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A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Inquiry: Risk and Protective Factors for the Left-Behind Children in Shaanxi Province, China, with Gender Comparison

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Title: A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Inquiry: Risk and Protective Factors for the Left-Behind Children in Shaanxi Province, China, with Gender Comparison
Language: English
Authors: Lin Ge
Source: Journal of Research in Childhood Education. 2024 38(4):577-599.
Availability: Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 23
Publication Date: 2024
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Education
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Elementary School Students, Children, Resilience (Psychology), Affordances, Rural Areas, Well Being, Child Rearing, Academic Achievement, Emotional Response, Child Behavior, Socialization, COVID-19, Pandemics, Family Structure, Barriers, Poverty, Family Environment, At Risk Students
Geographic Terms: China
DOI: 10.1080/02568543.2023.2248224
ISSN: 0256-8543
2150-2641
Abstract: This research presents the lived experience of left-behind children living in Shaanxi province of China through the lens of resilience theory. A hermeneutic phenomenological inquiry is employed to identify inner and outer risk factors faced by left-behind children at the primary school level and explore their protective factors (internal assets and external resources). This study attempts to determine how these protective factors can moderate or reduce the repercussions of risk exposure on the children's development. Unstructured observations, including on-site observations of the classroom, life, and interpersonal relationships, were conducted in 2018 and remote classroom observations were completed in 2020 due to the pandemic. There were 51 students (including 28 left-behind children) observed in total. Fourteen 9- to 13-year-old left-behind children, eight guardians, and six teachers participated in interviews. Remote pre-interview activities were specifically employed in 2020. The findings indicate this group's internalized and externalized problems, and the internal assets and external resources. This study would potentially identify viable targets for interventions and socially inclusive education. Resilience-based interventions in policies and practices are recommended to intervene in the trajectory from risk exposure to associated negative effects.
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 2024
Accession Number: EJ1440931
Database: ERIC
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  Value: <anid>AN0179941576;40z01oct.24;2024Sep30.03:54;v2.2.500</anid> <title id="AN0179941576-1">A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Inquiry: Risk and Protective Factors for the Left-Behind Children in Shaanxi Province, China, With Gender Comparison </title> <p>This research presents the lived experience of left-behind children living in Shaanxi province of China through the lens of resilience theory. A hermeneutic phenomenological inquiry is employed to identify inner and outer risk factors faced by left-behind children at the primary school level and explore their protective factors (internal assets and external resources). This study attempts to determine how these protective factors can moderate or reduce the repercussions of risk exposure on the children's development. Unstructured observations, including on-site observations of the classroom, life, and interpersonal relationships, were conducted in 2018 and remote classroom observations were completed in 2020 due to the pandemic. There were 51 students (including 28 left-behind children) observed in total. Fourteen 9- to 13-year-old left-behind children, eight guardians, and six teachers participated in interviews. Remote pre-interview activities were specifically employed in 2020. The findings indicate this group's internalized and externalized problems, and the internal assets and external resources. This study would potentially identify viable targets for interventions and socially inclusive education. Resilience-based interventions in policies and practices are recommended to intervene in the trajectory from risk exposure to associated negative effects.</p> <p>Keywords: Chinese left behind children; hermeneutic phenomenology; inquiry; resilience theory</p> <p>Chinese left-behind children are those who are cared for by their grandparents and other guardians in rural areas because their parents took manual jobs in urban areas but cannot afford the living and education expenses if the family were to live together in the city (Wang et al., [<reflink idref="bib68" id="ref1">68</reflink>]). Rapid industrialization and urbanization in China in recent decades have compelled millions of young and middle-aged individuals in rural areas to migrate to urban areas for employment doing arduous manual labor. Many of these individuals have become parents, and one or both of them must leave home for extended periods to increase their family's income and access more economic resources to provide their children with adequate nutrition, healthcare, and educational opportunities (Duan & Zhou, [<reflink idref="bib19" id="ref2">19</reflink>]). Consequently, these children must endure prolonged separations from their parents, which contributes to the widespread prevalence of left-behind children. This situation results in discrimination and marginalization against these vulnerable young individuals in schools and communities (Lu, [<reflink idref="bib46" id="ref3">46</reflink>]).</p> <p>According to the 2018 census data, there were 6.97 million rural left-behind children in China (Ministry of Civil Affairs of the People's Republic of China, [<reflink idref="bib50" id="ref4">50</reflink>]). The phenomenon of left-behind children is remarkably common in Shaanxi province's rural areas and closely linked to the geographic position and socio-economic situation of the province. Shaanxi province, located in the northwest of China, is composed of plateaus, mountains, plains, and basins, among which the Loess Plateau accounts for 40% of the province's land area, Guanzhong Plain for about 24% of the province's land area, and the Qinba Mountains for about 36% of the area (Government of Shaanxi Province, [<reflink idref="bib23" id="ref5">23</reflink>]). That is, the province is mainly covered in plateau mountainous and desert areas. When the largely rural labor force comes to urban areas for work, it inevitably produces a large number of left-behind children (approximately 623,000) in the province. Pertinent details about the children in southern Shaanxi include: (<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref6">1</reflink>) the number of children left behind is relatively large, accounting for 44.4% of the province; (<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref7">2</reflink>) over 2/3 of the children in the province are school age and more than 50% of them are in rural boarding schools or private schools; and (<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref8">3</reflink>) close to 47% of the left-behind children lack parental care (Shaanxi Women's Federation, [<reflink idref="bib59" id="ref9">59</reflink>]). Moreover, evidence has emerged that more children are displaying developmental and behavioral issues, such as withdrawing or aggressive behaviors, relating to limited educational opportunities, an unhealthy home environment, and malnutrition (Hu & Szente, [<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref10">28</reflink>]; Liang et al., [<reflink idref="bib39" id="ref11">39</reflink>]). The problem seems to be getting worse despite educators' interventions and counseling services (Hu & Szente, [<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref12">28</reflink>]; Liang et al., [<reflink idref="bib39" id="ref13">39</reflink>]). Only 42% of the left-behind children enjoy regular communication with their parents, 54% rarely communicate with their parents, and 4% have no communication with their parents (Liu & Liu, [<reflink idref="bib45" id="ref14">45</reflink>]). Most of these children do not make friends and are socially isolated (Lan, [<reflink idref="bib35" id="ref15">35</reflink>]; Liu & Liu, [<reflink idref="bib45" id="ref16">45</reflink>]). While the parents leave their homes to improve the economic situation of their families for the lives of their children, these children have to face loneliness and depression.</p> <p>This proposed research aspires to extend the existing research in order to further understand the lived experiences of the left-behind children. The purpose is to delve into the meaning behind these narratives and expressions, examining the wholeness and particularity of experience. Risk factors and promotive factors in their experiences are identified through the interpretive process. Specifically, there is a strong gender divide between males and females in the Chinese context (He, [<reflink idref="bib26" id="ref17">26</reflink>]). Therefore, the gender difference is illustrated and analyzed in resilience processes.</p> <hd id="AN0179941576-2">Literature review</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0179941576-3">Existing research on challenges faced by Chinese left-behind children</hd> <p>Numerous efforts have been made to record, analyze, and solve the education issues faced by the Chinese left-behind children at a global scale. The studies mainly pertain to the guardianship, life, psychological stress, academic development, emotional problems, and socialization during the period of the children's nine-year compulsory education (grades 1–9) (Ding et al., [<reflink idref="bib17" id="ref18">17</reflink>]; Guo, [<reflink idref="bib24" id="ref19">24</reflink>]; Liang et al., [<reflink idref="bib39" id="ref20">39</reflink>]).</p> <hd id="AN0179941576-4">Guardianship and psychological well-being</hd> <p>The impact of guardianship and the psychological well-being of the group have also been analyzed. As a result of left-behind children's cross-generation fostering, the children lack opportunities to communicate with their parents, which has adversely affected the children's psychological health (Xu & Chen, [<reflink idref="bib74" id="ref21">74</reflink>]; Zhou et al., [<reflink idref="bib84" id="ref22">84</reflink>]). Rural children in the western region of China have been facing severe parental neglect, and the rate of neglect among left-behind children is higher than that of non-left-behind children (Hu et al., [<reflink idref="bib30" id="ref23">30</reflink>]; Pan, [<reflink idref="bib52" id="ref24">52</reflink>]). In a survey of four types of guardianship (single parent, grandparents, relatives, and self or peers), left-behind children have different levels of life and psychological burdens. The rate of behavioral problems, anxiety, and depression is higher than that of non-left-behind children (Dang, [<reflink idref="bib14" id="ref25">14</reflink>]; Zhao & Liu, [<reflink idref="bib80" id="ref26">80</reflink>]). Many factors affect the mental health of left-behind children, such as lack of family affection, unclear responsibility of guardians, insufficient education ability, and lack of school education, among others (Zhou et al., [<reflink idref="bib84" id="ref27">84</reflink>]). For example, Xie et al.'s ([<reflink idref="bib73" id="ref28">73</reflink>]) study revealed that primary healthcare providers have a good understanding of general symptoms associated with depression. However, they lack the necessary skills for psychological interventions and exhibit low confidence and pessimistic attitudes toward depression care. Therefore, there is an urgent need to explore more effective types of training to address these shortcomings. Overall, the factors affecting the mental health of left-behind children include social factors, school factors, guardianship factors, self-factors, and parental factors (Ye et al., [<reflink idref="bib76" id="ref29">76</reflink>]).