The Influence Of Family Structure On The Development Of Rural Children In Western China

In the context of the current tide of urbanization and frequent population migration,due to rural population movements and changes in the concept of love and marriage,the family structure in rural areas in western China is greatly different from the past.As the most important socialized place for children,the family has a very close relationship with children’s all-round healthy development.Therefore,exploring the impact of the changing rural family structure in the western region on child development,and solving the problem of rural child development will not only be an important guarantee for rural children to be supportive in their early childhood,but will also become an important part of the strategy to realize rural revitalization.Based on the previous research on the relationship between family and child development,and combining the characteristics of rural child development in the western region,this article selects reasonable indicators to construct a measurement index system for rural child development in the western region.To analyze the impact of family structure on the development of rural children in the west was studied,this article using the data from a special survey on rural child development completed by the research team of Xi’an Jiaotong University and the Southwestern University of Finance and Economics in Jintang County,Sichuan Province from 2016 to 2017.First,use the principal component analysis method to calculate the comprehensive development index of the surveyed children which was used as the dependent variable in the OLS regression analysis model.The family structure was used as the independent variable in the same model.And then,considering the effects of parent’s attitude on child development,use the mediating effect model to tests and analyzes the influence mechanism between the family structure and the development of rural children in the west.Empirical study found that: first,family structure indeed affect children’s development in the countryside of west China,compared with children growing in the absence of one or both parents family,children living with both parents from have more higher scores not only in the comprehensive development index,but also in the single index of education and socialization,which verified the article assumes;Second,parental emotional involvement has a significant mediating effect between family structure and child development in rural areas in western China,which means children from families with single mother or absent parents have a lower degree of emotional involvement than children from families with both parents.Thirdly,parental behavior participation has a significant mediating effect between family structure and child development in rural areas in western China which means children from families with single mother,single father or absent parents have a significantly lower comprehensive development index than children from families with parents due to the lower degree of parental behavior participation.According to the results of empirical analysis,in view of the importance of parents’ cooperation and complementary "two-line Nurturing" system for the development of rural children in Western China,countermeasures and suggestions should be put forward first from the perspective of supporting the internal development ability of rural families,take some measures such as improving the social support system of "follow-up children",encouraging migrant workers to return home for employment and entrepreneurship,and improve the employment opportunities for rural women to choose jobs nearby to control the trend of parent-child separation.In addition,because of the intermediary role of parents’ emotional participation and behavior participation in the family structure and the development of rural children in the west,for those uncontrollable separation of parents and children,external support systems such as schools,rural communities(or neighborhood committees)can be used to supplement parents’ emotional and behavior for one or both of the parents’ children who are absent at the same time.Thus,a comprehensive management system for children’s development in western rural areas is formed,which mainly supports family development,supplemented by schools and rural communities(or neighborhood committees).