Citation

Lei H, Zhang Q, Wang Z, Shao J. Psychiatry Res. 2021; 301: e113955.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.psychres.2021.113955

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This study sought to identify the developmental trajectories of depressive symptoms and delinquency in Chinese left-behind children (LBC) over a three-year period, a topic that is less often studied. Overall, 578 Chinese LBC (M(age)= 10.63 years; boys = 53.1%) were tested three times on their depressive symptoms and delinquency from grades four through six. Unconditional latent growth modeling revealed no linear change in LBC's depressive symptoms, whereas there was a linear decrease over time in LBC's delinquency. Multiple-group models revealed that the pattern of change in LBC's delinquency differed across parental migration status and gender. Moreover, mother-only migration LBC showed higher initial depressive symptoms and initial delinquency levels than father-only migration LBC. The results provided a more accurate developmental picture by charting patterns of stability and change among Chinese LBC's depressive symptoms and delinquency in the context of parental migration.

Language: en

Keywords

Longitudinal study; Latent growth modeling; Parental migration