父母关爱对农村留守儿童抑郁的影响机制:追踪研究

The influence mechanism of parental care on depression among left-behind rural children in China: A longitudinal study

为考察父母关爱对农村留守儿童抑郁的影响机制,采用父母关爱问卷、自尊量表、神经质人格问卷、友谊质量问卷和抑郁量表对279名四年级和七年级农村儿童进行2.5年追踪调查。以前、后测间一直处于相同留守状态的207名儿童为分析对象,结果显示:与非留守儿童相比,前后测中单、双留守儿童报告的父母关爱均较少、抑郁均较高;双留守儿童的后测抑郁显著高于前测;控制性别对抑郁的作用后,父母关爱对留守儿童抑郁有即时与延时负向预测效应;即时预测中,自尊、神经质起部分中介作用;延时预测中,后测自尊、神经质起部分中介作用;增加控制后测父母关爱对后测抑郁、自尊、神经质的作用后,前测父母关爱对后测抑郁的直接效应降低但仍接近显著,同时对后测自尊、神经质的直接作用不显著;上述两种控制条件下,前测父母关爱与前测友谊质量交互项对后测自尊与神经质的预测作用均显著,随着友谊质量的提高,父母关爱对自尊、神经质的延时影响增大,后测自尊与神经质的中介效应随之增强;该调节效应仅发生在初中留守儿童中。

There are about 61.02 million left-behind rural children in China,who were left at their hometowns by one or both of their rural-to-urban migrant parents.As a result of parental migration,left-behind children receive compromised parental care and are at higher risk for depression than non-left-behind children.In light of the huge number of Chinese left-behind children and their heightened risk for depression,the association between parental care and left-behind children’s depression and the underlying mechanisms were examined in a sample of 279 fourth-graders and seventh-graders over 2.5 years.The analytic sample included 72 children left behind by both parents,79 children left behind by fathers,and 56 non-left-behind children.These children’s family structure,guardians,and the left behind type remained stable across the 2.5 years.The results showed that children left behind at home by one or both of their migrant parents reported less parental care and higher depression at both the pretest and the posttest than non-left-behind children.Depression assessed at posttest was higher than that at pretest among children left behind by both parents.When controlling for gender,parental care at pretest was associated with concurrent depression among left-behind children via self-esteem and neuroticism;parental care at pretest also was associated with left-behind children’s depression at posttest via self-esteem and neuroticism at posttest.When controlling for gender and posttest parental care,pretest parental care was marginally associated with posttest depression but the mediation effects via posttest self-esteem and neuroticism disappeared.Under either controlling condition,the interaction between pretest parental care and pretest friendship quality predicted posttest self-esteem and neuroticism.Specifically,associations between pretest parental care and posttest self-esteem and neuroticism were stronger among left-behind 7th-graders with higher friendship quality than those with lower friendship quality.The findings of this study supported some propositions of the diathesis-stress theory on depression.Moreover,the findings have several practical implications for future intervention on reducing depression among left-behind children.Programs that aim to decrease those children’s depression should pay attention to strengthening their parental care,improving their self-esteem and emotional stability,and promoting their friendship quality.