This systematic review, conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement, examines the emotional experiences of left-behind children (LBC). The review encompassed 36 publications indexed in Scopus, published between 2019 and 2024. The study investigates key research trends, temporal distribution of publications, geographic contributions, citation patterns, and recurring keywords. The findings highlight 13 major themes related to the emotional experiences of LBC in recent studies, with China identified as the leading contributor to this research domain. Notable keywords include “LBC,” “social,” “depression,” and “loneliness.” This review synthesizes existing literature, offering critical insights for researchers and practitioners to inform future studies and interventions Received: 11 April 2025 / Accepted: 22 July 2025 / Published: 05 September 2025
Hieu et al. (Fri,) studied this question.