Interpersonal Adaptation and Psychological Adjustment of Rural Left-behind Children--A Qualitative Study Based on the Perspectives of Supporting Teachers

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Methods Semi-structured individual interviews were performed to gather data from the interviewees. Finally, Nvivo12 software was adopted to organize and analyze the study data. Results The major study results can be summed up as follows: (1) the interpersonal adaptation of rural left-behind children is characterized by both generally pro-social tendencies and routinely perceived interpersonal alienation tendencies. (2) For left-behind children with interpersonal alienation tendencies, bullying by peers may be closely associated with the loss of parental reliance due to changes in family structure. (3) In rural areas, most of the left-behind children demonstrate a transition from loss to habit to comprehending their parents' work outside the home; further, the companionship of their peers is a critical factor in this transition. Conclusions In terms of the left-behind children with interpersonal maladaptation, interaction and communication with peers should be strengthened, and such children should be supported to actively participate in school practices and integrate into different groups. Similarly, schools and societies need to maximize their efforts to educate rural left-behind children regarding their mental health. Biological sciences/Psychology Biological sciences/Psychology/Human behaviour Left-behind children Interpersonal adaptation Psychological adjustment Qualitative research Introduction In rural areas, left-behind children represent a special group that emerged in the process of China’s population mobility [ 1 ] Since the population mobility barriers between rural and urban regions were broken down in the 1980s and 1990s, a substantial number of rural surplus laborers flocked to the cities [ 2 ] Although, most parents opted to leave behind their children in the countryside and entrusted them to the care of their immediate relatives or grandparents due to the imperfections in urban welfare benefits and the right to education for school-age children; thereby, leading to the formation of a group of left-behind children [ 3 ] . Meanwhile, the Ministry of Civil Affairs' Children's Welfare Department is responsible for the care of children in rural areas. The latest statistics from the Department of Child Welfare of the Ministry of Civil Affairs indicate that the number of left-behind children nationwide stands at 6.436 million, by the end of 2020. However, based on the latest data, the definition of left-behind children has been changed in two ways: one approach emphasizes changing the definition of left-behind children to those who are under the age of 16 years from those who are under the age of 18; while the other approach emphases on the difference in the scope of the statistics. Consistently, the old report stipulates to count the left-behind children with one of their parents working away from home, In contrast, the new statistics warrant to count the left-behind children with two parents working away from home. In other words, in the context of a difference in the scope of the statistics; the new statistical method counts left-behind children only when both parents are working out of the country, or in case one parent is working out of the country and the other is not able to take utmost care of them, therefore, left-behind children in the countryside still present a large group, whereas the old report counted left-behind children as when one parent was out of the country. Noticeably, parents serve as an indispensable part of family education, but, from the perspective of rural left-behind children, the lack of parental education shall inevitably exert a substantial influence on their lives and other dimensions of their lives. In addition, it largely depends on the interpersonal adaptation and psychological adjustment abilities of left-behind children to determine whether such children can adapt to a normal life without their parents. Based on the circumstances of the parent's absence, shared- and intergenerational guardianship presents the two most common kinds of guardianship for left-behind children in rural zones [ 4 ] . Nevertheless, regardless of the adopted custody, a common issue experienced by left-behind children is that their parents are not around for a long time period. Though, regardless of the custody type, the relative lack of parental affection due to the long-term absence of their parents is a general issue encountered by left-behind children. In the meantime, Bronfenbrener proposed the ecological theory of human development in response to the partial absence of the family system of rural left-behind children [ 5 ] . Reportedly, Bronfenbrener's ecological theory of human development holds that the absence of parents from the family system impacts other systems in the living environment, such as peer relationships, teacher-student relationships, and neighborhood relationships. Similarly, parents working outside the home for a long period of time can exert a strong influence on the living environment of left-behind children including the frequent occurrence of immoral incidences and close affiliation with various kinds of unethical elements [ 6 ] . Noticeably, interpersonal adaptation refers to the establishment and maintenance of cooperative association between individuals and others in their daily lives; thereby, extending help, support, and affection to each other. In specific, interpersonal adaptation can be classified as interpersonal alienation and pro-social tendencies [ 7 ] . From the perspective of interpersonal adaptation, it is widely believed that rural left-behind children are alienated in terms of interpersonal relationships, while such children are assumed to be not only outside the mainstream group but also not able to effectively integrate into the surrounding community. The aforementioned state of alienation leads to the development of a variety of socially perceived prevalent issues, such as adverse hobbies, anorexia, and so forth. In line with this, past empirical studies [ 8 ] on the developmental status of left-behind children have also highlighted that left-behind children exhibit poor mental health, with a significantly higher proportion of mental illnesses such as anxiety, depression, high sensitivity paranoia, and anxiety, as compared to the non-left-behind children. Nonetheless, most of the extant literature is result-oriented, drawing conclusions through surveys, interviews, and visits, thus, often relating left-behind children with negative labels, but the proposed data represent the majority of a group; consequently, often ignoring the adaptive status of another small group of the individuals in group. As a result, their real situation is masked by the majority of the group. Therefore, this research paper intends to focus on the different processes of interpersonal adaptation of rural left-behind children while exploring the potential issues that arise in this process. Psychological adjustment, also identified as "psychological regulation", refers to the utilization of applicable psychological skills, in order to adjust the mental state of the person, to a certain extent. Particularly, psychological adjustment requires adjusting the individual’s state of mind to a rational level, in order to enable a person to cope with all types of potential issues and conflicts with a relatively peaceful state of mind; resultantly, preventing extreme consequences [ 9 ] . Prominently, secondary school represents a highly crucial stage where children’s physiological development is rapid, but the pace of psychological development is comparatively lagging behind, whereas their body and mind are commonly in a sort of unbalanced state. Therefore, parents need to guide and assist their children to both smoothly and safely get through this period. Though, the absence of parents may leave the children without a proper channel to resolve different concerns faced at this phase. Consequently, children either choose to resist or avoid coping with the way, which is manifested in either rebellion or silence. Moreover, studies [ 10 ] on the psychological concerns of left-behind children have also established that rural left-behind children demonstrate various issues such as self-enclosure, low self-esteem, deviation of values and outlook on life, lack of security, lack of character and psychological deviation, and poor interpersonal skills. However, several studies have majorly analyzed the manifestations of left-behind children's psychological concerns, with relatively little attention paid to the process of their psychological adjustment and the protective role of peer- and family communication in this process. In a nutshell, using semi-structured interviews, this study attempts to explore (1) the changes and influences of family structure, (2) interpersonal relationships with the surrounding groups, and (3) psychological adjustment after parents leave the home of left-behind children who belong from intact families and have been left behind for more than half a year in the school, in one of the teaching regions in Guizhou, which also represents this study’s location. Methods As compared to the quantitative analysis, the qualitative research approach is more suitable for exploratory research analysis on unknown phenomena, small sample case studies to deepen the comprehension of the subject’s complexity, and the incorporation of inductive techniques to develop theories from the bottom-up [ 11 ] . This research paper studies the family structure of left-behind children in rural areas and aims at the existing situation as the influencing factors and composition of the structure of rural left-behind children's families are still unclear. As a consequence, this study attempts to perform the research analysis using survey interviews. Subject of the Study In this study, the subjects are 18 rural junior high school left-behind children of a rural high school in a county of Guizhou Province of China. Further, the age of the study subject is between 12 and 13 years. Besides this, most of these children were under intergenerational or friends and family custody. This means that these children are cared for by their grandparents or by their relatives and elders. The specific procedures of this study are as follows: first of all, the homeroom teachers of the three classes taught by the researchers ranked the left-behind children in their classes according to their learning status, interpersonal communication, and behavior, and ranked them from excellent to good to weak. Subsequently, the children were classified based on the degree of excellent, ranging from good to weak. Afterward, two left-behind children were selected equally in three different levels, in accordance with the sorting situation. Finally, all the left-behind children were interviewed in the chosen classes, in order to ensure the situation completeness in terms of the research subjects. Outline of the Interview A preliminary interview outline was prepared based on the existing papers on left-behind children, and domestic and foreign literature on the vulnerable groups. Meanwhile, a pre-interview was undertaken with each interviewer prior to the implementation of the formal interview. Evidently, the content of the pre-interview included: the purpose of the interview, the requirements for the interviewee, the basic situation of the interviewee, and preparations to be made for the implementation of the interview. Parallel to this, a formal outline of the interview implementation was constituted by combining the results of the pre-interview and the teacher's comments after executing the pre-interview with the interviewer. In addition, the outline of the interview included the following information: (1) basic information such as age, gender, grade, parents' absence, etc.; (2) interpersonal adaptation adjustment to the changes in family life; (3) interpersonal adaptation to the pro-social tendency/interpersonal alienation; (4) psychological adjustment to the unpleasant experiences; (5) psychological adaptation to adverse emotion adjustment; Interview Implementation The interviewers comprised of study author and two other paraprofessional members. Prior to the interviews, essential training was extended on the interview content, in order to ensure smoothness and uniformity of interview standards; further, one interviewer used to interview one subject at a time; additionally, the whole process of the interviews was audio-recorded with the help of the Pleasure Recording software, after obtaining the permission from the interviewees; lastly, the interviewers transcribed the audio recordings verbatim from the interviews and recorded them as electronic files. Explicitly, the interview entries made in this study are as follows: Attachment: Interview entries 1. Basic information on left-behind children, namely: age, gender, grade, and parents' absence. 