The Effect Of Family Function On The Learning Outcomes Of Left-behind Children

Learning is the main task for adolescents,which plays a crucial role in their lifelong growth and development,and is important in preventing the intergenerational transmission of poverty in left-behind children’s families.However,it has been found that left-behind children have poor learning conditions,including low learning initiative,lower academic achievement than non-left-behind children,lack of learning enthusiasm,and poor learning habits and methods.Home is the first place where leftbehind children grow up in life.The influence of family functions such as family education on left-behind children does not disappear due to spatial distance,so this study will explore the influence of family functions on the learning of left-behind children.In addition to academic scores,more and more scholars are using students’ cognition,expectations,autonomy,independence in learning,and abilities and methods acquired in learning as indicators to comprehensively evaluate learning outcomes.This study evaluates the learning outcomes of left-behind children using academic expectation pressure,learning autonomy,and learning ability as indicators,and explores the impact of family functioning on learning outcomes and its mechanism through two studies.Study 1 used a cross-sectional study to explore the relationship between two independent indicators of family function,"family cohesion" and "family adaptability," and the learning outcomes of left-behind children.The differences in family function and learning outcomes were tested across multiple demographic variables.A questionnaire survey was conducted on 1,544 left-behind children in junior and senior high schools,including 798 males(51.7%).The average age was 13.38±1.85,and 94.5%were Han Chinese.The results showed a significant correlation between family function and learning outcomes,and significant differences were found in gender,grade,left-behind type,primary caregiver type and education level,frequency and mode of communication with parents,and subjective family economic status.Gender had a significant moderating effect on the relationship between family adaptability and self-academic expectation pressure and academic expectation pressure,while age had a significant moderating effect on the relationship between family intimacy and selfacademic expectation pressure.Study 2 used a two-time-point longitudinal study to explore the relationship between family function and learning outcomes over time and the mediating role of core self-evaluation in the relationship between family function and learning outcomes.The effective sample size was 657 left-behind children,including 326 males(49.6%),with an average age of 13.96(±1.29)at T1.The mediating role of core self-evaluation was verified using the bias-corrected non-parametric percentile Bootstrap method.The results showed that core self-evaluation played a mediating role in the relationship between family cohesion、family adaptability and learning autonomy、learning ability,there is no mediating role for core self-evaluation in the influence of family function on academic expectation stress.This study,through cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses,explores the impact of family functioning on learning outcomes and its underlying mechanism from the perspective of the family system,deepening and enriching the research in the fields of family functioning and left-behind children.It also provides targeted educational and intervention recommendations.