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We investigated the current status and main factors of loneliness among rural left-behind children. We conducted a survey of 812 rural left-behind children in China using the Sociodemographic Questionnaire, the Children's Loneliness Scale, the Social Anxiety Scale for Children, the Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale, and the Piers-Harris Child Self-Concept Scale. Results showed that (a) 66.26% had a sense of loneliness; (b) there were correlations between loneliness and 7 sociodemographic variables, social anxiety, self-esteem, and self-concept; (c) grade, age, parental separation duration, contact frequency with parents, social anxiety, self-esteem, and self-concept were the main factors influencing the level of loneliness among rural left-behind children. Recommendations for parents and teachers are suggested.
Keywords
rural left-behind children, loneliness, social anxiety, self-esteem, self-concept
Article Highlights
* The level of loneliness was found to be high among rural left-behind children.
* There was a correlation between loneliness and sociodemographic variables, as well as social anxiety, self - esteem, and self-concept.
* Grade, age, duration of parental separation, frequency of contact with parents, social anxiety, self-esteem, and self-concept were the main factors affecting the level of loneliness among rural left-behind children.
Since the 1990s, many labor populations in China have moved from rural to urban environments for better job opportunities (Tan et al., 2018 ). However, due to the high cost of living and education in cities, as well as the limitations of China's dual urban-rural household registration system (in which most rural to urban migrants are denied rights and benefits in the cities, such as local education, housing, and public health), many laborers are forced to keep their children in the rural household registration area and entrust their care to family members, resulting in the formation of a unique group of children known as rural left-behind children (RLBC; Antia et al., 2020). RLBC are children under the age of 16 who have to stay in their rural hometown because one or both parents go to the city to work, and are supervised by one parent and/or grandparents, relatives, neighbors for more than 3 months (Liu, Liu, & Jin, 2020). According to China's Ministry of Civil Affairs, there are 6.97 million RLBC, with 760,000 of those in Hunan Province, accounting for 10.1% of the total number of RLBC in China (Shi...