2. Interpersonal adaptation regulation of changes in the family life 2.1 What changes have happened to family life since the parents went out to work? 2.2 Do you think the proposed changes have influenced you, and if yes, please give examples. 2.3 How do you manage to deal with this change/how do you self-regulate? 3. Interpersonal adaptation Pro-social tendencies/interpersonal alienation 3.1 Has your association with those around you (including classmates, teachers, guardians, etc.) changed since your parents were not around? 3.2 Do you think your relationships with individuals around you have become better or worse? 3.3 How do you feel about such changes? 4. Psychological adjustment unpleasant experiences 4.1 How does your mood change after being without your parents, cite an example from life 4.2 When parents have been away, have there been any unpleasant experiences? 5. Psychological adjustment negative emotion regulation 5.1 What was the strongest feeling you experienced after your parents went away? 5.2 What exactly about the content? 5.3 How do you regulate yourself in the face of sadness/thoughts/complaints? Research Tools In this paper, the resulting data is analyzed and coded using Nvivo12 qualitative analysis software. Before formal coding, the textual data was first read independently and repeatedly, after which the aforementioned data was combined with the extant literature, in order to develop an analytic theme and a coding scheme, aligned with the matters of concern to this study and the notion that emerged from the reading process. Principally, the analytic themes consist of an objective description of the psychological and interpersonal situation related to the interview participants after their parents have left home as well as the process of psychological adjustment and interpersonal adaptation that occurs with them, including: 1) The changes and impacts of the family structure of the left-behind children; 2) The manifestation of adaptation of the interpersonal network of the left-behind children in rural zones; 3) The prevalence of negative psychology among the left-behind children; 4) The process of psychological adjustment of the left-behind children in rural regions. Results Upon completion of coding, there were various 1st-order and 2nd-order codes under each of the four aforementioned themes. In a qualitative study, C. E Hill et al. pointed out that [ 12 ] a code is assumed "general" when it is manifested in all subjects. Conversely, a code is treated as "representative" when it is reflected in half or more of the subjects. Moreover, a code is perceived as "typically" when it is reflected in all of the subjects. In general, a code that is reflected in less than half but more than two subjects is declared occasionally. Hence, this research study shall examine the left-behind children around each of the four themes that emerged from the Nvivo12 analysis. Theme 1: Changes in the Family Structure of Left-Behind Children and the Impact Parents working outside the home pose critical problems for rural children by making significant changes in their lives such as the lack of parental presence. Accordingly, different research studies also posit that [ 13 ] family education plays an imperative and integral role in the growth and development of children. Aligned with this, potential changes in the family structure may lead to a series of adverse events, such as ostracism and bullying. For instance, one of the interviewees has been subjected to harassment and verbal insults from classmates around her for a long time To be specific, that interviewee stated, "They would say around me that I am a fatherless and motherless wild child when I am waiting for my friends, and they even intensify their efforts to keep kicking in the door of my house". Thus, it is obvious that left-behind children are subjected to bullying and insults from their classmates due to the lack of parental protection and companionship. Another interviewee narrated, "I do not have much contact with my parents, I call them about once every half a month, and every time I talk about my grades, they do not care much about my life". Simultaneously, the parents' neglect to pay attention to their children's lives and the reluctance to communicate with teachers result in the prevalence of the aforementioned situation. In the face of such adverse consequences, certain students who cannot release the pressure to the outside shall choose extreme means to resolve potential issues, such as hurting their own bodies to solve the problem. For instance, the researcher reported, "Several times, I have seen the arm of the students covered with dense bruises, when asked, only to find out to be their own with a knife". In the past few years, owing to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, parents working outside their hometowns were unable to return home, in order to meet their children for a long period of time. After interrogating children who had been left behind for more than five years, the researchers learned that prior to the epidemic, parents would essentially visit their homes 3 to 5 times a year, for periods spanning from half to a month at a time, before returning to their work location, in order to again explore work opportunities. But after the pandemic, parents in certain families failed to return home for nearly three consecutive years, until the recent Chinese New Year. One of the study subjects quotes, "Due to the epidemic, mom and dad haven't been home for a long time, although there are video calls, it feels like their memory is getting shallower". On the one hand, the difficulty of returning home has surged dramatically due to the control of the pandemic; while, on the other hand, job opportunities are becoming fewer in this specific context - not intending to easily quit a job. This reflects that the new crown epidemic has not only exhibited a strong effect on the families of left-behind children but also stands as the key reason behind preventing the left-behind children from meeting their parents for a long time period. Theme 2: Adaptive Performance of Rural Left-Behind Children's Interpersonal Networks Notably, sound interpersonal relationships demonstrate a significant influence on the positive adjustment of a person. In terms of the left-behind children, their interpersonal network is even more critical since there exists a lack of emotional linkage between parents and children. From the perspective of changes in their affiliations with those around them, once their parents left, most of the respondents (12) reported that their connections become stronger with relatives, neighbors, and friends. For instance, one respondent stated, "My uncle and aunt live nearby and often visit my house to bring some food for me and my brother". Another respondent indicated, "Relatives and neighbors take better care of me, and their love makes up for the affection my mother lacked". Besides this, one of the interviewees has long been cared for by an empty nester on the same floor, which can be perceived as vicarious feedback after being far away from her children; thereby, projecting her thoughts and care for her juniors onto the left-behind children who are also far away from their loved ones. The respondent said, "The granny who lives on the third floor has been requesting me to visit her house for dinner, as she and her partner cannot finish their excessive food". In addition to this, more than half of the respondents (10) reported that they had a good peer social network. Accordingly, a respondent stated, "I have a few good friends, right after school we often go home together, on weekends we come over to my house to do homework and watch TV, and I feel happy when they visit my house so my grandmother does not have a hard time talking about me". In the meantime, even the children who were ostracized by other classmates affirmed the fact that they had good friends. When the respondent was asked how he dealt with bullying from other classmates, he responded, "I just leave them alone, I just play with our friends, and I pretend I do not hear what they say". At the same time, trust and reliance on friends are prominent characteristics exhibited by children left behind. On the one hand, children in this age group who begin to become more independent, show more willingness to interact with their peers; consequently, pouring more time into peer interactions. Certainly, past studies also illuminate that peer groups and shared environments with peers exert a strong long-term influence on children's personalities whereas peer relationships play an irreplaceable role, specifically among adolescents [ 14 ] . In particular, the role of peer relationships is irreplaceable in adolescence. On the other end, poor parent-child communication or the absence of parents may make left-behind children more inclined to interact with their peers [ 15 ] . The extant literature highlights that teachers play a positive role in the non-cognitive growth of rural left-behind children; [ 16 ] by taking care of them in several aspects of their life [ 17 ] . Nevertheless, there was little active mention of teachers' role in the non-cognitive development of rural left-behind children, among different interviewees in this research study. Most of the interviewees stated that there was no significant difference in their teachers' attitudes towards them prior to and after their parents went out to work. However, few respondents actively confirmed the teachers' influence on the left-behind children's lives, a few respondents (5) indicated that the class teacher cared more about their academic life after their parents had gone out to work. This may be attributed to the difference in the first perspective of the protagonists. From the teacher's viewpoint, the assistance for students is more silent; although, when put into the context of students, they may ignore such cooperation. Besides, the classroom- and subject teachers are more inclined to give their feedback to the guardians or parents of the students. Consistently, almost all of the interviewees held that the lack of special care made them more natural by reporting different statements such as, "I don't intend to get excessive attention, that would make me feel weird" and "I do not like to be treated as a special object and it is fine just the way it is". The proposed situation also depends on the actual condition of schools in rural areas [ 18 ] . Explicitly, there was a severe shortage of teachers in the schools where the survey was carried out. On the same note, it is also more common for teachers to be overloaded with classes while teaching across different grades and subjects. These teachers also encounter not only the difficulty of linking home and school but also the frequent occurrence of safety concerns that are difficult to manage. Additionally, students' real family situations are typically known only to classroom teachers, in order to respect students and protect their privacy. Therefore, subject teachers are expected to play more of a role in the academic life of the left-behind children. Further, it was only through inquiring the class teacher that the researcher learned the specific situation of the left-behind students. In short, peers serve as an indispensable part of left-behind children's interpersonal network, which may support left-behind children to get through the special period after their parents' departure by healing and repairing their psychological trauma, to a certain extent. In the process of experiencing the changes in family structure, most of the left-behind children often receive compensatory feedback from other interpersonal networks or repair the trauma triggered by the loss of parental protection through peer acceptance. In the same fashion, teachers also play a decisive role as an imperative link in the left-behind children's interpersonal network, but since teachers are more inclined to offer feedback to the parents or guardians of the students, their significance is not as vital as that of their peers in the sight of left-behind children. Theme 3: Negative Psychology among Left-Behind Children Research studies have demonstrated that underprivileged children experience more setbacks in their daily lives, such as [ 19 ] , being separated from both or one of their parents for a long time. Consequently, left-behind children often develop certain negative psychological emotions, including loss and loneliness. Aligned with this, a student pointed out, "They just went out for a while, and I felt like I was abandoned and turned into a child nobody wanted", and "Often when I go home and witness that I am the only one, my otherwise good mood will become bad, I don't want to stay at home, and I would rather hang out". Since left-behind children are not