BACKGROUND: The prevalence of internet addiction among Chinese left-behind children, coupled with its potential to exacerbate anxiety and suicidal ideation, has become a critical issue. This study seeks to address the dearth of research on the psychological underpinnings of this phenomenon, particularly the mediating role of anxiety and the moderating effect of social support across different parental migration statuses. Understanding these relationships is crucial for developing targeted interventions and informing policy decisions.
METHODS: In a cross-sectional study, we administered Young\'s Internet Addiction Test, alongside scales for anxiety, social support, and suicidal ideation, to 2882 middle school students in China with diverse parental migration backgrounds. Utilizing an online survey approach, we ensured broad participation and participant anonymity. Advanced statistical analyses, including regression models for mediation and moderation effects, were employed to rigorously test our hypotheses.
RESULTS: Among all participants, a significant positive correlation was observed between Internet addiction and suicidal ideation. Anxiety mediated the relationship between Internet addiction and suicidal ideation across all groups, including those with mother-only migration (Effect = 0.383, 95%CI: 0.107,0.943), father-only migration (Effect = 0.806, 95%CI: 0.487-1.230), both-parent migration(Effect = 0.289, 95%CI: 0.105-0.521), and non-left-behind children (Effect = 0.469, 95%CI: 0.342-0.630). Particularly in families where only the mother was absent, the moderating role of social support was especially prominent (B = 1.174, t = 6.446, p < 0.001 for low social support), underscoring the importance of family structure in the context of Internet addiction.
CONCLUSIONS: Internet addiction has both direct and indirect effects on suicidal ideation, with anxiety playing a mediating role in the indirect effects. Social support moderates and alleviates the relationship between Internet addiction and anxiety specifically in the mother-only migration group. Therefore, clarifying these relationships helps in developing and implementing effective interventions to specifically improve the mental health and living conditions of left-behind children.

BACKGROUND: Parent-child separation poses a significant challenge for left-behind children (LBC). However, limited empirical evidence exists regarding the correlation between left-behind characteristics and the psychological symptoms of LBC. This study investigated psychological symptoms among LBC and explored associations between left-behind characteristics and those symptoms.
METHODS: Using stratified cluster sampling, 1,832 LBC aged 13-18 years from three cities in East China were selected for analysis. Participants\' depression and anxiety symptoms were assessed with the Patient Health Questionnaire 9 and the General Anxiety Disorder 7, respectively. Chi-square tests were used to compare differences in detection rates of psychological symptoms among LBC in different groups. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to infer associations between left-behind characteristics and psychological symptoms.
RESULTS: Depression and anxiety symptoms were detected in 32.86% and 33.24%, respectively, of participating LBC. Univariate analysis showed statistically significant differences in detection rates of depression symptoms by sex, grade, and timing of parent-child separation. Statistically significant differences were observed in anxiety symptom rates by sex, grade, type of caregiver, and timing of mother-child separation. Multivariate analysis indicated a positive association between LBC\'s anxiety symptoms and mother-child separation that occurred during post-primary school, and type of caregiver (father only or mother only). Our findings confirm a positive association between left-behind characteristics and anxiety symptoms among LBC.
CONCLUSIONS: The timing of mother-child separation and type of caregiver are potential risk factors for the development of anxiety symptoms in this population.

Migrant workers from rural China often leave their children at home to be raised by grandparents or other family members. This study explored the relationship between parents\' educational expectations, parental involvement, and the academic performance of left-behind children in China. A total of 19,487 student samples were obtained from the China Education Panel Survey (CEPS), and 5078 of these met the criteria for being considered as \'left behind\' children. Results indicated: (1) a significant positive correlation between parents\' educational expectations and left-behind children\'s academic achievement; (2) parental education involvement plays a partial mediating role between parents\' educational expectations and left-behind children\'s academic performance; (3) a significant negative correlation between parental intellectual involvement and educational expectations of left-behind children; (4) parental management involvement was not significantly correlated with parents\' educational expectations and left-behind children\'s academic performance; and (5) a significant positive correlation between parental emotional involvement and educational expectations of left-behind children. The findings highlight the important role of parental educational expectations and have implications for the improvement of educational outcomes in China.