</p> <hd id="AN0179941576-5">Academic performances and skills</hd> <p>In the literature, the focus is often on the academic performance and skills of the Chinese left-behind children. The left-behind experience has remarkably negative repercussions on children's schoolwork; in particular, the lack of family education and generation-skipping education renders poor academic conditions for the group (e.g., Li, [<reflink idref="bib38" id="ref30">38</reflink>]; Wang & Wang, [<reflink idref="bib66" id="ref31">66</reflink>]). Liang et al. ([<reflink idref="bib40" id="ref32">40</reflink>]) conducted an in-depth investigation of the schoolwork of left-behind children, using data from a large-scale sampling survey with multivariate regression models from students' grades, gender, family factors, and school characteristics. The authors have found that the experience of being left behind has detrimental effects on the academic performance of these children. Schools and teachers play a pivotal role in addressing the challenges faced by these left-behind children and mitigating the adverse impact resulting from the lack of parental guidance. Hu et al. ([<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref33">29</reflink>]) showed that migration to urban areas is associated with enhanced early academic learning for rural children, while completely left-behind children appear to be particularly vulnerable and at higher risk. It provides insights into the current policies implemented in China to improve early childhood services in rural areas.</p> <hd id="AN0179941576-6">Emotions and behaviors</hd> <p>In the absence of a parent's loving care and the effective supervision of society, left-behind children are more likely to be exposed to an unhealthy social environment and socialization processes (Liu, [<reflink idref="bib43" id="ref34">43</reflink>]). Parents play a crucial role in shaping their children's character. The family serves as the foundation for raising successful children, with parents acting as their mentors and supporters (Johnson et al., [<reflink idref="bib31" id="ref35">31</reflink>]; Ludeke et al., [<reflink idref="bib47" id="ref36">47</reflink>]). Li ([<reflink idref="bib38" id="ref37">38</reflink>]) finds that left-behind children: 1) have a serious sense of inferiority, a low evaluation of their intelligence and appearance, and are self-centered; 2) experience emotional instability leading to physical and mental illnesses and hostile behavior; 3) are prone to attributing their frustration to people or things other than themselves, and may respond unreasonably wit<emph>h</emph> fantasy, rationalization, and retreat[<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref38">1</reflink>]; 4) tend to be resentful of their parents, and blindly resist; 5) are more introverted and are more often bullied or attacked; 6) experience declining academic performance, with a high proportion of boys who are tired of learning or show truancy or dropout; 8) experience problems while boarding; and (<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref39">9</reflink>) show the most severe distortions if they are no longer with their mothers. Zhou et al. ([<reflink idref="bib83" id="ref40">83</reflink>]) employed the Strengths and Difficulty Questionnaire (SDQ) to measure left-children's emotional and behavioral problems. Their results indicated that insomnia, loneliness, and self-harm behavior were linked to abnormal SDQ total scores for left-behind children.</p> <hd id="AN0179941576-7">Socialization</hd> <p>Left-behind children's socialization processes inevitably have differing trajectories than other children, ultimately preventing them from becoming functioning members of society. The weakening of family function, alienation of the parent-child relationship caused by a lack of parental roles in the family, lack of a parent's care, and shortcomings from skipping intergenerational education, creates psychological barriers for left-behind children (e.g., Lan, [<reflink idref="bib35" id="ref41">35</reflink>]). In addition, problems in safety and health can seriously affect the socialization of children (Zhang, [<reflink idref="bib79" id="ref42">79</reflink>]). Wang et al. ([<reflink idref="bib70" id="ref43">70</reflink>]) collected data from 74 rural boarding schools in 11 provinces in western China in a quantitative research approach. They found that boarding schools had a negative effect on left-behind children's social-economic competence (SEC). Zhou et al. ([<reflink idref="bib82" id="ref44">82</reflink>]) shed light on the impact of parental migration on children's cooperation preferences and highlight potential strategies for fostering cooperation in children through parental involvement and external interventions.</p> <hd id="AN0179941576-8">Research and government-sponsored programs for countermeasures</hd> <p>Some research and government-sponsored programs focus upon coping strategies for left-behind children. For example, the care of left-behind children has been included in the Family Education Plan (FEP) and Children Development Plan (CDP) in Shaanxi province. Since 2011, the province has spent 8 million RMB creating "<emph>A home of left-behind children growing up</emph>," and 45 million RMB on "<emph>Happy homes</emph>," with the intention of training guardians and psychological aids (Guo et al., [<reflink idref="bib25" id="ref45">25</reflink>]). These programs can help left-behind children develop an extensive range of positive personal, social, and intellectual traits.</p> <p>Moreover, the Volunteer Center plays an important role in helping China's vulnerable children as part of a comprehensive strategy for revising the <emph>Hukou</emph> system and promoting the economic development of rural and western China (Leitch et al., [<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref46">36</reflink>]). For example, as mentioned by Leitch et al. ([<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref47">36</reflink>]), the Volunteer Center in Shanghai serves as an after-school enrichment program assisting the children of migrant workers. However, such nonprofit organizations operate with significant limitations and require a more thoughtful assessment by policymakers, funders, and practitioners before the cases can be implemented in other parts of China (Kwong, [<reflink idref="bib33" id="ref48">33</reflink>]).</p> <p>In 2008, Shanghai formulated a new policy accepting migrant children into urban public schools (Lan, [<reflink idref="bib34" id="ref49">34</reflink>]) with the opportunity to access high-quality education. Similarly, in 2003, UNICEF and the Chinese government jointly introduced the Tianjin Development Model, which encouraged cooperation between government, municipalities, and the community for the care of left-behind children (Zhou, [<reflink idref="bib81" id="ref50">81</reflink>]).</p> <p>Even so, the Chinese household registration system underwrites hidden forms of institutional exclusion, reproducing cultural prejudice while intensifying group boundaries (Lan, [<reflink idref="bib34" id="ref51">34</reflink>]).</p> <hd id="AN0179941576-9">Research concerning Chinese left-behind children during COVID times</hd> <p>Articles associated with Chinese left-behind children in COVID times mainly address psychological well-being, academic adjustment, quality of parental attachment, and gender inequality. For example, Tadesse et al. ([<reflink idref="bib62" id="ref52">62</reflink>]) shed light on the psychological well-being, academic adjustment, and parental attachment experiences of left-behind children during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study highlights the urgent need for targeted interventions and support systems to mitigate the challenges faced by left-behind children and emphasizes the importance of government and NGO collaboration in addressing these issues. Wang et al. ([<reflink idref="bib71" id="ref53">71</reflink>]) highlight the emotional and academic challenges faced by left-behind children during the pandemic. This study also emphasizes the importance of parents' coping strategies in mitigating the negative impact on children's well-being. Liu et al. ([<reflink idref="bib44" id="ref54">44</reflink>]) examined the specific circumstances faced by girls during the lockdown and shed light on the ways in which the pandemic had intensified gender disparities. The research underscores the urgent need to address and rectify gender inequalities that have been amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic, in order to ensure the well-being and equal opportunities for all girls.</p> <p>Some gaps in the literature are apparent, such as the fact that most studies have either been based on quantitative research or have failed to make comparisons between Chinese left-behind children and vulnerable children in other contexts, such as Indigenous children and child laborers. In addition, most scholars have considered the repercussions of the left-behind experience but have not used in-depth theoretical frameworks to guide their studies. Within the enormous body of Chinese literature on the subject, many researchers have blurred the lines between different methodologies and missed the importance of such studies (e.g., Ban et al., [<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref55">3</reflink>]). Much of the literature has used a problem-focused approach, with few studies emphasizing a resilience paradigm. The research that follows extends and deepens the existing studies that have explored the lived experiences of left-behind children. Typical methods of qualitative research are used with the application of resilience theory. By focusing more on the language and accounts of the participants themselves, this study seeks to understand how disadvantaged left-behind children can develop in a positive direction, even in the presence of adversity.</p> <hd id="AN0179941576-10">Theoretical framework</hd> <p>Resilience theory (RT) refers to the impact of challenging events on individuals and families and how successfully they overcome traumatic experiences (Moore, [<reflink idref="bib51" id="ref56">51</reflink>]). Specifically, it can be defined as the presence of one or more protective factors that can reduce the effects of children's exposure to adversity. That is to say, the more protective factors are available, the more resilient children will be (Zimmerman & Brenner, [<reflink idref="bib85" id="ref57">85</reflink>]). As a strength-based approach, resilience theory directs researchers to probe positive factors in children's lives to enhance their strengths. Some studies mention that resilience theory has been used in both Western and Eastern countries (e.g., Chung & Emery, [<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref58">10</reflink>]). The process of resilience seems to be dynamic and applicable to different child groups, such as urban and rural children and immigrant and non-immigrant children. According to some authors, the process might be used discrepantly in different cultural and social contexts, as in Western and Eastern countries (Fergus & Zimmerman, [<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref59">20</reflink>]). Empirical research has been concerned with resilience theory and the two main vulnerable groups of children (migrant children and left-behind children) in China. For instance, Dong et al. ([<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref60">18</reflink>]) pointed to significant differences between family support and the Resilience Scale for Chinese Adolescents (RSCA) with regard to the total scores for left-behind children and non-left-behind children. The authors directly used resilience theory to guide their research but seemed to focus on family support as the main promotive factor. The current qualitative research particularly examines the risk factors and explicitly demonstrates how resilience theory can reveal the protective factors that left-behind children possess to deal with adversity. Further, this study explores how resilience can serve as a medium to interrupt the children's exposure to risk. That is, the researcher not only examines the problems and changing strategies to ameliorate these groups' status quo but also illuminates the positive factors (i.e., internal assets and external resources of the families, schools, and communities). In general, by enhancing the strengths of the children's group, specific change strategies can be used to address their needs.