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PURPOSE: Children who are left behind when their parents migrate for work have a high prevalence of emotional and behavioral problems, which affect social function and increase family burden. To date, no national survey has been conducted on the emotional and behavioral problems of left-behind children (LBC) in China. This study aimed to investigate the emotional and behavioral outcomes of primary school LBC in the fourth grade in impoverished rural China and the possible influences of family environment and parenting practices. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out in 27 rural counties in the central and western parts of China from November 2016 to January 2017. The method of quota sampling was adopted to achieve a representative sample using postweighting adjustment. The survey sample was distributed proportionately across each county. LBC were defined as children aged 17) was significantly higher in the LBC group than in the NLBC group (15.6% vs. 11.6%; p < .01). Binary regression analysis showed that high levels of insomnia (odds ratio OR 1.54, 95% confidence interval CI 1.04-2.27), loneliness (OR 1.65, 95% CI 1.13-2.43), and self-harm (OR 1.92, 95% CI 1.17-3.16) may increase the risk of abnormal SDQ total scores in LBC. CONCLUSIONS: LBC showed a higher prevalence of abnormal SDQ total scores than NLBC. Insomnia, loneliness, and self-harm behavior were associated with abnormal SDQ total scores in LBC.
Zhou et al. (Sun,) studied this question.