regularly separated from their parents, the instability of the family environment makes them lack a sense of belonging and social security [ 20 ] . Typically, parents' absence makes the children who are already in adolescence insecure, more fragile, and sensitive. Therefore, such children mostly exhibit certain adverse emotions, which predominantly take place when these children face the family alone. However, such emotions are less at school, as children can communicate with their teachers and peers at school; thus, realizing the impact of distraction. Furthermore, being aggrieved and depressed is also a frequently occurring psychology A student claimed, "When I did not do well in the exams, I wanted her (my mother) to comfort me, but she was only able to say one or two words across the cell phone, therefore I could not have a face-to-face heart-to-heart talk". It is evident that parents' absence results in children not being able to appear by their side in times when they need encouragement and companionship, which may make children feel increasingly estranged from their parents. Such children may even become unwilling to have an in-depth conversation with their parents. For instance, a respondent stated, "Every time I call, they ask me about my studies, and instruct me to not waste my time on drawing, and (over time) I do not intend to have a heart-to-heart talk with them as they don't understand me". From the standpoint of left-behind children, as both or one of their parents are gone out to work, these children not only need to experience all types of daily affairs at home, such as laundry and cooking but also have to encounter and resolve several matters that require the help of adults, in order to be addressed, which makes them feel a sense of loss and aggrieved, particularly, when they watch children of the same age accompanied by their parents or assisting them to solve various problems. This severe deprivation makes them feel helpless, which will make them more willing to attain parental love and support. The feelings of these children shall gradually turn into grudges and even resentment towards their parents when they cannot be pacified since their parents are away from home. Theme 4: The Process of Psychological Adjustment of Children Left Behind in Rural Areas The coping style of a person has an imperative role in the influence of a stressful event; thereby, directly impacting the individual's response to the stressful situation and the help available to withstand the stress [ 21 ] . Thus, the coping style directly affects the person’s reaction to the stressful event and the available assistance. Apparently, when the left-behind children experienced their parents’ departure on account of professional commitments, which also exerted a substantial change in the family structure, most of the children (15) displayed an upward psychological adjustment process. In particular, the children gradually recovered from the loss and grief and became accustomed to their parents’ absence; thereafter, eventually understood their parents. Correspondingly, a respondent quotes, "At the beginning, I felt abandoned, but my parents would call me regularly to ask me about my study and life, commonly by video call, and I was happy to see them" Another interviewee cited, "at the beginning, I was not used to it, but subsequently I slowly adapted to it, and at present I also understand that they are making effort to make a better family life, and I can't be that selfish". This reflects that children at such age begin to mature mentally and embrace the notions that have been instilled by their parents/guardians for a long time. There are twofold major reasons behind this process of positive psychological adjustment. On the one hand, parents who go out to work most often call their children. Although such an arrangement may not represent a complete substitute for what parents do at home, it serves as a continuation of compensation for affection. As a result, the left-behind children also feel the care of their parents, which can help them to establish a normal parent-child relationship. On the other hand, children in this age group show more willingness to interact and communicate with their peers. Meanwhile, children execute the psychological adjustment to the event of their parent's departure in the process of interacting with their parents of the same generation. For instance, a respondent stated, "My friend's parents work at home, however, each time my aunt would also enlighten me to understand my parents, gradually I did not feel sad". Thus, all of the aforementioned events confirm the positive psychological adjustment of children. There also existed a small group of children (3) who perceived that their parents' absence exerted no impact on them, and even a child reported, "When my parents go away, I am free and no one cares about me". Generally, these children possess less self-control and find it hard to control their own behavior. The parents equip children with electronic devices, in order to remain in regular contact with them. However, such arrangement also serves as a direct cause of children’s abandonment of their studies. It's a dilemma——parents utilize electronic devices to communicate and interact with their children, in order to be more concerned regarding their children's lives and studies; nonetheless, given the education level of guardians and certain other factors, it is difficult to supervise children. Particularly, this phenomenon is obvious in the case of intergenerational guardianship of children. Parallel to this, the complexity of the Internet also results in children being affected by undesired values, which may lead to immoral habits among children, such as smoking and tattooing, and even vicious incidents. Discussion In junior high school, children are in a crucial stage of rapid physical and psychological development [ 22 ] . In addition to school, the family also plays a pivotal role in establishing good interpersonal relationships; hence, developing a sound mentality in children. Though, owing to parental absence, changes in family structure can demonstrate a significant effect on children. Such influences may include clashes and conflicts between family members, changes in the manner parents educate their children, and the economic situation of a family. Interpersonal Adaptation of Children Left Behind in Rural Areas In popular perception and extant literature, left-behind children are continuously closely related to negative impressions due to different factors such as poor supervision by guardians and the absence of both or one parent, further, there exist various aspects of maladaptation [ 23 ] . However, this research article determined that, except for a few children, most left-behind children commonly exhibited pro-social tendencies in terms of interpersonal adaptation, and maintained close links with their classmates and neighbors, whereas the friendship and affection of the individuals around them weakened the adverse influence of parental absence, to a certain extent, while providing positive feedback on their growth. Concurrently, the left-behind children gradually realized the recognition of their teachers and classmates through pro-social tendency; resultantly, expanding their social network and forming a positive cycle. In terms of gender differences in interpersonal adjustment, female children displayed better interpersonal adjustment, as compared to male children. This is in line with past surveys anticipating that females establish better interpersonal relationships than males [ 24 ] , due to the social identification and differences in the psychological and biological development of both genders. Typically, females effectively acquire and develop language skills earlier than males in their early physiological development. Additionally, females also demonstrate more emotions, sense others’ emotions, and care more about others. The proposed traits enable them to effectively deal with various issues in interpersonal relationships; thus, showing better positive interpersonal adaptation. Moreover, in most cultures and societies, females are encouraged to play the roles of being cooperative, caring, and sensitive to the needs of others, while males are expected to play the roles of "tools", and remain competitive, independent, and dominant [ 25 ] . This social expectation is also a major factor in the differences in interpersonal adaptation between male and female left-behind children. Psychological Adjustment of Children Left Behind in Rural Areas Owing to social experience, age constraints, and certain other factors, children's psychology is more sensitive, as compared to that of adults. Therefore, the left-behind children are hesitant to express their feelings to their parents, in the face of the parents going out, which presents a major change in their family structure. In contrast, children also understand that their parents go out to improve their family life, therefore, expressing their feelings would make them appear unintelligent. In the meantime, parents often neglect to pay sufficient attention to their children due to their work nature or merely focus on the material situation such as living and studying, while neglecting the psychological needs of the children. As a result, this dilution of interaction shall stimulate children to gradually lose their sense of belonging and make them feel abandoned by their parents; thereby, leading to self-isolation and low self-esteem. In terms of the guardians, they need to take sufficient care of their families, in order to effectively meet the basic needs and address different aspects of left-behind children’s lives. Conversely, the lack of attention to the inner needs of the children will increase the psychological gap between the children and parents; thus, leading to generating adverse emotions among children such as loneliness, loss, aggression, and grievances. In accordance with this study, the overall psychological adjustment process of left-behind children mainly stems from sadness and loss at the beginning to comprehension in the middle of the process, and thereafter, adapting to life after their parent's departure. Meanwhile, the proposed process often requires one to two years, on average. Prominently, the level of parental care during this period is positively associated with the psychological adjustment level of left-behind children. Specifically, the more parental care, the better the psychological adjustment of left-behind children, since the left-behind children's sense of belonging and security is improved with parental care; thereby, alleviating their loneliness in their left-behind life. At the same time, parental support at both spiritual and material levels, makes them more active in coping with challenges and taking the initiative to seek assistance from others. Further, parents' high level of care for their children effectively uplifts their social support rate; hence, positively impacting their psychological adjustment ability [ 26 ] . Conclusion The study findings indicate that although there exists an overall positive trend in the interpersonal adaptation of rural left-behind children, there are also certain maladaptive conditions. Meanwhile, there is a need to focus on the cultivation of their good character traits, in order to further improve the interpersonal adaptation ability of this group of children. Firstly, in terms of the individual level, the interaction and communication with peers must be strengthened, and children should be supported to actively participate in school activities; thus, integrating into different groups. Secondly, societies and schools need to foster the mental health education of rural left-behind Children. Though schools in the author's region have commonly opened homes for children left behind, these institutions are not practically put into practice. Additionally, interviews with the school teachers highlight that these institutions are hardly put into use except in special circumstances. Hence, effective incorporation of relevant supporting resources can alleviate the plight of left-behind children, to a certain extent. Similarly, the significant role of parents in children’s growth process should be enhanced, in order to develop a sound environment for their growth. Finally, parents should be encouraged to bring their children to their workplace during the holidays, in order to cultivate their feelings during the time spent together. Besides, the resources of big cities can also be utilized to make short-term study programs for children. Accordingly, relevant departments should also further increase their attention to left-behind children, safeguard their legitimate rights and interests, and establish a sound system of care services for rural left-behind children. On this basis, relevant foreign experiences can be drawn and combined with China's national environment, in