</p> <hd id="AN0179941576-11">Methodology and methods</hd> <p>This study uses hermeneutic phenomenology as a methodology to explore the lived experience (risk factors and protective factors) of Chinese left-behind children. As a qualitative research approach, hermeneutic phenomenology offers access to an inside view of how people experience life. Interpretation (hermeneutics) is a key in the process of understanding the overall essence of an experience (van Manen, [<reflink idref="bib65" id="ref61">65</reflink>]). Methodologically, researchers not only describe but also interpret the meaning of the lived experience examined, with consideration given to analyst prejudice. The interpretive process is completed by a hermeneutic circle that spirals from the parts of the experience to the whole of the experience, and back again, in a repetitive manner (Creswell & Poth, [<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref62">12</reflink>]). In this research into Chinese left-behind children, hermeneutics allows the researcher to delve into deeper identity perception and discursive practices of the children, their guardians, and teachers using text and context. The researcher can subject the multitude of lived experiences of Chinese left-behind children to different kinds of selection and reductions implied by the production of knowledge, with the aim of rendering the experience clearer.</p> <hd id="AN0179941576-12">Data collection methods</hd> <p>The methods of data collection were pre-interview activities, on-site and online semi-structured and unstructured interviews, classroom and recess observations, and review of reflective journals. All 30-minute interviews were conducted by the researcher and were recorded by an audio recorder and then transcribed in Chinese. As study participants were localized respondents, it generally proved most effective to communicate in local dialects. Given the interviews with children could potentially re-evoke trauma, such as telling negative stories, the researcher continued to employ the language style suitable for communicating with children and used the pre-interview activities such as drawing or playing games and other children-centered ways. After verification for accuracy by participants, the transcripts were translated into English. Although data collection was undertaken from three villages where left-behind children were living, they were enrolled in the same school located in the biggest village. Therefore, the left-behind children's and their teachers' narratives aligned with the sampling elementary school, River Elementary School, including 114 left-behind children (accounting for 17% of the total population). It should be noted that both the names of the school and participants are pseudonyms to preserve anonymity.</p> <p>One class of Grade 6 students in the school involving the most sampling students of the study was chosen for weekly on-site classroom and recess observations in 2018. The focus of observations was on the left-behind children, but the non-left-behind children were observed as well for comparison. Online classroom observations were conducted in one Grade 5 class in 2020 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the researcher observed synchronous classroom activities via WeChat and DingTalk for a week. The aim was to observe the children's academic skills, classroom behaviors, and friend circles based on the pre-designed schedule. During the process, the researcher acted as both an observer and participant. To avoid biased observation, the researcher successively invited two teachers to assist in observations. Based on observation memos, teachers' notes, and field notes, the researcher corroborated the research process as a reference. It was worth noting that the online observations had a time limit and were impacted by unexpected technical issues. Comparatively, the offline observations worked to obtain more details.</p> <hd id="AN0179941576-13">Study participants</hd> <p>Based on a homogenous sampling strategy, the researcher collected qualitative research data from 14 left-behind children ranging from 9–13 years of age (see Table 1). Meanwhile, eight guardians and six teachers also were involved in the follow-up interviews as informants to verify the trustworthiness of these children's narratives.</p> <p>Table 1. Characteristics of children participants (in order of individual interviews).</p> <p> <ephtml> <table><thead><tr><td>Pseudonym</td><td>Age</td><td>Gender</td><td>Grade</td><td>Family members</td><td>Parents' company status</td><td>Guardian status</td></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Yu</td><td>13</td><td>Male</td><td>6</td><td>Father and grandma</td><td>Without parents to accompany due to parental divorce and father working outside.</td><td>Grandma</td></tr><tr><td>Guo</td><td>13</td><td>Male</td><td>6</td><td>Parents and grandparents</td><td>Parents are working in a city.</td><td>Grandparents</td></tr><tr><td>Hui</td><td>13</td><td>Female</td><td>6</td><td>Mother, uncle, and aunt</td><td>Without parents to accompany due to parental divorce and mother working outside.</td><td>Uncle and aunt</td></tr><tr><td>Xiang</td><td>10</td><td>Male</td><td>4</td><td>Father and grandparents</td><td>Without parents to accompany due to parental divorce and father working outside.</td><td>Grandma</td></tr><tr><td>Zhu</td><td>9</td><td>Male</td><td>3</td><td>Parents</td><td>Mother has a serious mental health issue. Father is working in a city.</td><td>Mother</td></tr><tr><td>Run</td><td>11</td><td>Female</td><td>4</td><td>Mother, brother, and grandma</td><td>Mother is working in a city. Father is dead.</td><td>Grandma</td></tr><tr><td>Wang</td><td>11</td><td>Male</td><td>4</td><td>Parents, younger brother, and grandparents</td><td>Parents are working in a city.</td><td>Grandma</td></tr><tr><td>Wu</td><td>13</td><td>Female</td><td>6</td><td>Parents and grandma</td><td>Parents are working in a city.</td><td>Grandma</td></tr><tr><td>Zhang</td><td>11</td><td>Female</td><td>5</td><td>Parents, brother, and grandma</td><td>Father has left his hometown to work in a city for years and never went back.</td><td>Mother and grandma</td></tr><tr><td>Chen</td><td>12</td><td>Female</td><td>5</td><td>Parents and grandparents</td><td>Parents both are working in a city.</td><td>Grandma</td></tr><tr><td>Liu</td><td>11</td><td>Male</td><td>5</td><td>Parents and grandparents</td><td>Parents are working in a city.</td><td>Grandparents</td></tr><tr><td>Xin</td><td>11</td><td>Female</td><td>5</td><td>Parents, one sister, and grandparents</td><td>Parents are working in a city.</td><td>Grandparents</td></tr><tr><td>Hao</td><td>10</td><td>Male</td><td>4</td><td>Parents</td><td>Father has been working in a city for a long time.</td><td>Mother</td></tr><tr><td>Li</td><td>10</td><td>Female</td><td>4</td><td>Parents and grandparents</td><td>Father has been working in a city for a long time. Mother is blind.</td><td>Grandpa</td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <hd id="AN0179941576-14">Data analysis methods</hd> <p>Through the combination of hermeneutic analysis, phenomenological analysis, and general qualitative analytical principle, the hermeneutic phenomenological analytical format was used in this study (Lichtman, [<reflink idref="bib41" id="ref63">41</reflink>]; Smith et al., [<reflink idref="bib60" id="ref64">60</reflink>]; van Manen, [<reflink idref="bib64" id="ref65">64</reflink>]/[<reflink idref="bib64" id="ref66">64</reflink>]) as follows:</p> <p>Step One: Immersion and Inception.</p> <p>Step Two: Understanding.</p> <p>Step Three: Grouping and Abstraction.</p> <p>Step Four: Ranking and Developing Themes.</p> <p>Step Five: Constructing Knowledge and Illuminating Phenomenon.</p> <p>Step Six: Developing a Composite.</p> <p>The coding process was conducted based on the research questions and derived sub-questions rooted on the researcher's initial observation of the data. To minimize bias, the author did not predefine the categories, and the classification was conducted retrospectively.</p> <hd id="AN0179941576-15">Limitations</hd> <p>Several factors could affect the applications of all emerging themes. First, this study included seven males and seven females. If the sampling size was extended or included more males, all males, or all females, it could lead to different findings in the research. Second, the difference in social classes of those teachers interviewed was not considered as a factor impacting their narratives in this study, which possibly negatively affects trustworthiness of their comments.</p> <hd id="AN0179941576-16">Ethical considerations</hd> <p>During the investigation, participation in the research was voluntary. Meanwhile, the researcher gained official permission of the local government for this study. Consent forms for adult participants were handed out participants to sign. Child participants signed an assent form designed specifically for children with appropriate language. Care was taken to protect the confidentiality and privacy of each participant (a school counselor attended all the interviews with children), to avoid any harmful results. As stated before, child-center interview methods, such as pre-interview activities and storytelling, were used to avoid invoking trauma. Also, if participants felt uncomfortable during interviews, they could pause or opt to not answer questions without any penalty. Participants were able to decline participation in the study at any time.</p> <hd id="AN0179941576-17">Findings</hd> <p>The themes listed in the findings were based on the protective model of RT (i.e., risk factors including inner risks and outer risks, and protective factors including internal assets and external resources for the left-behind children) with a gender comparison. The pre-interview activity drawings and the participants' descriptions not only contributed to a productive and coherent flow in the online interviews in 2020, but also offered a new and conducive direction for coding the face-to-face interview transcripts written in 2018.</p> <hd id="AN0179941576-18">Risk factors</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0179941576-19">Externalizing risks</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0179941576-20">Poverty</hd> <p>Due to the disadvantaged natural environment, most of the child participants were in poor living conditions. Financial difficulties in life were the main risk factor for these left-behind children. The participants who took part in the pre-interview activities depicted the adverse natural environment in which they were living and their wishes to get out from there. For example, Liu (male, Grade 5) offered:</p> <p>This is my place surrounded by mountains. In the morning, I always see the sun is rising behind the mountains and the sun casts golden lines for the mountains. I think it must be more beautiful outside of my hometown.</p> <p>Xin (female, Grade 5) commented, "This is a brook in front of my house and my house is surrounded by mountains. This is a telescope and I want to use it to see outside of the mountains."</p> <p>In the interviews, the researcher found out more about the participants' adverse family situations. For example, Yu's (male, Grade 6) parents were divorced, and his sick father had to leave home for work. He and his ailing 70-year-old grandmother were living together. The broken family brought great harm to him but being poor was the top threat for them.</p> <p>Hui's (female, Grade 6) parents were divorced. To make a living, her mother had to work in a factory, so she was living in her uncle's house and her mother did not have time to visit her. Since the divorce, her father never visited her. Her uncle was also in a poor condition, so she often helped her aunt do heavy housework.</p> <hd id="AN0179941576-21">Dysfunctional family circumstances</hd> <p>All these children in this study did not have a healthy familial education, with generation-skipping education, a lack of parental education, and alienated parent-child relations.</p> <p>Based on the pre-interview activities and the researcher's self-reflective journals, the generation-skipping education issue seemed to be one of the significant issues. Therefore, the issue of inter-generational education was given more attention in the interviews. Nine of the child participants were looked after by their grandparents, who were either illiterate or had a low education level. They did not understand how to educate their grandchildren and focused instead on attending to basic needs, such as cooking and washing clothes, and they rarely chatted with their grandchildren. Most of them thought that teachers should be responsible for educating their grandchildren. For example, Guo (male, Grade 6) said, "I also chat with my grandma, but my grandma only asks if I do my homework, and I only want to know if my grandpa takes medicine." Liu (male, Grade 5) also expressed, "I hardly chat with my grandparents because they are deaf."