Associations of latent patterns of parent‒child communication with communication quality and mental health outcomes among Chinese left-behind children
Abstract Background Parent‒child communication in migrant families is essential to family bonds and the mental health of left-behind children (LBC). Little is known about the different patterns of communication between migrant parents and LBC and associated communication quality and mental health ou...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMC
2024-01-01
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| Series: | BMC Public Health |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-024-17793-7 |
| _version_ | 1797272919654531072 |
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| author | Qian-Wen Xie Roujia Chen Kexin Wang Jingjing Lu Feng Wang Xudong Zhou |
| author_facet | Qian-Wen Xie Roujia Chen Kexin Wang Jingjing Lu Feng Wang Xudong Zhou |
| author_sort | Qian-Wen Xie |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background Parent‒child communication in migrant families is essential to family bonds and the mental health of left-behind children (LBC). Little is known about the different patterns of communication between migrant parents and LBC and associated communication quality and mental health outcomes. Methods A sample of 2,183 Chinese children (mean age = 12.95 ± 1.29 years) from Anhui province, including LBC whose parents had both migrated (n = 1,025) and children whose parents had never migrated (never-LBC, n = 1,158), was analyzed. With the LBC sample, latent class analysis was applied to identify the patterns of parent‒child communication. Multinomial logistic regression analysis was conducted to assess the associations between the sociodemographic variables and class membership of LBC. Analysis of covariance and chi-square tests were used to compare communication quality and mental health outcome differences among the classes of LBC and between each of the classes and never-LBC. Results Five latent classes of communication formed through different media or channels between migrant parents and their LBC were identified. Higher household economic status (OR = 2.81, p < 0.05) was associated with adequate communication. LBC in Class 1, defined by frequent technologically-mediated and face-to-face communication, had a significantly higher quality of communication with their migrant parents (F = 8.92, p < 0.001) and better mental health than those in other latent classes; these children did not have significantly worse mental health outcomes compared to never -LBC. Conclusions Facilitating multichannel parent‒child communication is a practical way of reducing mental health inequities between LBC and their peers. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T14:36:12Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c36c023746504a6db6b2fe197a9176b9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1471-2458 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T14:36:12Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMC Public Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-c36c023746504a6db6b2fe197a9176b92024-03-05T20:38:40ZengBMCBMC Public Health1471-24582024-01-0124111710.1186/s12889-024-17793-7Associations of latent patterns of parent‒child communication with communication quality and mental health outcomes among Chinese left-behind childrenQian-Wen Xie0Roujia Chen1Kexin Wang2Jingjing Lu3Feng Wang4Xudong Zhou5Department of Social Welfare and Risk Management, School of Public Affairs, Zhejiang UniversitySchool of Public Health, LKS Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong KongCollege of Media and International Culture, Zhejiang UniversityThe Institute of Social Medicine, School of Medicine, Zhejiang UniversityDepartment of Health Policy and Management, School of Public Health, Hangzhou Normal UniversityThe Institute of Social Medicine, School of Medicine, Zhejiang UniversityAbstract Background Parent‒child communication in migrant families is essential to family bonds and the mental health of left-behind children (LBC). Little is known about the different patterns of communication between migrant parents and LBC and associated communication quality and mental health outcomes. Methods A sample of 2,183 Chinese children (mean age = 12.95 ± 1.29 years) from Anhui province, including LBC whose parents had both migrated (n = 1,025) and children whose parents had never migrated (never-LBC, n = 1,158), was analyzed. With the LBC sample, latent class analysis was applied to identify the patterns of parent‒child communication. Multinomial logistic regression analysis was conducted to assess the associations between the sociodemographic variables and class membership of LBC. Analysis of covariance and chi-square tests were used to compare communication quality and mental health outcome differences among the classes of LBC and between each of the classes and never-LBC. Results Five latent classes of communication formed through different media or channels between migrant parents and their LBC were identified. Higher household economic status (OR = 2.81, p < 0.05) was associated with adequate communication. LBC in Class 1, defined by frequent technologically-mediated and face-to-face communication, had a significantly higher quality of communication with their migrant parents (F = 8.92, p < 0.001) and better mental health than those in other latent classes; these children did not have significantly worse mental health outcomes compared to never -LBC. Conclusions Facilitating multichannel parent‒child communication is a practical way of reducing mental health inequities between LBC and their peers.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-024-17793-7Parent‒child communicationMental healthLabor migrationLeft-behind childrenHealth inequityChina |
| spellingShingle | Qian-Wen Xie Roujia Chen Kexin Wang Jingjing Lu Feng Wang Xudong Zhou Associations of latent patterns of parent‒child communication with communication quality and mental health outcomes among Chinese left-behind children BMC Public Health Parent‒child communication Mental health Labor migration Left-behind children Health inequity China |
| title | Associations of latent patterns of parent‒child communication with communication quality and mental health outcomes among Chinese left-behind children |
| title_full | Associations of latent patterns of parent‒child communication with communication quality and mental health outcomes among Chinese left-behind children |
| title_fullStr | Associations of latent patterns of parent‒child communication with communication quality and mental health outcomes among Chinese left-behind children |
| title_full_unstemmed | Associations of latent patterns of parent‒child communication with communication quality and mental health outcomes among Chinese left-behind children |
| title_short | Associations of latent patterns of parent‒child communication with communication quality and mental health outcomes among Chinese left-behind children |
| title_sort | associations of latent patterns of parent child communication with communication quality and mental health outcomes among chinese left behind children |
| topic | Parent‒child communication Mental health Labor migration Left-behind children Health inequity China |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-024-17793-7 |
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