order to undertake innovative exploration. For the psychological adjustment aspect, in terms of the parents and guardians, firstly, there is a need to establish stable channels of communication, maintain effective interaction and communication with their children, and employ video and telephonic calls to care about their children's psychological state, study, and life. Secondly, parents should visit their children at home regularly while offering sufficient care and companionship to the children. Lastly, parents must understand the children’s needs, extend an essential sense of security and support, and pay attention to their mental well-being and emotional changes. On the same note, there is a need to encourage children to actively participate in learning and social practices, and support them to build a positive mindset and self-confidence. Furthermore, schools and relevant authorities should also strengthen the social support system, establish and improve the care institutions and volunteer teams for left-behind children, and provide different social services such as psychological counseling, social activities, and educational counseling, in order to offer the left-behind children with psychological support and assistance. Simultaneously, the relevant authorities and education institutes should accelerate mutual assistance in the community, promote mutual assistance and support among neighbors, and organize community activities, in order to not only produce a warm social atmosphere for the left-behind children but to also alleviate their psychological pressure and sense of loneliness. Declarations Ethics approval and consent to participate Ethical approval for the study was obtained from the Ethics Committee of the School of Nursing-School of Public Health, Yangzhou University. Ethics Review Committee, School of Nursing-School of Public Health, Yangzhou University(YZUHL20230079). All stay-at-home children and class instructors involved in the study gave informed consent and agreed to publish their anonymous citations. All research procedures and methods were conducted in accordance with the relevant guidelines and regulations of the Declaration of Helsinki. Affirmation of Informed Consent I give my consent for my child to participate in a qualitative study on the interpersonal adaptation and psychological adjustment of left-behind children conducted by Wenjie Zhu et al. I understand that the purpose of the study is to explore the interpersonal adaptation and psychological adjustment of left-behind children in order to better understand their needs and the challenges they face. The study will be conducted through interviews and observations, which will be conducted by the researcher at the children's schools. All participants in this study will be considered anonymous and their personal information will not be disclosed. I understand that the potential risks of the study include: My child may feel uncomfortable or upset because they will need to talk about their personal experiences and feelings. My child may be concerned about an invasion of their privacy because they will need to provide personal information. My child may be concerned that what they say will have a negative impact on family or friends. I understand that the potential benefits of the study include: My child could have the opportunity to express their thoughts and feelings and be listened to and understood by the researcher. My child could have the opportunity to learn about the life experiences and emotional worlds of other children left behind and gain inspiration and support from them. My child can have the opportunity to contribute to research and policy development for children left behind. I understand that I can withdraw my consent at any time and ask the researcher to stop the research on my child. If I have any questions or concerns about the study, I can contact the researcher Wenjie Zhu, at any time. I have carefully read and understand the consent statement and voluntarily consent to my child's participation in the study. Consent for publication Agreed for publication Availability of data and materials The datasets generated and/or analysed during the current study are not publicly available due to protect participant confidentiality but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. Funding This study was funded by the School of Nuesing and School of Nursing-School of Public Health, Yangzhou University. Acknowledgements We thank Dr Jingyan Liang and Dr Yuan Yuan for expert advice. We also thank the research class tutors for their support during data collection and reporting of the interview system. 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BMC public health, 23(1), 111. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-14989-1 Ye, L., Qian, Y., Meng, S., Ye, D., Rong, C., Vandenhouten, E. E., Jing, F., & Mao, Y. (2020). Subjective well-being of left-behind children: a cross-sectional study in a rural area of eastern China. Child and adolescent psychiatry and mental health, 14, 27. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13034-020-00333-7 Selva Kumar, D., Nahvi, S., Rivera-Mindt, M., Arnsten, J., & Minami, H. (2022). The Impact of Coping With Stressful Events on Negative Affect and Cravings Among Smokers With Mood Disorders. Nicotine & tobacco research: official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco, 24(6), 881–889. https://doi.org/10.1093/ntr/ntab260 Zhang, H., & Li, Y. (2022). Child Neglect and Life Satisfaction among Left-behind Children in Rural China: The Roles of Self-compassion and Gratitude. Journal of interpersonal violence, 37(17–18), NP15649–NP15669. https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605211016348 Wen, Y. J., Hou, W. P., Zheng, W., Zhao, X. X., Wang, X. Q., Bo, Q. J., Pao, C., Tang, Y. L., Tan, T., Li, X. B., & Wang, C. Y. (2021). The Neglect of Left-Behind Children in China: A Meta-Analysis. Trauma, violence & abuse, 22(5), 1326–1338. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524838020916837 Shuang, M., Yiqing, W., Ling, J., Guanzhen, O., Jing, G., Zhiyong, Q., & Xiaohua, W. (2022). Relationship between parent-child attachment and depression among migrant children and left-behind children in China. Public health, 204, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2021.12.015 Tang, D., Choi, W. I., Deng, L., Bian, Y., & Hu, H. (2019). Health status of children left behind in rural areas of Sichuan Province of China: a cross-sectional study. BMC international health and human rights, 19(1), 4. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12914-019-0191-9 Du, K., Yang, T., Zhao, J., & Guan, H. (2023). The impact of parental migration on left-behind children's vision health in rural China. BMC public health, 23(1), 2. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-14962-4 Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4620231","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":326698490,"identity":"9b82e68c-0293-494e-8478-d9dce4f7fc5c","order_by":0,"name":"Wenjie Zhu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Yangzhou University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Wenjie","middleName":"","lastName":"Zhu","suffix":""},{"id":326698491,"identity":"8a6b899c-d37c-4255-a237-4e2f430f6667","order_by":1,"name":"Chunhua Tao","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Yangzhou University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Chunhua","middleName":"","lastName":"Tao","suffix":""},{"id":326698493,"identity":"3bba73ec-57db-45c6-9f27-57e9107e534a","order_by":2,"name":"Sican Wang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Yangzhou University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Sican","middleName":"","lastName":"Wang","suffix":""},{"id":326698496,"identity":"b0ea35f7-1857-43cc-ac86-c991fc5eeb11","order_by":3,"name":"Yuan Yuan","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA0UlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACNmbm4z8S/9lAeDzEaOFnb0uQ+MCWRoIWyZ4zCpIz2A6ToMXgRg6DMQ/P+cT5MxIYH7xtY5A3J6wl90Ayj8TtxMYZCcyGc9sYDHc2ENSSl3CYx+B2YrNEAps0bxtDgsEBwg4zbOZJOJfYJpHA/psoLUDvGzPOOHAgsQdoCzNRWoCBnMbwsSHZeAbPw2bJOeckDDcQ0gKMymMMiQ12svPbkw9+eFNmI0/QFhhwbGBgbADSEkSqBwJ74pWOglEwCkbBiAMAC1VAB9otRkkAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"Yangzhou University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yuan","middleName":"","lastName":"Yuan","suffix":""},{"id":326698499,"identity":"f7ba6edc-d110-401e-aed3-2de1697c3a1d","order_by":4,"name":"Jingyan Liang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Yangzhou University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jingyan","middleName":"","lastName":"Liang","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-06-22 05:56:15","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4620231/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4620231/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":65349248,"identity":"fc7ce7c7-a1bd-4cbd-ab72-ad2cab00fe27","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-09-26 10:24:13","extension":"pdf","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":514580,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4620231/v1/3659a057-c2ba-41b0-b39a-76ef2c4215b2.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Interpersonal Adaptation and Psychological Adjustment of Rural Left-behind Children--A Qualitative Study Based on the Perspectives of Supporting Teachers","fulltext":[{"header":"Introduction","content":"\u003cp\u003eIn rural areas, left-behind children represent a special group that emerged in the process of China\u0026rsquo;s population mobility\u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR1\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e Since the population mobility barriers between rural and urban regions were broken down in the 1980s and 1990s, a substantial number of rural surplus laborers flocked to the cities \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR2\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e Although, most parents opted to leave behind their children in the countryside and entrusted them to the care of their immediate relatives or grandparents due to the imperfections in urban welfare benefits and the right to education for school-age children; thereby, leading to the formation of a group of left-behind children \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR3\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Civil Affairs' Children's Welfare Department is responsible for the care of children in rural areas. The latest statistics from the Department of Child Welfare of the Ministry of Civil Affairs indicate that the number of left-behind children nationwide stands at 6.436\u0026nbsp;million, by the end of 2020. However, based on the latest data, the definition of left-behind children has been changed in two ways: one approach emphasizes changing the definition of left-behind children to those who are under the age of 16 years from those who are under the age of 18; while the other approach emphases on the difference in the scope of the statistics. Consistently, the old report stipulates to count the left-behind children with one of their parents working away from home, In contrast, the new statistics warrant to count the left-behind children with two parents working away from home. In other words, in the context of a difference in the scope of the statistics; the new statistical method counts left-behind children only when both parents are working out of the country, or in case one parent is working out of the country and the other is not able to take utmost care of them, therefore, left-behind children in the countryside still present a large group, whereas the old report counted left-behind children as when one parent was out of the country. Noticeably, parents serve as an indispensable part of family education, but, from the perspective of rural left-behind children, the lack of parental education shall inevitably exert a substantial influence on their lives and other dimensions of their lives. In addition, it largely depends on the interpersonal adaptation and psychological adjustment abilities of left-behind children to determine whether such children can adapt to a normal life without their parents.