The Influence of Discrepancies between Parents’ Educational Aspirations and Children’s Educational Expectations on Depressive Symptoms of Left-Behind Children in Rural China: The Mediating Role of Self-Efficacy

Xiaoou Man, Jiatong Liu and Yutong Bai
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Xiaoou Man: School of Humanities and Law, Northeastern University, No. 195 Chuangxin Road, Hunnan District, Shenyang 110169, China
Jiatong Liu: School of Humanities and Law, Northeastern University, No. 195 Chuangxin Road, Hunnan District, Shenyang 110169, China
Yutong Bai: School of Public Administration, Inner Mongolia University of Finance and Economics, No. 185 North 2nd Ring Road, Huhhot 010070, China

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 21, 1-13

Abstract: Although long-term separation has made discrepancies between parents’ educational aspirations and children’s own educational expectations among families with left-behind children (LBC), limited researches on the influence of these discrepancies on children’s mental health are carried out at present. Based on China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) conducted in 2018, we selected 875 LBC aged 9~15 as the sample, explored the influence of the direction and degree of these discrepancies on LBC’s depressive symptoms by hierarchical regression, and examined the mediating role of children’s academic self-efficacy and mediation effect pathway with Baron and Kenny method and Bootstrap mediation analysis methods. Results showed that LBC’s mental health was worse when parents’ educational aspirations were higher than their children’s educational expectations, compared to that without discrepancies. The degree of such discrepancies was negatively associated with LBC’s mental health. In the relationship between the direction of discrepancies and LBC’s depressive symptoms, academic self-efficacy played a mediating role partially. In addition, the study indicated that mothers played a significant role in the development of LBC’s mental health. These findings also provided critical evidence for the intervention practice of LBC’s mental health.

Keywords: aspiration-expectation discrepancy; left-behind children; depressive symptoms; academic self-efficacy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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