</p> <p>Based on Ye's (Guo's grandma) narrative, she was obviously helpless and sad about her grandson's education. In a heavy local dialect, she said:</p> <p>My son and daughter-in-law are working in cities for a long time because we are so poor, so they have to make a living. I look after my grandson, but I cannot educate him well because I never leave my village and am illiterate. I cannot do anything except for cooking for him. I feel his teacher can give more help because children's study shall be managed by their teachers.</p> <p>In the interviews with teachers, the adverse generation-skipping education issue was confirmed further. For instance, Dong (male, a math teacher) noted that:</p> <p>It is not smooth for me to contact their parents. For example, a student had an arrhythmia; however, we contacted her guardians several times and did not get a reply, so we had to take her to see a doctor. In the study, we meet the same barriers because their grandparents only are responsible to look after them, such as eating and sleeping; meanwhile, their parents have not enough ability to support themselves, let alone their children.</p> <p>The lack of parental education also negatively affected the children's growth. In the pre-interview activities, the participants emphasized their poor living conditions and the negative impact of their parents going out for work in a city in their drawings. For instance, Li (female, Grade 4) drew a picture of the Spring Festival. Only her grandpa and she were eating dumplings, which were her favorite food, without her parents at the table. Liu's (male, Grade 5) drawing showed him locking his parents' house and moving to his grandparents' place with a crying emoji.</p> <p>It was worth noting that parents' migration for employment seemed to cause conflicted feelings. The children's drawings indicate that, on the one hand, they could understand their parents' outside employment. They also show, on the other hand, that the children felt upset and unhappy about their parents' migration for work. For instance, Liu (male, Grade 5) described his picture:</p> <p>My parents need to work to offer financial support for all family members. We are poor. If my grandparents are sick or other family emergencies, it will take more money, so my parents must do a ton of work. My mother always works overtime, and my dad works on the whole night and comes back home the next day, and he is so tired that he falls asleep promptly. They do not accompany me now. Every time, they come back to our homeland and stay for a month. But I feel I can play with my friends and do not have to be accompanied by parents.</p> <p>In the interviews, neglectful parenting had a more apparent display. For instance, Wu (female, Grade 6) expressed:</p> <p>My parents always quarrel with each other. My parents work in cities, but I do not know where my father is. I do not miss my father because I have not more love and impression of him with a long separation. My mother hardly plays with me and learns about my situation at school.</p> <p>Wang (male, Grade 4) also stated:</p> <p>They also ask about my study, but their care only focuses on my homework instead of how I can improve my study. They usually come back during some holidays. Actually, I do not know where they work. I miss my parents. They play with me when coming back. I like to tell them about my situation, but the moment always is so short-lived.</p> <p>Interviews with the parents seemed to indicate that they do not understand what family education really was. For example, Hong (Hao's mother) said:</p> <p>My husband and I are both almost illiterate so we hope our kids can have a good future and leave my village and experience a different life. My son is naughty and rebellious. When I communicate with him about his studying, he seems to reject chatting with me and keep silent although he realized the low scores were due to making few efforts on his studying.</p> <p>Hong emphasized her son's studying and labeled him as rebellious and naughty. She did not attempt to find out what caused Hao's behaviors or try to ease the tension in the father-son relationship.</p> <p>The participating children also lacked emotional communication with their parents. Mother-child relations seemed cold and uncaring, which led to feelings of neglect and abandonment. As Wu (female, Grade 6) said, "I do not miss my father because I have no more love and impressions of him with a long separation. My mother hardly plays with me and learns about my situation at school."</p> <p>In the process of interviewing the parents, Lian (Wu's mother) happened to return, and the researcher added her as one of the participants, interviewing her at home. She spoke in an upset voice:</p> <p>I am always eager to see my daughter, but she does not seem to miss me at all. I must work hard in order to give her a better life. I am always so exhausted that we do not have enough time to communicate with each other.</p> <p>Li's (female, Grade 4) parents are disabled and the relation between Li and them was cold and aloof. As Peng (Li's grandfather) said, "My son is making money outside, but he only can support his life instead of us and my granddaughter hardly mentioned her parents."</p> <hd id="AN0179941576-22">Internalizing risks</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0179941576-23">Academic issues</hd> <p>In the interviews with teachers, eight of the left-behind children were said to be not performing equally with the other children in both mathematics and Chinese language. According to the teachers, eight of the left-behind children (five males and three females) had difficulty concentrating on their studies and completing homework and received lower marks. The children whose grandparents were their caregivers received the lowest marks. Fang (male, a Chinese language teacher) said: "In class, they can basically concentrate on learning, but some rebellious children tend to get distracted. I usually approach them to remind them and let them focus on learning." As Shi (female, a Chinese language teacher) stated:</p> <p>In general, the academic records of non-left-behind children are better than that of left-behind children. Most of them are looked after by their grandparents so they cannot get any help from their parents on their homework. From Grade 4, students are permitted to board so in Grade 1–3, students need more assistance from families. However, left-behind children's families cannot offer help.</p> <p>Moreover, the school curriculum was usually highly competitive, which disadvantaged the left-behind children. The children could benefit from a more humanist approach to individual learning. According to Liu (male, Grade 5):</p> <p>We do not have activities after school, so I do not have opportunities to take part in. There are some traditional sports. Now, we do not have opportunities to attend an interest-oriented class except for main subject matter classes.</p> <p>In the interviews with the teachers, Fei (female, a Chinese language and English teacher) expressed, "We do not have some special classes to develop their specialties. Because the children are in the countryside, and they focus on learning." Dong (male, a math teacher) said: "Specific curriculums are not designed for them in our school except for some extra-curricular activities such as sports and drawing. I feel it would be more beneficial for them to have a class outside the school."</p> <hd id="AN0179941576-24">Socializing issues</hd> <p>In the pre-interview activity, all four participants' drawings indicated feelings of loneliness. In the interviews, six of the participating children (four females and two males) deeply expressed their sense of alienation and isolation. They tended to hide their inner feelings and privacy.</p> <p>Liu (male, Grade 5) described his drawing as: "This is my dog that I walk every day. He is my best friend at home. No one can play with me at home except for my dog." Xin (female, Grade 5) said, "This is the scenario that I am playing with my younger sister. At home, she is my only friend."</p> <p>In the interviews, Wu (female, Grade 6) said:</p> <p>When I feel unhappy, I am not willing to tell my friends. I do not want to let them know what I am thinking about. For example, when other classmates have some stuff such as dresses and stationeries that I do not have, I do not want to let them know because I feel self-abased.</p> <p>Chen (female, Grade 5) noted, "I like to tell my parents about my situation, but the moment always is so short-lived. I have some friends, but I never tell them my privacy."</p> <p>From the interviews with four of the participating teachers, the children were experiencing contradictory situations. They longed for social inclusion but with the conflicts in their families and unhealthy family environments, they intentionally veiled their true feelings and hid in a "cage" to avoid discrimination and ridicule from others. Zheng (female, a math teacher) said: "They always lower their heads without any eye contact when talking with teachers. I hope their parents can spend more time accompanying them. They are always unwilling to speak out."</p> <hd id="AN0179941576-25">Psychological issues</hd> <p>Almost all the children appeared to exhibit psychological tension to some degree, especially the female students. The researcher noted that the students showed an unintentional hesitation and lack of eye contact when they were talking. In private, they seemed pessimistic and mildly depressed at times. For example, Wu (female, Grade 6) said, "I have no dream. I do not look forward to doing anything." Guo (male, Grade 6) noted, "Sometimes, I feel pained and upset because my house is cheerless and empty."</p> <p>Moreover, all the participating teachers felt the need for more individual counseling and guidance support. They also felt that foster groups and peer support groups could help the children. As noted by Shi (female, a Chinese language teacher):</p> <p>We have no specific curriculum to the group except for some psychological aids just as happy growth station. Sometimes, some so-called psychological experts have provided some lectures and organized some activities in our school. Some relevant organizations also have offered some support such as donating clothes and stationery and organizing love outreach activities during Children Day.</p> <p>The teachers were doing their best to offer psychological counseling to the children, but they were not trained in social work or psychology. Moreover, the occasional psychological lectures were inadequate to aid the children. Professional social workers or psychologists were needed to meet the needs of the children.</p> <hd id="AN0179941576-26">The gender divide in risk factors</hd> <p>Both female and male participants live in disadvantaged living conditions and experience dysfunctional family education. The hermeneutic circle allowed the researcher to recognize the stories as part of the whole story. Obvious differences in academic issues, socializing issues, and psychological issues existed, even though all of them were in poverty and unhealthy familial educational environments. In the interviews, among the eight students with bad academic performance, the male students outnumbered the female students. As Fei (female, a Chinese language and English teacher) said, "Based on my observation, girls are better than boys when it comes to concentrating on classroom contents and tasks."</p> <p>On the contrary, mental health issues and socializing issues seemed to overwhelmingly place the female participants at greater risk. In this study, four females and two males expressed their sense of alienation and isolation. The researcher noted that most of the female students showed more unintentional hesitation without eye contact and used a lower tone when they were narrating. They seemed to be shyer and more reserved.