UNASSIGNED: Numerous studies within the school and academic contexts have underscored the profound impact of psychometric variables such as academic self-efficacy, self-esteem, and loneliness on academic achievement among children. Although physical activities and dance practices are known to bolster academic self-efficacy and enhance academic outcomes, the effect of Artistic Sports Activities on these psychological determinants among left-behind children (LBC) in rural schools remains underexplored.
UNASSIGNED: This study was conducted from September 2020 to January 2022 among 405 LBCs aged 9 to 13 from six randomly selected primary schools in Hunan Province, China. Schools were chosen in collaboration with the Hunan Women and Children\'s Federation, ensuring informed consent through stakeholder informational sessions. The study employed rigorous sampling and data analysis methods, including the Shapiro-Wilk test for normal distribution and Cronbach\'s alpha for reliability, alongside Pearson correlation, independent and paired t-tests, and multiple linear regression analyses to investigate the effects of Artistic Sports Activities on psychometric variables and academic performance among LBCs. Data collection involved standardized questionnaires assessing academic self-efficacy, self-esteem, and loneliness before and after intervention.
UNASSIGNED: Findings indicate that Artistic Sports Activities significantly improved academic self-efficacy and self-esteem and reduced loneliness, leading to enhanced academic performance. Notably, loneliness was identified as mediating the relationship between academic self-efficacy and self-esteem among LBCs.
UNASSIGNED: The findings highlight the critical role of integrating Artistic Sports Activities in educational frameworks to bolster psychological and academic outcomes for LBCs. The study reveals the intricate interplay between loneliness, self-esteem, and academic self-efficacy, underscoring the necessity for targeted educational interventions.

BACKGROUND: In Vietnam, research on the impact of parental migration on left-behind children (LBC) has discussed various dimensions of the subject such as subjective well-being, emotional states, social skills, self-esteem and nutrition of LBC. However, there are still gaps in studies on loneliness among LBC in Vietnam. The study aims to explore the status of loneliness in LBC, including associated protective and risk factors, to make suggestions on preventive measures against LBC\'s loneliness.
METHODS: The conveniently selected sample includes 439 LBC in 4 Vietnamese provinces: Thai Nguyen, Bac Ninh, Thai Binh and Nghe An. The mean age is 12.73 (SD = 1.68). Female children account for 47.80%. The Children\'s Loneliness Scale was employed in the study.
RESULTS: The total loneliness score of LBC is 28.62 (SD = 9.40), 95% CI: 27.75-29.48. Perceived social support from friends, caregivers and resilience factors of affect control (RAC), family support (RFS) and help-seeking (RHS) are protective factors for loneliness of LBC, with regression coefficient of -.27, -.18, -.11, -.11 and -.09 respectively.
CONCLUSIONS: Perceived social support from friends, care-giving attachment and resilience factors of RAC, RFS, and RHS are protective factors for LBC against loneliness. Parents, teachers and guardians are encouraged to have a close connection with LBC, provide adequate care giving; and create a supportive environment for LBC in pursuing healthy peer relationships and train/improve children\'s skills to strengthen their resilience.

While the well-documented negative correlation between both parents migrating and the academic performance of left-behind children (LBC) in rural China is widely acknowledged, it\'s important to recognize that statistical data reveals millions of children experiencing both parents migrating. This discrepancy between the documented negative impact and the prevalence of both parents migrating can be attributed to previous studies primarily focusing on the direct effects.
Employing national representative panel data and FE model, this study estimates the direct impact of both parents migrating and the indirect effects of both parents migrating through private tutoring, family tutoring, family income, and boarding school participation. Finally, we consolidate the direct and indirect impacts to determine whether both parents migrating has a positive or negative net effect on LBC\'s cognitive ability.
The direct effect of both parents migrating on LBC\'s standardized cognitive ability is -0.140, indicating a negative direct impact of both parents migrating on LBC\'s cognitive ability. However, the indirect effects of both parents migrating through private tutoring, family tutoring, family income, and boarding school participation are -0.017, -0.008, 0.306 and 0.119 respectively. The toal effect of both parents migrating on LBC\'s standardized cognitive ability is 0.260.
The initially observed negative direct impact of both parents\' migrating can be completely offset by the indirect impact channels, including private tutoring, family tutoring, family income, and boarding school participation. In contrast to prior research, this study unveils a positive overall impact of both parents\' migration on LBC\'s school performance.

Most left-behind children in rural China are raised by their grandparents, whose parenting style significantly impacts children\'s development. This study examined the association between grandparents\' violent discipline and left-behind children\'s school bullying. This cross-sectional study recruited a sample of 462 left-behind children aged 10 to 15 years old (Age Mean = 12.372, 49.351% girls) from four rural primary and junior high schools in Chongqing, China. There was a significant positive association between corporal punishment (β = .236, p < .001) and psychological aggression (β = .272, p < .001) of grandparents and children\'s school bullying. Empathy and moral disengagement mediate the above association. Cross-gender comparisons indicated that corporal punishment had a greater positive relationship with school bullying in boys than girls (βgirls = .154, p < .01; βboys = .250, p < .001). At the same time, boys\' moral disengagement was also more likely to lead to school bullying (βgirls = .233, p < .001; βboys = .337, p < .001). We discuss the implications of these findings for preventing bullying in schools for children left behind.

