Author(s)

Shengyu Zhao^1*, Chuanjing Liao^2,3

¹Department of Common Education, Wenzhou Vocational and Technical College, Wenzhou, China.
²Pedagogy Postdoctoral Research Station, Soochow University, Soochow, China.
³Department of Mental Health Education, Wenzhou University, Wenzhou, China.

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.

Overseas Chinese, Children Left-Behind Children, Life-Events, Sense of Security, Mental Health

Zhao, S. and Liao, C. (2016) Mental Health and Life Events of Overseas Children Left-Behind in China. Psychology, 7, 1934-1946. doi: 10.4236/psych.2016.714176.