</p> <p>The short-term on-site classroom observations and the online classroom observations also corroborated the gender divide in risk factors to some extent. For example, the female students concentrated on the classroom content and following classroom rules. The female students also more actively complied with the instructors' suggestions. The male children generally displayed shorter attention spans in class and had difficulty concentrating on their teacher's directions. They were often distracted by teaching styles and the textbook format. On the contrary, female students were rarely distracted except for family factors or psychological factors. In the recess and life observations, one girl isolated herself from the others, because her classmates were "bullying" her by gossiping that her parents were divorced. The male students seemed hyper and seemed to have trouble simply copying homework assignments from the blackboard.</p> <hd id="AN0179941576-27">Protective factors</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0179941576-28">Internal assets</hd> <p>Internal assets refer to intrapersonal positive factors, such as perceived competence, coping skills, and self-efficacy (Fergus & Zimmerman, [<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref67">20</reflink>]). In the present study, several internal assets were working to moderate the association between the risk factors and the negative effects of adversity exposure on the children's development.</p> <hd id="AN0179941576-29">Positive academic beliefs and self-efficacy</hd> <p>Positive beliefs and self-efficacy regarding academic skills were critical for reducing the adverse impact of dysfunctional family education and academic issues. Among the participating children, six of them had good academic performance and skills (four females and two males). In the pre-interview activities, the participants showed a strong desire to learn and be praised in their drawings. All the participants viewed their studying as important; being praised by teachers was the happiest thing for them. For example, Liu (male, Grade 5) said:</p> <p>This is the red scarf that I love so much because it is a reward for my effort on my studying. This is a pen that I use to write Chinese characters. It is an indispensable tool for me in my day-to-day life. Studying is my top priority.</p> <p>Xin (female, Grade 5) said:</p> <p>This picture shows that I am so happy when my instructor praises me due to returning the money found. I am so happy when I discuss the Chinese language with my classmates. This emoji represents that I am so upset when my score is lower than 60% and I am criticized by my instructor.</p> <p>From their narratives in the interviews, they strived for strong academic skills and performance, especially in mathematics and language. They believed that education provided opportunities for them to improve their economic status, and this could be achieved through hard work. As Wu (female, Grade 6) mentioned:</p> <p>I like all subjects taught at school. My happiest moment is playing with my classmates. But I always feel unhappy when I cannot do well in my subjects. In the future, I look forward to becoming a college student so I must work hard.</p> <p>Hui (female, Grade 6) was under the care of her aunt all year-round. Her mother occasionally visited her due to being busy at work. Her father had never visited since the divorce. Nevertheless, she had not been adversely affected by the breakdown of the family. As she said, "I must go to college in the future; otherwise, I will have to live in a poor living condition."</p> <p>In the interviews with teachers, Shi (female, a Chinese language teacher) told the researcher that, "Hui is smart and loved by teachers and classmates. From this child, we see the hope of the children from divorced families. Children cannot choose to be born, but they have the power to change their lives."</p> <hd id="AN0179941576-30">Positive affect</hd> <p>Positive affect was protecting the children against the negative effects of emotional distress from the long separation from parents. From their drawings or diagrams in the pre-interview activities, the researcher discovered a positive attitude that had not been mentioned before in the literature in the field. Most of the children showed themselves upbeat when they met troubles in their daily life. In one of Liu's pictures, his cousin was visiting him from another village. They run and ride bicycles on the lawn in a sunny day with his dog. They skipped rope and did cosplay (costume play). The day was full of fun and laughter. As he said, he was happy every day. It was hard for him to find an unhappy day.</p> <p>As a new insight revealed in the pre-interview activities, positive affect was probed further in the interviews with the children. They seemed to be unaware of how some community members had stereotyped them as unsophisticated and unintelligent. The negative identity labels appeared to be unproblematic and inconsequential for them and they immersed themselves in the day-to-day activities of the school and their interpersonal relationships. For example, Liu (male, Grade 5) expressed:</p> <p>I like my present life because I can play carefree and never worry about traffic crashes that frequently happen in a big city and miss my way or being trafficked. I live at school on weekdays. I feel there is no difference in staying at home.</p> <p>Xin (female, Grade 5) responded: "I like my present lifestyle because I can play and study with my classmates and friends. We can do anything we want so I am cheerful." She also said that she did not want to share something unhappy with her grandparents because she did not want them to feel unhappy due to her stories being shared.</p> <hd id="AN0179941576-31">Social skills</hd> <p>Social skills as a protective-stabilizing factor might counteract the children's socializing barriers. Almost all the children were willing to actively make friends and participate in school activities. In the pre-interview activities, in contrast to the existing literature, these children were eager to make friends and could address any conflict with their friends. For example, Liu (male, Grade 5) said, "When I have troubles in making friends, I actively talk to them and persuade them to compromise each other. Anything will be K.O. (Knockout)." Li (female, Grade 4) said, "This is the scenario of playing rope skipping with my friends at school. I enjoy the time with my friends."</p> <p>Moreover, in the interviews, the participants remarked that they enjoyed studying and solving problems in a group. Wang (male, Grade 4) noted:</p> <p>I enjoy the moment when I play with my classmates at school. When I play table tennis and throw bean bags with my classmates in recess, I feel so happy. I have many good friends. I like making friends. I like sharing my trouble with my friends. Sometimes, I communicate with my mother about my situation.</p> <p>Xin (female, Grade 5) said:</p> <p>I like making friends because you can share happiness and sorrow with friends. For example, I did not do well in class and was criticized by my instructor. My friends comforted me after dismissal. They instructed me how to do better.</p> <p>Fei (female, a Chinese language and English teacher) said they were willing to participate in extracurricular activities organized by the school. At the time, the children were in their best mental states, and they were psychologically relaxed.</p> <hd id="AN0179941576-32">Life skills</hd> <p>Life skills could work to help them overcome risk exposure. All the participants were boarding at school, so they were able to manage themselves well, such as in washing clothes and cleaning dormitories. They were also able to partake in household works and they became independent and self-controlled. For example, Hui's (female, Grade 6) parents could not accompany her, but she was sensible and understood that it was not easy for her uncle and aunt to look after her. She often helped her aunt at home and never complained. Her uncle and aunt were pleased to have her. Liu (male, Grade 5) also responded:</p> <p>I am self-disciplined although my parents are not around. Every day, I get up on time and have breakfast, then play with my friends outside for one hour. I do my assignments and have a rest. I help my grandparents to plant and to share housework in that they are too old to do more.</p> <p>Hong (Hao's mother) told the researcher that after boarding school, her son had some positive changes. For example, he was independent now, made up his bed well, and helped her with the housework, such as sweeping floors and cooking.</p> <hd id="AN0179941576-33">External resources</hd> <p>Some key resources, like peer support, mentoring, school connectedness, and social support, were found to protect the children from the negative effects of risk exposure due to long separation from parents.</p> <p>In the pre-interview activities, all the children drew their peers and teachers as their main external support. Liu (male, Grade 5) described his picture: "When I meet troubles in my studying, I ask my teachers or other good students. If they are unable to answer my questions, I make a study team to look for the solutions." Xin (female, Grade 5) said, "When I have trouble doing my math practice book, I try to get help from my friends. If they cannot do that as well, we discuss with those who are good at math."</p> <p>The <bold>c</bold>hildren enjoyed teamwork and a study group rather than self-isolation. All the participants drew their happiest moment as being involved in teamwork and they thought studying in a group was the best way for them to solve the trouble and share happiness. For example, Liu (male, Grade 5) said, "I make a study team to discuss the solutions." Xin (female, Grade 5) said, "I am so happy when I discuss the Chinese language with my classmates."</p> <p>In the interviews, these external resources were further proven to be helping participants to overcome adversity.</p> <hd id="AN0179941576-34">Peer support</hd> <p>Almost all the left-behind children expressed that peer support was most important for them to overcome the difficulties and troubles they encountered in their daily life. For example, Guo (male, Grade 6) said:</p> <p>When I play table tennis and throw bean bags with my classmates in recess, I feel so happy. If someone bullies me, I will ask my friends whose fault it is. Then I tell this situation to my teachers to solve.</p> <p>Xin (female, Grade 5) narrated: "My math is too bad. I let my friends make the analog math exercises for me. After that, I let them mark these exercises. For those that are wrong, I let them instruct me on how to correct them."</p> <hd id="AN0179941576-35">Mentoring</hd> <p>In the interviews with guardians, most of them were unable to offer basic family education except for Min (Xin's grandfather). The researcher found that non-parental supportive adults could protect left-behind children from the negative effects of emotional distress and the lack of parenting. Min (Xin's grandfather) was the only one to have graduated from high school among the guardians who were interviewed. He said:</p> <p>At home, we let her do her assignments and help us do some farm work. We are living in a poor living condition, but I tell my granddaughter if you want to have a better life and leave here, you must study harder and harder. She always communicates some words from her heart with me because I am an easygoing person. I can assist her to finish homework and conduct extra practices. I think it should be better to build a library for them to have access to a large number of interesting books.</p> <p>Except for Xin, the other students considered some teachers as their external support. For example, Liu (male, Grade 5) said, "I feel so happy when my instructors praise me due to my good academic performance."</p> <p>Fang (male, a Chinese language teacher) noted:</p> <p>Because the children live in the school, we spend a long time with them. Sometimes, we give the children psychological counseling. Sometimes, if the child's performance at school is not particularly good, we also communicate with guardians.</p> <hd id="AN0179941576-36">School connectedness</hd> <p>The children were living at school on weekdays, so school connectedness might be a protective factor that buffers them against their decreased well-being and loneliness. For instance, Wu (female, Grade 6) said:</p> <p>My academic record is normal, but I feel happy at school. I like playing with my classmates instead of staying at home. At home, I always feel unhappy. I feel incredibly sad and lonely because my house is so empty.