The Relationship Between Parental Care,Left-Behind Characteristics And Left-Behind Children's Self-Esteem

China's economy has developed rapidly since the 20 th century.In order to increase the family income to improve life and get better development,some parents choose to work far from home.But with the limitation of a series of conditions,they have to send their children to live by the supervision and care of others at home.The parents are forced to separate from their children but to make a living.The numerous left-behind children has attracted people to pay attention to these children's life security and psychological development issues.Parental care refers to the spiritual care and love provided by parents during the child 's physical and mental growth.Self-esteem refers to a person's perception and evaluation of self-ability and values,with showing a positive or negative attitude.In this study,we tracked and investigated the left-behind children and the dynamic relationship between parental care and left-behind children's self-esteem,and the influence of left-behind types,separation age,and separation time in regulating the relationship between the two.In this study,the questionnaire method was used to track students in seven township middle schools in Shaoshan and a middle school in Huaihua by using the Parent Care Questionnaire and the Self-esteem Scale.Nine hundred and ten valid questionnaires were retrieved,including three hundred and fifty questionnaires from left-behind children and five hundred and sixty questionnaires from common children.Statistical methods such as analysis of variance,correlation analysis,cross-lag regression analysis,and stratified regression analysis were used.The results of this study are as follows:(1)The parental care of left-behind children is lower than that of common children,and there is no developmental difference in the self-esteem of left-behind children and common children.(2)The parental care and self-esteem scores of boys among left-behind children are higher than those of girls.(3)Parental care in the first year of left-behind children is significantly related to parental care in the second year,and the self-esteem of the left-behind children in the first year is significantly related to the self-esteem in the second year.(4)Parental care in the first year can predict the self-esteem of left-behind children in the first year,and parental care in the second year can predict the self-esteem of left-behind children in the second year.(5)Parental care in the first year can significantly predict the self-esteem in the second year.Parental love T1 is the cause and self-esteem T2 is the result.There is a causal relationship between the self-esteem and parental care.Conclusion: Parents of left-behind children should pay more attention to left-behind children and increase their care and love to promote the growth of left-behind children's self-esteem and their mental health.The girls in the left-behind need more parental care to improve their self-esteem.Parental care of left-behind children can predict children's self-esteem.So the parents of left-behind children in junior high school need to increase their care to them so as to help children form a high level of self-esteem.