Parent-child Cohesion And School Adaptation Of Left-behind Children In Primary School: The Longitudinal Mediating Effect Of Sense Of Control

A large number of rural labourers have migrated to cities in search of new income and development opportunities since the 1980 s as a result of rapid economic growth and ongoing urbanization.However,behind the development,there are also some groups that need our attention.The high cost of living in cities,coupled with the restrictions on urban and rural household registration,has caused many migrant workers to leave their children in the countryside,thus creating a large number of disadvantaged left-behind children in China.Left-behind children lack parental support and supervision,and their growth environment is special.Numerous researchers have studied their school adaptation since it is their most significant place to live.Additionally,the family is the most important microenvironment system in children’s growth.It can effectively lessen the negative impact of parents going out on left-behind children’s school adaptation if there is good parent-child cohesion.Previous studies have mostly used cross-sectional research methods or examined only a single level of parent-child cohesion on school adaptation,the exploration of its internal mechanism is also far from sufficient.Therefore,this article explored the change trend of multiple levels of left-behind children’s school adaptation in grades 4 to 6,the delay of parent-child cohesion and school adaptation of left-behind children predicted each other and the mediating role of sense of control between parent-child cohesion and school adaptation.Following are three sections of the thesis.In study 1,we set up a hierarchical linear model for the three times of left-behind children’s school adaptation,and used HLM6.08 to explore the linear change trend of the three aspects of leftbehind children’s school adaptation(emotional adaptation,learning behavior,social behavior)and five indicators(depression,loneliness,learning engagement,problem behavior and pro-social behavior)between the three measurements,and the influencing factors of their intercept and slope.The results showed that(1)In grades 4 to 6 of primary school,the level of depression among leftbehind children had not significantly decreased.The level of loneliness and problem behavior decreased with time,while the level of learning engagement and pro-social behavior increased with time;(2)In grade 4,girls have significantly higher levels of learning engagement and pro-social behavior than boys,while boys have significantly higher levels of problem behavior.Girls in grades4 to 6 demonstrate a greater increase in learning engagement over time than boys;(3)in the same grade group,the older left-behind children demonstrate a lower level of learning engagement in grade 4,as well as a greater degree of depression and problem behavior.In study 2,we constructed four competition models to carry out the cross-lag analysis of parentchild cohesion and school adaptation.The results showed that:(1)The cohesion between parents and children can forecast the depression and loneliness of left-behind children in primary school in the later stages;Early depression and loneliness can also predict later parent-child cohesion;(2)There is no delay prediction relationship between parent-child cohesion and learning engagement of leftbehind children in primary school;(3)Early parent-child cohesion can negatively predict the late problem behavior of left-behind children in primary school,and positively predict their late prosocial behavior,but problem behavior and pro-social behavior cannot predict the late parent-child cohesion of left-behind children.In study 3,we constructed a longitudinal mediation model to explore the longitudinal mediation role of sense of control between parent-child cohesion and school adaptation of left-behind children in primary school.The results showed that:(1)sense of control can play a longitudinal mediation role between parent-child cohesion and depression of left-behind children in primary school,as well as between parent-child cohesion and loneliness;(2)The sense of control could not play a longitudinal mediation role between parent-child cohesion and problem behavior of left-behind children in primary schools,nor could it play a longitudinal mediation role between parent-child cohesion and pro-social behaviors.Childhood is a critical stage of individual psychological development and character development.Children’s psychological development is not yet mature.Cognition,thinking and so on sprout and develop at this stage.Primary school children’s later growth and development are greatly impacted by healthy psychology.This article can be of great help to teachers in their work with leftbehind children,and they should be more mindful of the adaptation of these children in the absence of parents;Let parents better give their children more support and attention;while simultaneously providing policy makers with more data to prevent and intervene in left-behind children’s emotional,academic,and social behavior issues.This will enable them to provide better educational advice and intervention strategies,thus aiding the physical and mental health of these children.