| Since 1980s,the mental health problems of rural left-behind children have become strategic and immediate issues in the field of population and social development in the context of China’s rural-urban population flow.Since parents went out for work and lived in other places,the rural family’s structure was destroyed,the rural family’s function was weakened,parentchild relationship changed and showed different features,which pushed rural left-behind children in more unfavorable situation and might affect them in some aspects.Some rural leftbehind children in unfavorable situation encounter various mental health problems,which has aroused wide concern from both governments and society.Meanwhile other rural leftbehind children adjust well and thrive in the similar unfavorable situation,which becomes a new and important focus in studies on rural left-behind children’s mental health under the impetus of positive psychology and positive development view.Accordingly a deep and systematical study on parent-child relationship types and their influence on rural left-behind children’s resilience has more positive practical significance,which contributes to improve their resilience and promote their mental health.Using 2015 survey data of middle school students from Y county of Pingdingshan City in Henan province and 2016 survey data of middle school students from CG county and NQ county of Hanzhong City in Shaanxi province conducted by School of Public Policy and Administration,Xi’an Jiaotong University,and adopting Descriptive Statistics Methods,Correlation Analysis,Latent Class Analysis and Multiple Linear Regression Model,this study systematically analyzes parent-child relationship types and their influence on rural left-behind children’s resilience in the context of China’s rural-urban population flow,and in the end proposes some policy recommendations to improve rural left-behind children’s resilience.The main contributions of this dissertation are the following:First,this study puts forward a framework for explaining rural left-behind children’s resilience from perspective of parent-child relationship types in the context of China’s rural-urban population flow.Based on redefining the parent-child relationship and resilience of rural leftbehind children,expounding the applicability of relevant resilience theories in study on China’s rural left-behind children,collecting empirical evidence from previous literature on how rural-urban population flow and parent-child relationship influence rural left-behind children’s resilience,introducing the features of China’s rural-urban population flow and the realistic situation of parent-child relationship in rural families,this study puts forward a framework which systematically explains parent-child relationship types and their influence on rural left-behind children’s resilience.The advantages of this framework are: 1)influence of both spatial and temporal features of parental flow on rural left-behind children’s resilience,which was seldom concerned in previous literature,is analyzed;2)parent-child relationship,which was neglected in previous literature,is brought into as a key variable when analyzing rural left-behind children’s resilience;3)parent-child relationship,which was often measured from a single dimension in previous literature,is measured comprehensively from multiple dimensions;4)latent class analysis is used to distinguish the latent types of parent-child relationship,which is helpful to reveal the overall feature and essential influence of parentchild relationship;and 5)model of parents’ local or nearby flow and model of parents’ remote flow are brought into as a significant analytical perspective when comparing the influence of parent-child relationship types on rural left-behind children’s resilience.Secondly,it finds that there are significant group differences in both five types of parent-child relationship and eight combinations of parent-child relationship type in rural left-behind families from perspective of different population flow models.This study focuses on parentchild relationship which was neglected in previous literature,measures it with multiple indices,distinguishes its latent types by using LCA,pares father-child relationship types with mother-child relationship types,and finds that: 1)there are five types of parent-child relationship called as “intimate connection and strong function”,“close connection but lacking function”,“intermedius type”,“estranged connection but strong function”,“alienation connection and weak function”;2)there are significant gender differences in five types of parent-child relationship,father-child relationship of “intimate connection and strong function”takes a lower proportion than mother-child relationship,but father-child relationship of both“close connection but lacking function” and “alienation connection and weak function” take higher proportions than mother-child relationship;3)there are eight classical combinations of parent-child relationship type between father and mother in rural left-behind families;4)there are statistically significant differences in types of parent-child relationship,types of fatherchild relationship,types of mother-child relationship,and combinations of parent-child relationship type between parents who flow locally or nearby and parents who flow remotely;4)parent-child relationship of “intimate connection and strong function” and “estranged connection but strong function” take higher proportions for parents who flow locally or nearby than for parents who flow remotely,parent-child relationship of “close connection but lacking function”,“alienation connection and weak function”,and “intermedius type” take lower proportions for parents who flow locally or nearby than for parents who flow remotely;5)the combination of “paternal close connection but lacking function-maternal intimate connection and strong function” takes highest percentage for parents who flow locally or nearby,the combination of “parental alienation connection and weak function” takes highest percentage for parents who flow remotely;and 6)the parent-child relationship of those who flow locally or nearby in the mass is better than that of those who flow remotely.Thirdly,it reveals that the resilience of rural left-behind children whose parents flow locally or nearby is significantly influenced by an external relationship network composed of fatherchild relationship,mother-child relationship,combinations of parent-child relationship type,parental relationship,classmate relationship,teacher-student relationship,and family-school relationship.The influence of parents’ flow features and parent-child relationship types was neglected in previous studies.This study reveals that,for left-behind children whose parents flow locally or nearby: 1)the frequency of parents to go back home and the flow distance of father have significant influence on their “supportive power” and “total resilience” while the time of parents’ first flow has significant influence on their “individual power”;2)parent-child relationship of “alienation connection and weak function” or parent-child relationship combination of “parental alienation connection and weak function” is the most unfavorable factor for their resilience,while parent-child relationship of “intimate connection and strong function” or “paternal close connection but lacking function-maternal intimate connection and strong function” is the most favorable factor;3)there is gender difference in the significant influence of father-child relationship types and mother-child relationship types,the significant influence of father-child relationship types is stronger than that of mother-child relationship types;4)the significant influence of parent-child relationship types on their “individual power”is stronger than that on their “supportive power”,and parent-child relationship types influence“total resilience” mainly by influencing “supportive power”;and 5)harmonious parental relationship,friendly classmates,caring teachers and moderate home-school interaction are favorable for left-behind children’s resilience.Forthly,it finds that,in comparison with rural left-behind children whose parents flow locally or nearby,the resilience of those whose parents flow remotely is less influenced by external environmental factors,such as flow distance of parents,father-child relationship types,mother-child relationship types,combinations of parent-child relationship type,parental relationship,number of siblings,support from friends,teachers’ care and home visit.The different influence of parental flow features and parent-child relationship types between parents who flow locally or nearby and parents who flow remotely was neglected in previous studies.This study finds that: 1)external environmental factors have less significant influence on resilience for rural left-behind children whose parents flow remotely than for those whose parents flow locally or nearby;2)specifically,only parental flow distance has significantly negative influence,while temporal features of parental flow have no significant influence on their resilience;3)parent-child relationship of “alienation connection and weak function” or parent-child relationship combination of “parental alienation connection and weak function”is the most unfavorable risk factor,while only father-child relationship of “estranged connection but strong function” or parent-child relationship combination of “paternal close connection but lacking function-maternal intimate connection and strong function” is protective factor for their resilience;4)there is gender difference in the significant influence of father-child relationship types and mother-child relationship types,the influence of fatherchild relationship types is stronger than that of mother-child relationship types;5)The significant influence of parent-child relationship types on their “individual power” is less than that on their “supportive power”,and parent-child relationship types may influence “total resilience” mainly by influencing “supportive power”;and 6)the significant positive influence of better relationship between parents,more care from teachers,moderate frequency of homeschool interaction,and especially more support from friends deserve attention. |
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