A Prospective Study on Resilience Among Children with Different Migrant and Left-behind Trajectories

Abstract

Parental migration has been an important predictor of children’s psychological resilience. The present study discusses the effect of parental migration on children’s resilience in rural western China from a dynamic viewpoint. Using sequence analysis, this study investigates children’s entire migration trajectory over the course of childhood (ages 1–12) and identifies the typical patterns of the dynamic family structure associated with parental migration: continuously nonmigrant (N = 4,238), continuously migrant (N = 923), continuously left behind by one parent (N = 872), continuously left behind by both parents (N = 796) and frequent transition between migrant or left-behind statuses (N = 1,624). The results show that the trajectories of left-behind status and transition have a significant negative impact on children’s resilience, which demonstrates that both the effects of parent-child separation and family instability compromise children’s psychological functioning. Family resources can buffer these negative effects, but they work asymmetrically across different groups of children. Family economic resources serve as a significant protective factor among children continuously left behind by both parents, while family social resources are more protective for children in unstable families.