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eBased on the circumstances of the parent's absence, shared- and intergenerational guardianship presents the two most common kinds of guardianship for left-behind children in rural zones \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR4\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e4\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e. Nevertheless, regardless of the adopted custody, a common issue experienced by left-behind children is that their parents are not around for a long time period. Though, regardless of the custody type, the relative lack of parental affection due to the long-term absence of their parents is a general issue encountered by left-behind children. In the meantime, Bronfenbrener proposed the ecological theory of human development in response to the partial absence of the family system of rural left-behind children\u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR5\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e5\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e. Reportedly, Bronfenbrener's ecological theory of human development holds that the absence of parents from the family system impacts other systems in the living environment, such as peer relationships, teacher-student relationships, and neighborhood relationships. Similarly, parents working outside the home for a long period of time can exert a strong influence on the living environment of left-behind children including the frequent occurrence of immoral incidences and close affiliation with various kinds of unethical elements \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR6\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e6\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eNoticeably, interpersonal adaptation refers to the establishment and maintenance of cooperative association between individuals and others in their daily lives; thereby, extending help, support, and affection to each other. In specific, interpersonal adaptation can be classified as interpersonal alienation and pro-social tendencies \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR7\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e7\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e. From the perspective of interpersonal adaptation, it is widely believed that rural left-behind children are alienated in terms of interpersonal relationships, while such children are assumed to be not only outside the mainstream group but also not able to effectively integrate into the surrounding community. The aforementioned state of alienation leads to the development of a variety of socially perceived prevalent issues, such as adverse hobbies, anorexia, and so forth. In line with this, past empirical studies\u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR8\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e8\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e on the developmental status of left-behind children have also highlighted that left-behind children exhibit poor mental health, with a significantly higher proportion of mental illnesses such as anxiety, depression, high sensitivity paranoia, and anxiety, as compared to the non-left-behind children. Nonetheless, most of the extant literature is result-oriented, drawing conclusions through surveys, interviews, and visits, thus, often relating left-behind children with negative labels, but the proposed data represent the majority of a group; consequently, often ignoring the adaptive status of another small group of the individuals in group. As a result, their real situation is masked by the majority of the group. Therefore, this research paper intends to focus on the different processes of interpersonal adaptation of rural left-behind children while exploring the potential issues that arise in this process.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003ePsychological adjustment, also identified as \"psychological regulation\", refers to the utilization of applicable psychological skills, in order to adjust the mental state of the person, to a certain extent. Particularly, psychological adjustment requires adjusting the individual\u0026rsquo;s state of mind to a rational level, in order to enable a person to cope with all types of potential issues and conflicts with a relatively peaceful state of mind; resultantly, preventing extreme consequences \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR9\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e9\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e. Prominently, secondary school represents a highly crucial stage where children\u0026rsquo;s physiological development is rapid, but the pace of psychological development is comparatively lagging behind, whereas their body and mind are commonly in a sort of unbalanced state. Therefore, parents need to guide and assist their children to both smoothly and safely get through this period. Though, the absence of parents may leave the children without a proper channel to resolve different concerns faced at this phase. Consequently, children either choose to resist or avoid coping with the way, which is manifested in either rebellion or silence. Moreover, studies\u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR10\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e10\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e on the psychological concerns of left-behind children have also established that rural left-behind children demonstrate various issues such as self-enclosure, low self-esteem, deviation of values and outlook on life, lack of security, lack of character and psychological deviation, and poor interpersonal skills. However, several studies have majorly analyzed the manifestations of left-behind children's psychological concerns, with relatively little attention paid to the process of their psychological adjustment and the protective role of peer- and family communication in this process.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn a nutshell, using semi-structured interviews, this study attempts to explore (1) the changes and influences of family structure, (2) interpersonal relationships with the surrounding groups, and (3) psychological adjustment after parents leave the home of left-behind children who belong from intact families and have been left behind for more than half a year in the school, in one of the teaching regions in Guizhou, which also represents this study\u0026rsquo;s location.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Methods","content":"\u003cp\u003eAs compared to the quantitative analysis, the qualitative research approach is more suitable for exploratory research analysis on unknown phenomena, small sample case studies to deepen the comprehension of the subject\u0026rsquo;s complexity, and the incorporation of inductive techniques to develop theories from the bottom-up \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e11\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e. This research paper studies the family structure of left-behind children in rural areas and aims at the existing situation as the influencing factors and composition of the structure of rural left-behind children\u0026apos;s families are still unclear. As a consequence, this study attempts to perform the research analysis using survey interviews.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"Sec3\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\n \u003ch2\u003eSubject of the Study\u003c/h2\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eIn this study, the subjects are 18 rural junior high school left-behind children of a rural high school in a county of Guizhou Province of China. Further, the age of the study subject is between 12 and 13 years. Besides this, most of these children were under intergenerational or friends and family custody. This means that these children are cared for by their grandparents or by their relatives and elders. The specific procedures of this study are as follows: first of all, the homeroom teachers of the three classes taught by the researchers ranked the left-behind children in their classes according to their learning status, interpersonal communication, and behavior, and ranked them from excellent to good to weak. Subsequently, the children were classified based on the degree of excellent, ranging from good to weak. Afterward, two left-behind children were selected equally in three different levels, in accordance with the sorting situation. Finally, all the left-behind children were interviewed in the chosen classes, in order to ensure the situation completeness in terms of the research subjects.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"Sec4\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\n \u003ch2\u003eOutline of the Interview\u003c/h2\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eA preliminary interview outline was prepared based on the existing papers on left-behind children, and domestic and foreign literature on the vulnerable groups. Meanwhile, a pre-interview was undertaken with each interviewer prior to the implementation of the formal interview. Evidently, the content of the pre-interview included: the purpose of the interview, the requirements for the interviewee, the basic situation of the interviewee, and preparations to be made for the implementation of the interview. Parallel to this, a formal outline of the interview implementation was constituted by combining the results of the pre-interview and the teacher\u0026apos;s comments after executing the pre-interview with the interviewer. In addition, the outline of the interview included the following information: (1) basic information such as age, gender, grade, parents\u0026apos; absence, etc.; (2) interpersonal adaptation adjustment to the changes in family life; (3) interpersonal adaptation to the pro-social tendency/interpersonal alienation; (4) psychological adjustment to the unpleasant experiences; (5) psychological adaptation to adverse emotion adjustment;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"Sec5\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\n \u003ch2\u003eInterview Implementation\u003c/h2\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eThe interviewers comprised of study author and two other paraprofessional members. Prior to the interviews, essential training was extended on the interview content, in order to ensure smoothness and uniformity of interview standards; further, one interviewer used to interview one subject at a time; additionally, the whole process of the interviews was audio-recorded with the help of the Pleasure Recording software, after obtaining the permission from the interviewees; lastly, the interviewers transcribed the audio recordings verbatim from the interviews and recorded them as electronic files. Explicitly, the interview entries made in this study are as follows:\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eAttachment: Interview entries\u003c/p\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1. Basic information on left-behind children, namely: age, gender, grade, and parents\u0026apos; absence.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e2. Interpersonal adaptation regulation of changes in the family life\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e2.1 What changes have happened to family life since the parents went out to work?\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e2.2 Do you think the proposed changes have influenced you, and if yes, please give examples.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e2.3 How do you manage to deal with this change/how do you self-regulate?\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3. Interpersonal adaptation Pro-social tendencies/interpersonal alienation\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3.1 Has your association with those around you (including classmates, teachers, guardians, etc.) changed since your parents were not around?\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3.2 Do you think your relationships with individuals around you have become better or worse?\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3.3 How do you feel about such changes?\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e4. Psychological adjustment unpleasant experiences\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e4.1 How does your mood change after being without your parents, cite an example from life\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e4.2 When parents have been away, have there been any unpleasant experiences?\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5. Psychological adjustment negative emotion regulation\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5.1 What was the strongest feeling you experienced after your parents went away?\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5.2 What exactly about the content?\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5.3 How do you regulate yourself in the face of sadness/thoughts/complaints?