Parental Neglect During COVID-19 and Children’s Life Satisfaction in Rural Communities: A Moderated Mediation Model of Avoidant Attachment and Self-Compassion
Angyang Li and
Shuo Wang ()
Additional contact information
Angyang Li: Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology
Shuo Wang: Nanjing Audit University
Child Indicators Research, 2023, vol. 16, issue 6, No 6, 2373-2390
Abstract:
Abstract Extensive studies suggested that parental neglect threatens children’s life satisfaction. However, little is known about the relationship and mechanism between parental neglect during the COVID-19 outbreak and life satisfaction, especially in rural areas. This study explores the relationship between parental neglect during COVID-19 and children’s life satisfaction in rural China. It further examines the mediating role of avoidant attachment and the moderating role of self-compassion. A random sample of 321 Chinese children (162 females, 159 males; Mage = 10.6, SD = 0.89) from rural communities completed scales of parental neglect during the COVID-19 pandemic, avoidant attachment, self-compassion, and life satisfaction. Results showed that parental neglect during the pandemic was negatively related to children’s life satisfaction. Moreover, avoidant attachment mediates the relationship. Specifically, parental neglect during COVID-19 was positively associated with avoidant attachment, which in turn was negatively associated with life satisfaction. In addition, self-compassion moderated avoidant attachment and life satisfaction. Specifically, avoidant attachment was negatively associated with life satisfaction only in the middle and high-level self-compassion groups. Interventions to increase parental love and attention to reduce avoidant attachment may help mitigate the adverse effects of parental neglect among rural children, especially during the pandemic.
Keywords: parental neglect; life satisfaction; avoidant attachment; self-compassion; COVID-19 pandemic (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:
Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12187-023-10068-4 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.
Export reference: BibTeX
RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan)
HTML/Text
Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:chinre:v:16:y:2023:i:6:d:10.1007_s12187-023-10068-4
Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... f-life/journal/12187
DOI: 10.1007/s12187-023-10068-4
Access Statistics for this article
Child Indicators Research is currently edited by Asher Ben-Arieh
More articles in Child Indicators Research from Springer, The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI)
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().