TITLE:
Mental Health and Life Events of Overseas Children Left-Behind in China
AUTHORS:
Shengyu Zhao, Chuanjing Liao
KEYWORDS:
Overseas Chinese, Children Left-Behind Children, Life-Events, Sense of Security, Mental Health
JOURNAL NAME:
Psychology,
Vol.7 No.14,
December
27,
2016
ABSTRACT: This paper surveys 715 children who have been left behind in China by their émigré parents. This research was conducted using the MMHI-60, ALSEC and S-I questionnaire and the findings are as follows: 1) the general mental health of those surveyed was poor, with general stress levels and sense of security moderate; 2) there is a positive correlation between life events and mental health and a negative correlation between life events and sense of security; 3) sense of security regulates life events and mental health; 4) life events directly predict mental health, with sense of security playing partial mediating effect in the process of life events acting on mental health; 5) the major factor influencing the mental health of those children left behind by Chinese émigré parents is life events; the protecting factor being their sense of security.