\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"Sec6\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\n \u003ch2\u003eResearch Tools\u003c/h2\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eIn this paper, the resulting data is analyzed and coded using Nvivo12 qualitative analysis software. Before formal coding, the textual data was first read independently and repeatedly, after which the aforementioned data was combined with the extant literature, in order to develop an analytic theme and a coding scheme, aligned with the matters of concern to this study and the notion that emerged from the reading process. Principally, the analytic themes consist of an objective description of the psychological and interpersonal situation related to the interview participants after their parents have left home as well as the process of psychological adjustment and interpersonal adaptation that occurs with them, including:\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1) The changes and impacts of the family structure of the left-behind children;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e2) The manifestation of adaptation of the interpersonal network of the left-behind children in rural zones;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3) The prevalence of negative psychology among the left-behind children;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e4) The process of psychological adjustment of the left-behind children in rural regions.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"Results","content":"\u003cp\u003eUpon completion of coding, there were various 1st-order and 2nd-order codes under each of the four aforementioned themes. In a qualitative study, C. E Hill et al. pointed out that \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR12\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e12\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e a code is assumed \"general\" when it is manifested in all subjects. Conversely, a code is treated as \"representative\" when it is reflected in half or more of the subjects. Moreover, a code is perceived as \"typically\" when it is reflected in all of the subjects. In general, a code that is reflected in less than half but more than two subjects is declared occasionally. Hence, this research study shall examine the left-behind children around each of the four themes that emerged from the Nvivo12 analysis.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec8\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eTheme 1: Changes in the Family Structure of Left-Behind Children and the Impact\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003e Parents working outside the home pose critical problems for rural children by making significant changes in their lives such as the lack of parental presence. Accordingly, different research studies also posit that \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR13\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e13\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e family education plays an imperative and integral role in the growth and development of children. Aligned with this, potential changes in the family structure may lead to a series of adverse events, such as ostracism and bullying. For instance, one of the interviewees has been subjected to harassment and verbal insults from classmates around her for a long time To be specific, that interviewee stated, \"They would say around me that I am a fatherless and motherless wild child when I am waiting for my friends, and they even intensify their efforts to keep kicking in the door of my house\". Thus, it is obvious that left-behind children are subjected to bullying and insults from their classmates due to the lack of parental protection and companionship. Another interviewee narrated, \"I do not have much contact with my parents, I call them about once every half a month, and every time I talk about my grades, they do not care much about my life\". Simultaneously, the parents' neglect to pay attention to their children's lives and the reluctance to communicate with teachers result in the prevalence of the aforementioned situation. In the face of such adverse consequences, certain students who cannot release the pressure to the outside shall choose extreme means to resolve potential issues, such as hurting their own bodies to solve the problem. For instance, the researcher reported, \"Several times, I have seen the arm of the students covered with dense bruises, when asked, only to find out to be their own with a knife\".\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn the past few years, owing to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, parents working outside their hometowns were unable to return home, in order to meet their children for a long period of time. After interrogating children who had been left behind for more than five years, the researchers learned that prior to the epidemic, parents would essentially visit their homes 3 to 5 times a year, for periods spanning from half to a month at a time, before returning to their work location, in order to again explore work opportunities. But after the pandemic, parents in certain families failed to return home for nearly three consecutive years, until the recent Chinese New Year. One of the study subjects quotes, \"Due to the epidemic, mom and dad haven't been home for a long time, although there are video calls, it feels like their memory is getting shallower\". On the one hand, the difficulty of returning home has surged dramatically due to the control of the pandemic; while, on the other hand, job opportunities are becoming fewer in this specific context - not intending to easily quit a job. This reflects that the new crown epidemic has not only exhibited a strong effect on the families of left-behind children but also stands as the key reason behind preventing the left-behind children from meeting their parents for a long time period.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec9\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eTheme 2: Adaptive Performance of Rural Left-Behind Children's Interpersonal Networks\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eNotably, sound interpersonal relationships demonstrate a significant influence on the positive adjustment of a person. In terms of the left-behind children, their interpersonal network is even more critical since there exists a lack of emotional linkage between parents and children. From the perspective of changes in their affiliations with those around them, once their parents left, most of the respondents (12) reported that their connections become stronger with relatives, neighbors, and friends. For instance, one respondent stated, \"My uncle and aunt live nearby and often visit my house to bring some food for me and my brother\". Another respondent indicated, \"Relatives and neighbors take better care of me, and their love makes up for the affection my mother lacked\". Besides this, one of the interviewees has long been cared for by an empty nester on the same floor, which can be perceived as vicarious feedback after being far away from her children; thereby, projecting her thoughts and care for her juniors onto the left-behind children who are also far away from their loved ones. The respondent said, \"The granny who lives on the third floor has been requesting me to visit her house for dinner, as she and her partner cannot finish their excessive food\".\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn addition to this, more than half of the respondents (10) reported that they had a good peer social network. Accordingly, a respondent stated, \"I have a few good friends, right after school we often go home together, on weekends we come over to my house to do homework and watch TV, and I feel happy when they visit my house so my grandmother does not have a hard time talking about me\". In the meantime, even the children who were ostracized by other classmates affirmed the fact that they had good friends. When the respondent was asked how he dealt with bullying from other classmates, he responded, \"I just leave them alone, I just play with our friends, and I pretend I do not hear what they say\". At the same time, trust and reliance on friends are prominent characteristics exhibited by children left behind. On the one hand, children in this age group who begin to become more independent, show more willingness to interact with their peers; consequently, pouring more time into peer interactions. Certainly, past studies also illuminate that peer groups and shared environments with peers exert a strong long-term influence on children's personalities whereas peer relationships play an irreplaceable role, specifically among adolescents \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR14\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e14\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e. In particular, the role of peer relationships is irreplaceable in adolescence. On the other end, poor parent-child communication or the absence of parents may make left-behind children more inclined to interact with their peers \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR15\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e15\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe extant literature highlights that teachers play a positive role in the non-cognitive growth of rural left-behind children; \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR16\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e16\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e by taking care of them in several aspects of their life \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR17\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e17\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e. Nevertheless, there was little active mention of teachers' role in the non-cognitive development of rural left-behind children, among different interviewees in this research study. Most of the interviewees stated that there was no significant difference in their teachers' attitudes towards them prior to and after their parents went out to work. However, few respondents actively confirmed the teachers' influence on the left-behind children's lives, a few respondents (5) indicated that the class teacher cared more about their academic life after their parents had gone out to work. This may be attributed to the difference in the first perspective of the protagonists. From the teacher's viewpoint, the assistance for students is more silent; although, when put into the context of students, they may ignore such cooperation. Besides, the classroom- and subject teachers are more inclined to give their feedback to the guardians or parents of the students. Consistently, almost all of the interviewees held that the lack of special care made them more natural by reporting different statements such as, \"I don't intend to get excessive attention, that would make me feel weird\" and \"I do not like to be treated as a special object and it is fine just the way it is\". The proposed situation also depends on the actual condition of schools in rural areas \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR18\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e18\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e. Explicitly, there was a severe shortage of teachers in the schools where the survey was carried out. On the same note, it is also more common for teachers to be overloaded with classes while teaching across different grades and subjects. These teachers also encounter not only the difficulty of linking home and school but also the frequent occurrence of safety concerns that are difficult to manage. Additionally, students' real family situations are typically known only to classroom teachers, in order to respect students and protect their privacy. Therefore, subject teachers are expected to play more of a role in the academic life of the left-behind children. Further, it was only through inquiring the class teacher that the researcher learned the specific situation of the left-behind students.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn short, peers serve as an indispensable part of left-behind children's interpersonal network, which may support left-behind children to get through the special period after their parents' departure by healing and repairing their psychological trauma, to a certain extent. In the process of experiencing the changes in family structure, most of the left-behind children often receive compensatory feedback from other interpersonal networks or repair the trauma triggered by the loss of parental protection through peer acceptance. In the same fashion, teachers also play a decisive role as an imperative link in the left-behind children's interpersonal network, but since teachers are more inclined to offer feedback to the parents or guardians of the students, their significance is not as vital as that of their peers in the sight of left-behind children.