</p> <p>Guo (male, Grade 6) responded:</p> <p>At school, I do not feel lonely because there are teachers and classmates around me. I board at school and almost do not stay at home, so I feel better at school. In addition, my village is far away from school, so I do not have enough time to go home. I can live independently at school, such as washing clothes and cleaning my dormitory on my own. I enjoy the atmosphere at my school.</p> <p>From the teachers' narratives, the children were so interested in extracurricular activities and were willing to participate in extracurricular activities, such as picking up garbage to beautify the environment inside and outside the campus. Zheng (female, a math teacher) mentioned:</p> <p>We organize some campus clubs according to their interests in order to let them be happy and relax. Teachers often communicate with them and solve their psychological problems. They like participating in extra-curricular activities because the activities are designed based on the interest of the children.</p> <hd id="AN0179941576-37">Community support</hd> <p>Community support also might decrease the negative impact of stressful and disadvantageous living conditions. Hao (male, Grade 4) told the researcher that some charity groups donated hot water bags and mittens so they children did not have to worry about their hands being frostbitten this winter. Peng (Li's grandfather) also said that the local government already offered lots of support and help. Fei (female, a Chinese language and English teacher) mentioned that the local government was planning to build a three-dimensional care network to ensure that every left-behind child had a "caring mother." Improving the system of teacher support ensured that the left-behind children were properly supervised.</p> <hd id="AN0179941576-38">The gender divide in protective factors</hd> <p>In both the face-to-face and online interviews, in comparison to the female students, the male students more efficiently used positive affectivity as their main internal asset to mitigate the negative effects of risk exposure. Seven of the male students used alternative thinking and meaning-focused coping strategies to deal with their long separation from parents. Almost all the female participants showed less positive affectivity, compared to the male students.</p> <p>The female participants were inclined to have stronger beliefs and self-efficacy regarding academic skills. Fei mentioned the children studied hard and wanted to realize their dreams. Because they were currently in a poor environment and wanted to get out of the mountainous region in the future, they needed to work hard and make progress. The boys and girls had a slight difference in that the girls studied more conscientiously and obeyed the school rules.</p> <p>In terms of social skills and life skills, the female students and male students seemed to have a slight difference. Specifically, the female students enjoyed sharing their stories with friends and solving problems from their studies and about life with their friends. In contrast, the male students tended to study and play on teams instead of sharing their personal emotions and feelings with their friends. Thus, in the pre-interview activities, teamwork was found to be the top priority for the male students when it came to studying and playing. Moreover, the female students could manage their daily life better, such as cleaning their dorms and washing clothes at boarding school.</p> <p>The gender difference in protective factors also was substantiated in the on-site classroom and recess observations to some degree. For example, the male students enjoyed more teamwork in the class and could actively interact with classmates to create an atmosphere of mutual help. In recess and life observations, most of the participating children were free to gather on the playground, and they were well behaved and socialized with other children. In terms of discipline and self-control, many of the children, particularly the girls, queued in an orderly fashion for meals, cleaned their dormitories and washed their clothes, and kept good hygiene.</p> <hd id="AN0179941576-39">Discussion and conclusion</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0179941576-40">Risk exposure and negative consequences</hd> <p>First, the research findings showed that the participants were living in impoverished living conditions. The unprecedented economic growth in urban areas and the decline in employment opportunities in rural areas caused most of the rural-to-urban migrant workers to take jobs with low pay. Most of those left to work in the countryside are old, sick, weak, or disabled. The labor burden of the left-behind children is likely to be greater and heavier, compared to the non-left-behind children. Some of the participants had to undertake jobs pulling wheat, fertilizing, carrying water, cooking, feeding animals, washing clothes, and other necessary housework. The older left-behind children also needed to take care of their younger siblings. At the same time, when a parent staying at home was sick or the grandparents required nursing, the children would take care of the sick parent or elderly grandparents in a reverse guardianship phenomenon.</p> <p>The consequences of poverty on children are mainly manifested in the children's cognitive-emotional, behavior, and economic aspects. Poverty experienced in childhood has an ongoing impact on personal health and psychological development, leading to negative cognitive abilities, social and emotional behavior problems, low self-esteem, anxiety, depression, etc (Dearing, [<reflink idref="bib16" id="ref68">16</reflink>]; Godwin, [<reflink idref="bib22" id="ref69">22</reflink>]). For instance, Yu is a 6th-grade boy whose parents were divorced. Unfortunately, his father, who is unwell, had to leave home for work. Consequently, Yu had to live with his ailing 70-year-old grandmother. Due to their circumstances, Yu has had to shoulder additional responsibilities, such as physical tasks and housework, to help support the family. According to the accounts provided by the teachers who were interviewed, Yu displayed an unwillingness to engage in conversations with both his teachers and classmates. He often kept his head lowered while speaking. Childhood poverty and intermittent stress could lead to problems in emotion regulation later in life. A strong link has been found between childhood poverty and adverse adult education and socialization (Dahl & Lochner, [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref70">13</reflink>]). In terms of economic disadvantage, those who experienced long-term poverty in childhood are more likely to live below the poverty line later in adulthood (Kim et al., [<reflink idref="bib32" id="ref71">32</reflink>]).</p> <p>Second, the risk of dysfunctional family education is clearly demonstrated in this study. The family is the starting point for successful children and parents are mentors and assistants to help the children to succeed. Not only must parents be responsible for their children's basic needs, they must also pay attention to their intellectual development and understand the cultivation of their capacities from all aspects. With age, in many cases, children are more and more like their parents (and not their teachers). In this sense, family education is the foundation of all other education (Johnson, [<reflink idref="bib31" id="ref72">31</reflink>]). The findings of this study suggested that generation-skipping education, limited parental support, and indifferent parent-child relationships had been placing these children at a cumulative risk. Initially, most of the left-behind children were looked after by grandparents who were illiterate. The outdated educational concepts of the grandparents were likely unintentionally spread to their grandchildren. This would invisibly increase the difficulty for the children to accept new ideas and new knowledge and could dramatically influence the children's personality formation in adulthood. Intergenerational parenting may produce certain psychological problems, such as psychological aging, social phobia, bizarre personality, or psychological vulnerability, etc. Emotional estrangement can easily occur between children and their parents (Pcbaby, [<reflink idref="bib54" id="ref73">54</reflink>]). Moreover, only three of the left-behind children were accompanied by their mothers (one of whom had a mental illness). Parenting style refers to the convergence of parents' attitudes, emotions, and behaviors to children (Darling & Steinberg, [<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref74">15</reflink>]). Parenting can be classified into four types (i.e., authoritative parenting, authoritarian parenting, indulgent parenting, and neglectful parenting) (Baumrind, [<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref75">5</reflink>]; Maccoby & Martin, [<reflink idref="bib48" id="ref76">48</reflink>]). The child participants had been experiencing neglectful parenting. Their parents neither provided warmth nor set rules for them. Apathetic parent-child relations and the lack of parenting are critical issues in the education of the left-behind children. After the parents leave the children behind, their contact and communication diminish, leaving the children with little family affection. Limited parental support negatively influences their personality formation (Soho, [<reflink idref="bib61" id="ref77">61</reflink>]).</p> <p>Third, eight of the left-behind children in this study had relatively low academic performance and a high possibility of academic failure. All the children were self-conscious of their low economic and social status in the community, with a negative impact on their sense of self. Self-esteem is a key component of healthy living and can affect emotional management and coping methods (Zhou et al., [<reflink idref="bib84" id="ref78">84</reflink>]). Being disadvantaged, the children yearned to be included and accepted into the school and community culture. They hoped to break out of the generational cycle of poverty by improving their academic skills, but they were seriously hindered by low self-esteem. Moreover, only children in Grade 4 and above were permitted to live in residence at school. The younger left-behind children would likely need more assistance (Y. Shi, personal communication, September 5, 2018). In addition, because of the long separations, parents are absent and unable to provide family support in the form of assisting with homework. Grandparents believe that it is their main responsibility to provide only basic care, such as meals and laundry, instead of offering support for their grandchildren's schoolwork. Such a situation contributes to the gap in academic performance compared to the non-left-behind children. Academic failure and low self-esteem can cause the children to abandon their studies at a young age and never complete their compulsory education. This can lead to continuing the generational cycle of poverty.</p> <p>Fourth, socialization involves "being with and a part of other people; enjoying their company, confiding in them or letting them confide in you, and working together toward shared goals" (MentalHelp, [<reflink idref="bib49" id="ref79">49</reflink>] para. 1). The family provides a person's primary socialization and plays a fundamental and decisive role (Clausen, [<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref80">11</reflink>]). The structure of left-behind children's family is extremely unsound, and its function in early socialization is weakened. Therefore, the process of primary socialization of the left-behind children is similarly unsound and unhealthy (Ye, [<reflink idref="bib75" id="ref81">75</reflink>]). Long-term lack of parental companionship, care, and guidance causes most of the left-behind children to be sensitive and emotionally fragile (Zhou et al., [<reflink idref="bib84" id="ref82">84</reflink>]). They tend to hide their inner feelings and loneliness from other people. If such a situation continues for a long time, the left-behind children will lack normal social interactions that could even continue into the middle and late stages of basic socialization.</p> <p>Lastly, although their grandparents can meet their basic living needs, the left-behind children still thirst for emotional and moral comfort from their parents. According to Hoang and Yeoh ([<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref83">27</reflink>]), "While the 'caring-for' can be easily provided by people other than parents, there is less certainty about the 'caring-about'" (p. 311). The emotional needs of the left-behind children are severely neglected, which places them at psychological risk for loneliness, psychological burden from family pressure, psychological trauma caused by school bullying, and a rebellious psychology that stems from the lack of family communication and effective guidance.