BACKGROUND: The situation of mental health and discipline behaviors of left-behind children\'s caregivers were not optimistic in rural China. Caregivers\' depression might increase the risk of using violent discipline. However, the specific ways in which depressive symptoms impact violent discipline have rarely been explored in rural areas. This study aims to assess the prevalence of violent discipline among left-behind children under 6 years of age in rural China and explore the potential mechanisms of how caregivers\' depressive symptoms affect violent discipline.
METHODS: We enrolled a total of 396 pairs of left-behind children and their caregivers in our study, which was conducted in 5 counties of Hebei, Henan, Jiangxi, Guizhou, and Sichuan provinces in China. The depressive symptoms of caregivers were measured by using Zung Self-rating Depression Scale (ZSDS) and violent discipline was assessed by the Child Discipline Module of Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS). A self-designed questionnaire was utilized to measure caregiver\'s parenting attitude. Based on the cross-sectional data, controlling for potential confounders, structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to assess the direct and indirect effects of the mediation models by applying the weighted least squares with mean and variance adjusted (WLSMV) estimate.
RESULTS: The prevalence of violent discipline, psychological aggression, and physical punishment was 72.7%, 59.3%, and 60.4% respectively of left-behind children under 6 years of age. According to the results of SEM, parenting attitude acted as a suppressor, suppressing the association between caregivers\' depressive symptoms and physical punishment/psychological aggression/violent discipline. The caregivers\' depressive symptoms positively influenced all the outcome variables by affecting parenting attitudes (p = 0.002, p = 0.013, p = 0.002).
CONCLUSIONS: The presence of depressive symptoms in caregivers increases the use of violent discipline through negative parenting attitudes. The mental health status of primary caregivers of left-behind children in rural China needed emphasis and improvement.

Parental absence is greatly associated with school bullying victimization of left-behind children (LBC) in migrant families. With the increasing popularity of the Internet, little is known about the association between parental migration and cyberbullying victimization, and potential mediators.
We conducted a cross-sectional study in Anhui and Zhejiang Province, China, in 2020. With a sample of 792 currently left-behind children (CLBC), 541 previously left-behind children (PLBC), and 628 never left-behind children (NLBC), path analysis was used to explore the association between parental migration and cyberbullying victimization among children, while considering the independent and sequential mediating roles of parent-child communication, and time spent online.
The prevalence of cyberbullying victimization was 29.3% among CLBC, 29.2% among PLBC, and 23.4% among NLBC. Path analysis showed that current left-behind status was positively associated with cyberbullying victimization among children (p = 0.024). Furthermore, current left-behind status was associated with worse parent-child communication, which, in turn, predicted a higher prevalence of cyberbullying victimization [95% CI = (0.007, 0.036)]. Similarly, the previous left-behind experience was associated with worse parent-child communication, which, in turn, predicted a higher prevalence of cyberbullying victimization [95% CI = (0.013, 0.043)]. Current left-behind status was associated with increased time spent online, which, in turn, predicted a higher prevalence of cyberbullying victimization [95% CI = (0.013, 0.038)]. Additionally, the current left-behind status positively predicted cyberbullying victimization among children through the serial mediating roles of parent-child communication and time spent online [95% CI = (0.001, 0.006)]. Similarly, previous left-behind experience positively predicted cyberbullying victimization among children through the serial mediating roles of parent-child communication and time spent online [95% CI = (0.002, 0.007)].
We propose that to protect CLBC and PLBC from cyberbullying victimization, it is of great importance for migrant parents to regulate children\'s time spent online and promote daily parent-child communication.

This study focuses on the cognitive development of rural children aged 10-15 who have been left behind, utilizing data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) datasets of 2016 and 2020. The primary objective is to investigate the correlation between Internet usage and the cognitive ability of these children.
An Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression model was initially employed to explore the potential influence of Internet use on the cognitive ability of rural left-behind children. To meticulously address potential endogeneity, we employed the instrumental variable (IV) method. Additionally, we performed robustness checks using Propensity Score Matching (PSM) to ensure the reliability of our findings.
The findings indicate a statistically significant positive correlation between Internet usage and the cognitive ability of left-behind rural children. Notably, the impact of Internet use is more pronounced in girls than in boys among this demographic. Furthermore, a significant influence of Internet usage on the cognitive ability is observed in rural children aged 10-12, whereas no significant correlation is found for those aged 13-15. Particularly noteworthy is the substantial impact of Internet use on the cognitive ability of left-behind children with an absent father. In addition, the cognitive benefits associated with Internet use were notably more pronounced among rural left-behind children, especially when considering factors such as attendance at a demonstration school and parental concern for the child\'s education.
This study underscores the importance of understanding the relationship between Internet usage and cognitive development in left-behind rural children. These findings highlight the need for targeted interventions and inclusive access to online resources for the development of rural left-behind children.