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec10\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eTheme 3: Negative Psychology among Left-Behind Children\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eResearch studies have demonstrated that underprivileged children experience more setbacks in their daily lives, such as \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR19\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e19\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e, being separated from both or one of their parents for a long time. Consequently, left-behind children often develop certain negative psychological emotions, including loss and loneliness. Aligned with this, a student pointed out, \"They just went out for a while, and I felt like I was abandoned and turned into a child nobody wanted\", and \"Often when I go home and witness that I am the only one, my otherwise good mood will become bad, I don't want to stay at home, and I would rather hang out\". Since left-behind children are not regularly separated from their parents, the instability of the family environment makes them lack a sense of belonging and social security \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR20\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e20\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e. Typically, parents' absence makes the children who are already in adolescence insecure, more fragile, and sensitive. Therefore, such children mostly exhibit certain adverse emotions, which predominantly take place when these children face the family alone. However, such emotions are less at school, as children can communicate with their teachers and peers at school; thus, realizing the impact of distraction.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eFurthermore, being aggrieved and depressed is also a frequently occurring psychology A student claimed, \"When I did not do well in the exams, I wanted her (my mother) to comfort me, but she was only able to say one or two words across the cell phone, therefore I could not have a face-to-face heart-to-heart talk\". It is evident that parents' absence results in children not being able to appear by their side in times when they need encouragement and companionship, which may make children feel increasingly estranged from their parents. Such children may even become unwilling to have an in-depth conversation with their parents. For instance, a respondent stated, \"Every time I call, they ask me about my studies, and instruct me to not waste my time on drawing, and (over time) I do not intend to have a heart-to-heart talk with them as they don't understand me\". From the standpoint of left-behind children, as both or one of their parents are gone out to work, these children not only need to experience all types of daily affairs at home, such as laundry and cooking but also have to encounter and resolve several matters that require the help of adults, in order to be addressed, which makes them feel a sense of loss and aggrieved, particularly, when they watch children of the same age accompanied by their parents or assisting them to solve various problems. This severe deprivation makes them feel helpless, which will make them more willing to attain parental love and support. The feelings of these children shall gradually turn into grudges and even resentment towards their parents when they cannot be pacified since their parents are away from home.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec11\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eTheme 4: The Process of Psychological Adjustment of Children Left Behind in Rural Areas\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe coping style of a person has an imperative role in the influence of a stressful event; thereby, directly impacting the individual's response to the stressful situation and the help available to withstand the stress \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR21\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e21\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e. Thus, the coping style directly affects the person\u0026rsquo;s reaction to the stressful event and the available assistance. Apparently, when the left-behind children experienced their parents\u0026rsquo; departure on account of professional commitments, which also exerted a substantial change in the family structure, most of the children (15) displayed an upward psychological adjustment process. In particular, the children gradually recovered from the loss and grief and became accustomed to their parents\u0026rsquo; absence; thereafter, eventually understood their parents. Correspondingly, a respondent quotes, \"At the beginning, I felt abandoned, but my parents would call me regularly to ask me about my study and life, commonly by video call, and I was happy to see them\" Another interviewee cited, \"at the beginning, I was not used to it, but subsequently I slowly adapted to it, and at present I also understand that they are making effort to make a better family life, and I can't be that selfish\". This reflects that children at such age begin to mature mentally and embrace the notions that have been instilled by their parents/guardians for a long time. There are twofold major reasons behind this process of positive psychological adjustment. On the one hand, parents who go out to work most often call their children. Although such an arrangement may not represent a complete substitute for what parents do at home, it serves as a continuation of compensation for affection. As a result, the left-behind children also feel the care of their parents, which can help them to establish a normal parent-child relationship. On the other hand, children in this age group show more willingness to interact and communicate with their peers. Meanwhile, children execute the psychological adjustment to the event of their parent's departure in the process of interacting with their parents of the same generation. For instance, a respondent stated, \"My friend's parents work at home, however, each time my aunt would also enlighten me to understand my parents, gradually I did not feel sad\". Thus, all of the aforementioned events confirm the positive psychological adjustment of children.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e There also existed a small group of children (3) who perceived that their parents' absence exerted no impact on them, and even a child reported, \"When my parents go away, I am free and no one cares about me\". Generally, these children possess less self-control and find it hard to control their own behavior. The parents equip children with electronic devices, in order to remain in regular contact with them. However, such arrangement also serves as a direct cause of children\u0026rsquo;s abandonment of their studies. It's a dilemma\u0026mdash;\u0026mdash;parents utilize electronic devices to communicate and interact with their children, in order to be more concerned regarding their children's lives and studies; nonetheless, given the education level of guardians and certain other factors, it is difficult to supervise children. Particularly, this phenomenon is obvious in the case of intergenerational guardianship of children. Parallel to this, the complexity of the Internet also results in children being affected by undesired values, which may lead to immoral habits among children, such as smoking and tattooing, and even vicious incidents.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"Discussion","content":"\u003cp\u003eIn junior high school, children are in a crucial stage of rapid physical and psychological development \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR22\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e22\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e. In addition to school, the family also plays a pivotal role in establishing good interpersonal relationships; hence, developing a sound mentality in children. Though, owing to parental absence, changes in family structure can demonstrate a significant effect on children. Such influences may include clashes and conflicts between family members, changes in the manner parents educate their children, and the economic situation of a family.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec13\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003eInterpersonal Adaptation of Children Left Behind in Rural Areas\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn popular perception and extant literature, left-behind children are continuously closely related to negative impressions due to different factors such as poor supervision by guardians and the absence of both or one parent, further, there exist various aspects of maladaptation \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR23\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e23\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e. However, this research article determined that, except for a few children, most left-behind children commonly exhibited pro-social tendencies in terms of interpersonal adaptation, and maintained close links with their classmates and neighbors, whereas the friendship and affection of the individuals around them weakened the adverse influence of parental absence, to a certain extent, while providing positive feedback on their growth. Concurrently, the left-behind children gradually realized the recognition of their teachers and classmates through pro-social tendency; resultantly, expanding their social network and forming a positive cycle.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn terms of gender differences in interpersonal adjustment, female children displayed better interpersonal adjustment, as compared to male children. This is in line with past surveys anticipating that females establish better interpersonal relationships than males \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR24\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e24\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e, due to the social identification and differences in the psychological and biological development of both genders. Typically, females effectively acquire and develop language skills earlier than males in their early physiological development. Additionally, females also demonstrate more emotions, sense others\u0026rsquo; emotions, and care more about others. The proposed traits enable them to effectively deal with various issues in interpersonal relationships; thus, showing better positive interpersonal adaptation. Moreover, in most cultures and societies, females are encouraged to play the roles of being cooperative, caring, and sensitive to the needs of others, while males are expected to play the roles of \"tools\", and remain competitive, independent, and dominant \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR25\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e25\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e. This social expectation is also a major factor in the differences in interpersonal adaptation between male and female left-behind children.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec14\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003ePsychological Adjustment of Children Left Behind in Rural Areas\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eOwing to social experience, age constraints, and certain other factors, children's psychology is more sensitive, as compared to that of adults. Therefore, the left-behind children are hesitant to express their feelings to their parents, in the face of the parents going out, which presents a major change in their family structure. In contrast, children also understand that their parents go out to improve their family life, therefore, expressing their feelings would make them appear unintelligent. In the meantime, parents often neglect to pay sufficient attention to their children due to their work nature or merely focus on the material situation such as living and studying, while neglecting the psychological needs of the children. As a result, this dilution of interaction shall stimulate children to gradually lose their sense of belonging and make them feel abandoned by their parents; thereby, leading to self-isolation and low self-esteem. In terms of the guardians, they need to take sufficient care of their families, in order to effectively meet the basic needs and address different aspects of left-behind children\u0026rsquo;s lives. Conversely, the lack of attention to the inner needs of the children will increase the psychological gap between the children and parents; thus, leading to generating adverse emotions among children such as loneliness, loss, aggression, and grievances.