C38-15 A Qualitative Study on Loneliness and Suicide Ideation Among Left-Behind Children in Rural Primary Schools in China

Abstract Rationale Parental companionship and role modeling are core pillars for children’s physical and mental development. However, parental migration for work leaves left-behind children with dual deficits: inadequate family care, unmet immediate emotional needs, and disrupted family structure and function. Consequently, primary school-aged left-behind children are more prone to maladjustment than non-left-behind peers, with loneliness and suicide ideation being prominent issues. Additionally, perceived discrimination—an intense subjective emotional experience—may trigger severe psychological and behavioral impairments, even suicide, and thus warrants academic attention. Methods Purposive sampling was employed, targeting left-behind children at a rural primary school in Yixian County, Hebei Province, China. First, all left-behind children completed a loneliness scale and a suicide ideation questionnaire. Those with scores above the average on both measures were invited to participate, and 33 willing children were selected for in-depth interviews. Written consent for audio recording was obtained from both the children and their guardians prior to the interviews. Results Due to the lack of parental companionship and care, left-behind children face multiple constraints and challenges in accessing education and social development. They are more likely to experience loneliness than non-left-behind children, with individual differences shaped by gender, specific left-behind status (e.g., single-parent or both-parents absent), and family economic status. • Parental migration inflicts implicit psychological harm on left-behind children, leading to gaps and interruptions in parent-child education. Meanwhile, guardians of left-behind children often lack the time to attend to their emotional changes, resulting in insufficient proper guidance and support for regulating extreme emotions. • Long-term parental absence increases left-behind children’s vulnerability to loneliness and subsequent suicide ideation. This stems partly from depression (characterized by low mood) caused by the lack of parental affection, and partly from feelings of loneliness and helplessness, prompting them to seek attention and care from parents and others through suicidal behaviors.ConclusionsWithout intervention from positive protective factors, loneliness among left-behind children is highly likely to develop into severe psychological trauma, and high levels of loneliness are closely associated with suicide and self-harm ideation. Families play an irreplaceable core role in children’s growth; the absence of key family members in left-behind households leads to an incomplete family structure and weakened guardianship functions. It is recommended that parents strengthen their awareness of parent-child communication, use diverse tools such as letters and online platforms to maintain regular contact with their children, enhance emotional exchanges, and naturally integrate educational guidance to build a psychological support barrier for left-behind children. This abstract is funded by: None