</p> <hd id="AN0179941576-41">Resilience processes and better outcomes</hd> <p>Rutter's ([<reflink idref="bib57" id="ref84">57</reflink>]) significant predictors of an individual's resilience included stressors (i.e., risk factors), the external environmental context, person-environment interactional processes, internal characteristics, resilience processes, and positive outcomes.</p> <p>In the present study, the left-behind children were exposed to adversity due to their long separation from parents. As the findings indicate, the students face risk factors from poverty; disadvantageous family education; and academic, socializing, and psychological issues. According to Rutter's ([<reflink idref="bib57" id="ref85">57</reflink>]) resilient predictors, the stressors (i.e., risk factors) will work to activate the children's resilience process and become disruptions in the homeostasis of the group. Thus, the stressors can trigger the individuals' resilience processes by interacting with the special external environment context and their changed internal characteristics to obtain better outcomes. The process of overcoming adversity by using protective factors (internal and external) was seen in the findings. Based on the participants' narratives, they had been balancing risk factors and protective factors and, either passively or optimistically, they intended to understand and overcome the current adversity to arrive at a more positive situation.</p> <p>Initially, six of the child participants were found to have great academic performance and academic skills, which was even better than the non-left-behind children. The findings showed that their strong academic beliefs and self-efficacy for academic skills played vital roles in mitigating the negative consequences of risk exposure, such as poverty and unsound family education. The children were also good time managers in their studying, and actively and self-consciously improve their academic skills. According to Borowsky et al. ([<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref86">7</reflink>]), positive academic beliefs can help relieve the negative impact of risk exposure. Generally, the child participants had been using their strong academic beliefs and self-efficacy in developing academic skills as protective-stabilizing strategies to guard against poverty and unhealthy family education.</p> <p>Second, in this study, positive affect was examined to see if it reduced psychological tension and academic barriers, based on the pre-interview activities and interviews. The findings indicated that positive affect had been protecting the children from the negative effects of emotional distress (Wills et al., [<reflink idref="bib72" id="ref87">72</reflink>]). The participants effectively used their spiritual and emotional strengths, such as self-efficacy (i.e., believing in oneself) (Bandura, [<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref88">4</reflink>]), emotional control, and self-acceptance to counteract the mental and academic risks.</p> <p>Third, social skills refer to the skills one uses to interact with others, both verbally and non-verbally (Cheah & Rubin, [<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref89">9</reflink>]). Some of the participating children had socializing issues such as alienation and isolation, but their social skills for relating to peers and their active participation in extracurricular activities helped them mitigate the socializing barriers and avoid the negative trajectory from primary socializing issues to more serious outcomes later in adulthood (Fergus & Zimmerman, [<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref90">20</reflink>]). Building good relationships with other people can mostly work to reduce feelings of anxiety and prevent a down mood due to social anxiousness and isolation (Anxiety Canada, [<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref91">2</reflink>]).</p> <p>Fourth, even though the children suffered from poverty and adverse family education, their life skills had been spurred to some degree in terms of self-reliance and independence. The children not only looked after themselves, in washing clothes and cleaning their dormitories, they also assisted their guardians to do various household work. Children's ability to deal with things independently at a young age can help them become healthy and normal social people, despite disadvantaged family backgrounds (Wang, [<reflink idref="bib67" id="ref92">67</reflink>], [<reflink idref="bib69" id="ref93">69</reflink>]).</p> <p>Meanwhile, external resources, such as peer support, mentoring, school connectedness, and community support, all helped them bounce back and avoid "cracking" under pressure. Parsons and Bales ([<reflink idref="bib53" id="ref94">53</reflink>]) emphasized the significance of the peer group in shaping a sense of belonging and non-adult acceptance in healthy socialization. The left-behind children longed for acceptance and inclusion and to make friends, engage in playing games, and participate in extra-curricular activities to reduce their academic and psychological issues.</p> <p>Non-parent adult mentors, as an external resource for the children, can also help ease psychological tension. For instance, although most of the guardians could not offer normal family education, Min (Xin's grandfather) was willing to be a good listener for Xin so she could pour out her innermost feelings and emotions. Xin's grandfather effectively helped her overcome her academic and mental issues. Zagar and Busch ([<reflink idref="bib78" id="ref95">78</reflink>]) also stated that adult mentors could assist adolescents to reduce the negative effects of emotional distress.</p> <p>The children also used school connectedness to buffer against the risks of poverty or non-intact families. They were more willing to stay at school and enjoy school life. Community support, such as donations and financial support, was also available to let them feel warm and relaxed and relieve their poor living condition. Fergus and Zimmerman ([<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref96">20</reflink>]) promoted the idea that community support could help adolescents overcome their risk exposure.</p> <p>Overall, they used resilience processes by taking advantage of their internal assets and external resources and building a good adaptive capacity for dealing with their current adversity, which could assist them in overcoming negative life events.</p> <hd id="AN0179941576-42">The gender difference in resilience processes</hd> <p>Resilience processes are regarded to be general, rather than domain-specific (Rutter, [<reflink idref="bib58" id="ref97">58</reflink>]). That is, they should be considered to have a gender-neutral resilient inclination. In this study, however, the gender difference in resilience processes was salient, especially with regard to the use of internal assets to buffer against risk factors. The findings showed that male participants more effectively used positive affect as their main internal asset than the female participants. The female participants had stronger beliefs in and self-efficacy for academic skills, in comparison to their counterparts. Although both groups actively used social skills for relating to peers, the female students aimed to solve personal things and the male students tended to make study groups or use groups to have fun. The female students' life skills were also better than those of the male students. Moreover, the risk factors were distinctly different between the two groups. All the students had been in poor living conditions and were in an adverse family education environment; however, the male students were inclined to have more serious academic issues and the female students seemed to have more risks regarding their mental and socializing issues.</p> <p>The heritability of resilience for females and males plays an important role in the gender divide in resilience processes. Boardman et al. ([<reflink idref="bib6" id="ref98">6</reflink>]) pointed out that the heritability of resilience was higher among men than among women. Self-efficacy or self-regulation was another important component of the psychological functioning of men and women. Nevertheless, men were apt to gain additional strength from environmental mastery.</p> <p>Furthermore, the American Psychological Association ([<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref99">1</reflink>]) found that women showed higher levels of stress than men. The authors reported that men were less concerned about managing stress and were more likely to say they were doing enough in this area. Women, in turn, placed more emphasis on the need to manage stress but felt that they were not doing well enough. According to the study, at least one in four women acknowledged they were not doing enough when it came to managing stress, but only 17% of the men felt this way.</p> <p>On the one hand, the female left-behind children were often imbued with traditional gender identity and values by their guardians. For example, females are expected to reproduce and nurture a stable family environment. On the other hand, they attempted to overcome traditional patriarchal views and values. For example, from the findings, they were inclined to pay more attention to having greater academic skills and improving their life skills more consciously.</p> <hd id="AN0179941576-43">Underlying resilience-based interventions</hd> <p>The key to transformation is to put transformation into reality. "What emerges [is] what otherwise is constantly hidden and withdrawn" (Gadamer, [<reflink idref="bib21" id="ref100">21</reflink>], p. 101). Therefore, the point is how theories can be associated with the education of these children, with schools, or other relevant agencies. Based on the findings in this study, underlying resilience-based interventions can be offered to enhance the left-behind children's assets and resources, to overcome risk factors, and to promote their positive development. Wang et al. ([<reflink idref="bib68" id="ref101">68</reflink>]) proposed that resilience interventions were mostly classified into three types oriented toward families, schools, and communities. Hence, the three types of interventions are discussed with regard to the left-behind children's context and in reference to the literature in the field.</p> <hd id="AN0179941576-44">Family-oriented interventions</hd> <p>Based on the findings, left-behind children clearly lack parental support and parent-family connectedness in their external resources. Therefore, regular contact and information sharing with their parents would be indispensable for improving the resilience of the children. Wang et al. ([<reflink idref="bib68" id="ref102">68</reflink>]) pointed out that the Resourceful Adolescent Program (RAP) was a family-based program aimed to bolster the strengths of parents and boost interpersonal relationships. Such a program could be conducted so that the parents can be empowered with more responsibility for the left-behind children's education. The parents could also have special leave (one or more weeks) with regular pay (subsidized from local governmental funding) to accompany their children. Zagar and Busch ([<reflink idref="bib78" id="ref103">78</reflink>]) showed that mentoring was a promotive factor for reducing risk exposure. In this study, Min (Xin's grandfather) had been guiding her to get over academic gaps and psychological issues and achieve a positive adjustment. Accordingly, some specific sessions could be used for non-parent guardians to motivate their interactive awareness, develop the skills to address stress, and offer more emotional and instrumental support for the left-behind children.