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn accordance with this study, the overall psychological adjustment process of left-behind children mainly stems from sadness and loss at the beginning to comprehension in the middle of the process, and thereafter, adapting to life after their parent's departure. Meanwhile, the proposed process often requires one to two years, on average. Prominently, the level of parental care during this period is positively associated with the psychological adjustment level of left-behind children. Specifically, the more parental care, the better the psychological adjustment of left-behind children, since the left-behind children's sense of belonging and security is improved with parental care; thereby, alleviating their loneliness in their left-behind life. At the same time, parental support at both spiritual and material levels, makes them more active in coping with challenges and taking the initiative to seek assistance from others. Further, parents' high level of care for their children effectively uplifts their social support rate; hence, positively impacting their psychological adjustment ability \u003csup\u003e[\u003cspan citationid=\"CR26\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e26\u003c/span\u003e]\u003c/sup\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e "},{"header":"Conclusion","content":" \u003cp\u003eThe study findings indicate that although there exists an overall positive trend in the interpersonal adaptation of rural left-behind children, there are also certain maladaptive conditions. Meanwhile, there is a need to focus on the cultivation of their good character traits, in order to further improve the interpersonal adaptation ability of this group of children. Firstly, in terms of the individual level, the interaction and communication with peers must be strengthened, and children should be supported to actively participate in school activities; thus, integrating into different groups. Secondly, societies and schools need to foster the mental health education of rural left-behind Children. Though schools in the author's region have commonly opened homes for children left behind, these institutions are not practically put into practice. Additionally, interviews with the school teachers highlight that these institutions are hardly put into use except in special circumstances. Hence, effective incorporation of relevant supporting resources can alleviate the plight of left-behind children, to a certain extent. Similarly, the significant role of parents in children\u0026rsquo;s growth process should be enhanced, in order to develop a sound environment for their growth. Finally, parents should be encouraged to bring their children to their workplace during the holidays, in order to cultivate their feelings during the time spent together. Besides, the resources of big cities can also be utilized to make short-term study programs for children. Accordingly, relevant departments should also further increase their attention to left-behind children, safeguard their legitimate rights and interests, and establish a sound system of care services for rural left-behind children. On this basis, relevant foreign experiences can be drawn and combined with China's national environment, in order to undertake innovative exploration.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e For the psychological adjustment aspect, in terms of the parents and guardians, firstly, there is a need to establish stable channels of communication, maintain effective interaction and communication with their children, and employ video and telephonic calls to care about their children's psychological state, study, and life. Secondly, parents should visit their children at home regularly while offering sufficient care and companionship to the children. Lastly, parents must understand the children\u0026rsquo;s needs, extend an essential sense of security and support, and pay attention to their mental well-being and emotional changes. On the same note, there is a need to encourage children to actively participate in learning and social practices, and support them to build a positive mindset and self-confidence. Furthermore, schools and relevant authorities should also strengthen the social support system, establish and improve the care institutions and volunteer teams for left-behind children, and provide different social services such as psychological counseling, social activities, and educational counseling, in order to offer the left-behind children with psychological support and assistance. Simultaneously, the relevant authorities and education institutes should accelerate mutual assistance in the community, promote mutual assistance and support among neighbors, and organize community activities, in order to not only produce a warm social atmosphere for the left-behind children but to also alleviate their psychological pressure and sense of loneliness.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"Declarations","content":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEthics approval and consent to participate\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEthical approval for the study was obtained from the Ethics Committee of the School of Nursing-School of Public Health, Yangzhou University. Ethics Review Committee, School of Nursing-School of Public Health, Yangzhou University(YZUHL20230079). All stay-at-home children and class instructors involved in the study gave informed consent and agreed to publish their anonymous citations. All research procedures and methods were conducted in accordance with the relevant guidelines and regulations of the Declaration of Helsinki.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAffirmation of Informed Consent\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI give my consent for my child to participate in a qualitative study on the interpersonal adaptation and psychological adjustment of left-behind children conducted by Wenjie Zhu et al. I understand that the purpose of the study is to explore the interpersonal adaptation and psychological adjustment of left-behind children in order to better understand their needs and the challenges they face. The study will be conducted through interviews and observations, which will be conducted by the researcher at the children\u0026apos;s schools. All participants in this study will be considered anonymous and their personal information will not be disclosed.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eI understand that the potential risks of the study include:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMy child may feel uncomfortable or upset because they will need to talk about their personal experiences and feelings.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMy child may be concerned about an invasion of their privacy because they will need to provide personal information.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMy child may be concerned that what they say will have a negative impact on family or friends.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eI understand that the potential benefits of the study include:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMy child could have the opportunity to express their thoughts and feelings and be listened to and understood by the researcher.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMy child could have the opportunity to learn about the life experiences and emotional worlds of other children left behind and gain inspiration and support from them.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMy child can have the opportunity to contribute to research and policy development for children left behind.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI understand that I can withdraw my consent at any time and ask the researcher to stop the research on my child. If I have any questions or concerns about the study, I can contact the researcher Wenjie Zhu, at any time.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI have carefully read and understand the consent statement and voluntarily consent to my child\u0026apos;s participation in the study.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eConsent for publication\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAgreed for publication\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAvailability of data and materials\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe datasets generated and/or analysed during the current study are not publicly available due to protect participant confidentiality but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFunding\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis study was funded by the School of Nuesing and School of Nursing-School of Public Health, Yangzhou University.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAcknowledgements\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe thank Dr Jingyan Liang and Dr Yuan Yuan for expert advice. 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I., Deng, L., Bian, Y., \u0026amp; Hu, H. (2019). Health status of children left behind in rural areas of Sichuan Province of China: a cross-sectional study. BMC international health and human rights, 19(1), 4. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://doi.org/10.1186/s12914-019-0191-9\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"10.1186/s12914-019-0191-9\" targettype=\"DOI\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDu, K., Yang, T., Zhao, J., \u0026amp; Guan, H. (2023). The impact of parental migration on left-behind children's vision health in rural China. BMC public health, 23(1), 2. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-14962-4\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"10.1186/s12889-022-14962-4\" targettype=\"DOI\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003c/ol\u003e"}],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":true,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":false,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":false,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Left-behind children, Interpersonal adaptation, Psychological adjustment, Qualitative research","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4620231/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4620231/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003ch2\u003eIntroduction:\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThis study shall incorporate individual interviews to thoroughly explore the feasibility of constructing channels to care for left-behind children, in order to better understand the impact of changes in family structure on left-behind children's interpersonal adaptation and psychological adjustment.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eMethods\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eSemi-structured individual interviews were performed to gather data from the interviewees. Finally, Nvivo12 software was adopted to organize and analyze the study data.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eResults\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe major study results can be summed up as follows: (1) the interpersonal adaptation of rural left-behind children is characterized by both generally pro-social tendencies and routinely perceived interpersonal alienation tendencies. (2) For left-behind children with interpersonal alienation tendencies, bullying by peers may be closely associated with the loss of parental reliance due to changes in family structure. (3) In rural areas, most of the left-behind children demonstrate a transition from loss to habit to comprehending their parents' work outside the home; further, the companionship of their peers is a critical factor in this transition.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eConclusions\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn terms of the left-behind children with interpersonal maladaptation, interaction and communication with peers should be strengthened, and such children should be supported to actively participate in school practices and integrate into different groups. Similarly, schools and societies need to maximize their efforts to educate rural left-behind children regarding their mental health.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Interpersonal Adaptation and Psychological Adjustment of Rural Left-behind Children--A Qualitative Study Based on the Perspectives of Supporting Teachers","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2024-07-16 14:13:00","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4620231/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"c80b484b-e731-46da-a7c4-1caeaa7411e9","owner":[],"postedDate":"July 16th, 2024","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[{"id":34566900,"name":"Biological sciences/Psychology"},{"id":34566901,"name":"Biological sciences/Psychology/Human behaviour"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2024-09-26T10:23:44+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2024-07-16 14:13:00","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-4620231","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-4620231","identity":"rs-4620231","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"qtupq5eGEP_6zYnWcrvyt","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}