Chinese Adolescents’ Meaning-Focused Coping With Prolonged Parent-Child Separation

In China, 61 million children are left behind in rural areas suffering from prolonged parent-child separation when their parents migrate for work. Meaning-focused coping is known to play a positive role in adaptation, particularly during persistent adversity, but little is known about how adolescents make meaning during prolonged parent-child separation. This qualitative study investigated how adolescents utilize meaning-focused coping during such separation. Seventeen adolescents who had been left behind (Mage = 14.1 years, SD = 1.03 years) by migrant parents were recruited via purposive sampling. Eight subthemes emerged and were grouped into four themes: living with prolonged parent-child separation, ambivalent feelings, constructed meaning of parental migration, and meaning-making strategies. Despite detached parent-child relationships and weak family support, the adolescents made positive meaning of their parents’ migration by focusing on the migration-related benefits and maintaining goal commitment. Participants’ perceptions of left-behind life varied at different stages of their parental migration and their ability to make positive sense of migration increased with age. The role of culture was crucial in their meaning-making formulation. The results have application potential for psychosocial interventions targeting adolescents facing a prolonged left-behind period.

在中国，有6100万儿童因父母外出务工而留在农村，长期遭受亲子分离之苦。以意义为中心的应对方式在适应过程中起着积极作用，尤其是在持续的逆境中，但对于青少年在长期亲子分离期间如何构建意义，人们知之甚少。这项定性研究调查了青少年在此种分离期间如何运用以意义为中心的应对方式。通过有目的的抽样，招募了17名被外出务工父母留守在家的青少年（平均年龄 = 14.1岁，标准差 = 1.03岁）。出现了8个次主题，并被归为4个主题：长期亲子分离的生活、矛盾的情感、对父母外出务工构建的意义以及意义构建策略。尽管亲子关系疏离且家庭支持薄弱，但这些青少年通过关注与父母外出务工相关的益处以及保持目标承诺，对父母的外出务工赋予了积极的意义。参与者对留守生活的看法在父母外出务工的不同阶段有所不同，且他们对父母外出务工赋予积极意义的能力随着年龄增长而增强。文化在他们构建意义的过程中起着至关重要的作用。研究结果对于针对面临长期留守期的青少年的心理社会干预具有应用潜力。