</p> <hd id="AN0179941576-45">School-oriented interventions</hd> <p>First, current research in resilience theory is focused on how adults can alter their thinking and improve their emotional and behavioral management in a resilience process. Psychologists and professional counselors can guide adults to recognize their strengths instead of only healing their trauma (Psychology, [<reflink idref="bib56" id="ref104">56</reflink>]). Therefore, for internal asset-building, professional counseling services and social work groups can be made available in schools for the left-behind children, especially girls, to ease their tensions and reinforce their positive affectivity, adaptation capacity, and ability to avoid serious psychological problems. For example, the left-behind children can be asked to use a piece of paper and make a list of their external resources and internal assets to deepen their awareness of the sensations of well-being (Levine & Kline, [<reflink idref="bib37" id="ref105">37</reflink>]). Social workers could use home visits and stop discrimination for the sake of human rights and mental health.</p> <p>Moreover, a broader and more inclusive approach to education was presented by Popham ([<reflink idref="bib55" id="ref106">55</reflink>]) who promoted taxonomic educational objectives (i.e., "cognitive, affective, and psychomotor objectives") (p. 102). Based on the specific educational objectives, performance can be clearer and more concise, and misunderstandings and confusion can be avoided. From this perspective, the purpose of education is to motivate individuals' thinking and feeling. Learners are a dynamic group that need to find balance and harmony between their internal needs and the external environment (Tyler, [<reflink idref="bib63" id="ref107">63</reflink>]). Thus, it would be helpful for left-behind children to have a specialized curriculum to enhance their academic beliefs and skills and have more parental support. For example, considering the local geographic conditions and the characteristics of left-behind children, rural schools can design appropriate rural family games so that parents learn to properly care for their children. In return, the children can learn about communication with their parents. Children can also have outdoor classes, such as picking up leaves and branches, and making handmade stuff to help them with their self-invention skills (Lin, [<reflink idref="bib42" id="ref108">42</reflink>]).</p> <p>In addition, Botivn et al. ([<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref109">8</reflink>]) framed a classroom-based project to develop children's social skills, such as communicative skills and how to build good interpersonal relationships with others. Given the local circumstance, socializing activities can be organized for activities such as singing and drawing contests, hobby groups, and theater troupes, and school-based interventions to help them build self-esteem, decrease anxiety, and improve their social skills instead of relying on traditional instructional and behavioral modification. Classroom teachers can also monitor the children's internal states and help them model self-regulation. Teachers can structure the classroom activities to offer guided practice on how to build self-regulation and establish alternative ways to cope with adversity (Levine & Kline, [<reflink idref="bib37" id="ref110">37</reflink>]).</p> <hd id="AN0179941576-46">Community-oriented interventions</hd> <p>In the interviews with guardians, some of the participants mentioned that it was necessary to build libraries for the children in the community. For example, Min (Xin's grandfather) said, "I think it would be better to build a library for them to have access to a large number of interesting books." Hong (Hao's mother) also noted:</p> <p>Kids lack opportunities to explore their interests and creativity. They lack choices to read more books. As such, their horizon can be broadened to a large extent instead of doing something dangerous. Keeping children in the habit of reading from an early age not only allows them to master more knowledge, but also their academic beliefs will be elevated to a large extent.</p> <p>Reading different types of books can help children understand different principles of life. Reading can improve children's self-quality, make them more likely to have a happy and fulfilling life and have less chance of psychological depression (Yuwenmi, [<reflink idref="bib77" id="ref111">77</reflink>]). Therefore, communities are expected to offer effective public services, such as rural libraries and family reading clubs, to broaden children's horizons, alleviate cold parent-youth relations, reinforce the strengths of children to move through adversity, and mirror the children in healthy ways.</p> <p>In summary, resilience-based interventions can be provided to boost the left-behind internal assets and external resources and can be based on families, schools, and communities in the Chinese context. Hopefully, the interventions can effectively build a more inclusive and supportive educational environment, while decreasing the internal and external problems of the children and facilitate their positive development.</p> <hd id="AN0179941576-47">Acknowledgments</hd> <p>I would like to thank all the participants who inspired me to stick to my hopes and dreams despite experiencing adversity. 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  Data: A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Inquiry: Risk and Protective Factors for the Left-Behind Children in Shaanxi Province, China, with Gender Comparison
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  Label: Authors
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Lin+Ge%22">Lin Ge</searchLink>
– Name: TitleSource
  Label: Source
  Group: Src
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="SO" term="%22Journal+of+Research+in+Childhood+Education%22"><i>Journal of Research in Childhood Education</i></searchLink>. 2024 38(4):577-599.
– Name: Avail
  Label: Availability
  Group: Avail
  Data: Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
– Name: PeerReviewed
  Label: Peer Reviewed
  Group: SrcInfo
  Data: Y
– Name: Pages
  Label: Page Count
  Group: Src
  Data: 23
– Name: DatePubCY
  Label: Publication Date
  Group: Date
  Data: 2024
– Name: TypeDocument
  Label: Document Type
  Group: TypDoc
  Data: Journal Articles<br />Reports - Research
– Name: Audience
  Label: Education Level
  Group: Audnce
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Elementary+Education%22">Elementary Education</searchLink>
– Name: Subject
  Label: Descriptors
  Group: Su
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Foreign+Countries%22">Foreign Countries</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Elementary+School+Students%22">Elementary School Students</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Children%22">Children</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Resilience+%28Psychology%29%22">Resilience (Psychology)</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Affordances%22">Affordances</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Rural+Areas%22">Rural Areas</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Well+Being%22">Well Being</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Child+Rearing%22">Child Rearing</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Academic+Achievement%22">Academic Achievement</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Emotional+Response%22">Emotional Response</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Child+Behavior%22">Child Behavior</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Socialization%22">Socialization</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22COVID-19%22">COVID-19</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Pandemics%22">Pandemics</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Family+Structure%22">Family Structure</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Barriers%22">Barriers</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Poverty%22">Poverty</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Family+Environment%22">Family Environment</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22At+Risk+Students%22">At Risk Students</searchLink>
– Name: Subject
  Label: Geographic Terms
  Group: Su
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22China%22">China</searchLink>
– Name: DOI
  Label: DOI
  Group: ID
  Data: 10.1080/02568543.2023.2248224
– Name: ISSN
  Label: ISSN
  Group: ISSN
  Data: 0256-8543<br />2150-2641
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Abstract
  Group: Ab
  Data: This research presents the lived experience of left-behind children living in Shaanxi province of China through the lens of resilience theory. A hermeneutic phenomenological inquiry is employed to identify inner and outer risk factors faced by left-behind children at the primary school level and explore their protective factors (internal assets and external resources). This study attempts to determine how these protective factors can moderate or reduce the repercussions of risk exposure on the children's development. Unstructured observations, including on-site observations of the classroom, life, and interpersonal relationships, were conducted in 2018 and remote classroom observations were completed in 2020 due to the pandemic. There were 51 students (including 28 left-behind children) observed in total. Fourteen 9- to 13-year-old left-behind children, eight guardians, and six teachers participated in interviews. Remote pre-interview activities were specifically employed in 2020. The findings indicate this group's internalized and externalized problems, and the internal assets and external resources. This study would potentially identify viable targets for interventions and socially inclusive education. Resilience-based interventions in policies and practices are recommended to intervene in the trajectory from risk exposure to associated negative effects.
– Name: AbstractInfo
  Label: Abstractor
  Group: Ab
  Data: As Provided
– Name: DateEntry
  Label: Entry Date
  Group: Date
  Data: 2024
– Name: AN
  Label: Accession Number
  Group: ID
  Data: EJ1440931
PLink https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=eric&AN=EJ1440931
RecordInfo BibRecord:
  BibEntity:
    Identifiers:
      – Type: doi
        Value: 10.1080/02568543.2023.2248224
    Languages:
      – Text: English
    PhysicalDescription:
      Pagination:
        PageCount: 23
        StartPage: 577
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Foreign Countries
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Elementary School Students
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Children
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Resilience (Psychology)
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Affordances
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Rural Areas
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Well Being
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Child Rearing
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Academic Achievement
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Emotional Response
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Child Behavior
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Socialization
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: COVID-19
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Pandemics
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Family Structure
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Barriers
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Poverty
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Family Environment
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: At Risk Students
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: China
        Type: general
    Titles:
      – TitleFull: A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Inquiry: Risk and Protective Factors for the Left-Behind Children in Shaanxi Province, China, with Gender Comparison
        Type: main
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            NameFull: Lin Ge
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          Dates:
            – D: 01
              M: 01
              Type: published
              Y: 2024
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            – Type: issn-print
              Value: 0256-8543
            – Type: issn-electronic
              Value: 2150-2641
          Numbering:
            – Type: volume
              Value: 38
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              Value: 4
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            – TitleFull: Journal of Research in Childhood Education
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