard & Denise L. Stanley, 2017. "Remittances channels and the physical growth of Honduran children," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(3), pages 376-397, May.
    19. Hongyu Guan & Huan Wang & Juerong Huang & Kang Du & Jin Zhao & Matthew Boswell & Yaojiang Shi & Mony Iyer & Scott Rozelle, 2018. "Health Seeking Behavior among Rural Left-Behind Children: Evidence from Shaanxi and Gansu Provinces in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-19, April.
    20. Xiaochen He & Ruochen Zhang & Bin Zhu, 2022. "A Prospective Study on Resilience Among Children with Different Migrant and Left-behind Trajectories," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 15(6), pages 2065-2091, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:socpsy:v:66:y:2020:i:2:p:188-197. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.