Ren Xiaohong, Lin Cen, Pan Lu, Fan Qiuyue, Wu Dapeng, He JinLong, He Ping, Luo Jiaming
Department of Hematology, The Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong, China.
School of Psychiatry, North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong, China.
Front Public Health. 2025 Mar 4;13:1439799. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1439799. eCollection 2025.
Extensive research has established the association between parental absence and adolescent psychological well-being, particularly in the Chinese context. However, studies specifically examining the dual impact of parental separation and migration on psychological outcomes among adolescents in Western China remain relatively limited.
This study aims to systematically examine the association between various parental absence situations and mental health outcomes in early adolescence, with the objective of informing targeted interventions and policy formulations to optimize psychosocial support systems for vulnerable youth population.
The Wilcoxon rank-sum test was employed to analyze continuous and ordinal variables that exhibited non-normal distributions. To investigate the associations between various patterns of parental absence and psychological outcomes (depression, anxiety, and stress) among middle school students, binary logistic regression analysis was performed, while the model's goodness-of-fit was evaluated by using the Hosmer-Lemeshow test, with a > 0.05 indicating satisfactory model fit.
This cross-sectional study investigated mental health outcomes among a cohort of 8,606 middle school students, revealing notable prevalence rates of depressive symptoms (6.7%), anxiety (6.1%), and stress-related symptoms (8.1%). Multivariate analysis demonstrated that different forms of parental absence exerted substantial effects on mental health severity, with statistically significant associations for depression, anxiety, and stress (all < 0.001). The results revealed that various forms of parental absence had a significant impact on depression, anxiety, and stress. Specifically, the combined impact of divorce and left-behind children (DLC) creates a synergistic effect, resulting in psychological risks (OR = 1.623-1.725, all < 0.001), that are significantly higher than those associated with either factor individually (LBC/DC). Further analysis identified additional risk factors, including senior high school (OR = 1.486, < 0.001), boarding school (OR = 1.155, = 0.037), and girls (anxiety OR = 1.213, < 0.001), all showing significant associations with adverse mental health outcomes.
Our study underscores significant mental health risks associated with diverse patterns of parental absence among adolescents in the Sichuan region. By fostering stronger parent-child bonds and providing targeted emotional support, it may be possible to mitigate the adverse psychological effects of parental absence and help adolescents better navigate these mental health challenges.
广泛的研究已经证实了父母缺席与青少年心理健康之间的关联，尤其是在中国背景下。然而，专门研究父母分居和迁移对中国西部青少年心理影响的双重作用的研究仍然相对有限。
本研究旨在系统地考察青少年早期各种父母缺席情况与心理健康结果之间的关联，以便为有针对性的干预措施和政策制定提供依据，从而优化针对弱势青年群体的社会心理支持系统。
采用Wilcoxon秩和检验分析呈现非正态分布的连续变量和有序变量。为了研究中学生中各种父母缺席模式与心理结果（抑郁、焦虑和压力）之间的关联，进行了二元逻辑回归分析，同时使用Hosmer-Lemeshow检验评估模型的拟合优度，χ²>0.05表明模型拟合良好。
这项横断面研究调查了8606名中学生的心理健康结果，发现抑郁症状（6.7%）、焦虑（6.1%）和压力相关症状（8.1%）的患病率显著。多变量分析表明，不同形式的父母缺席对心理健康严重程度有重大影响，与抑郁、焦虑和压力均存在统计学显著关联（均P<0.001）。结果显示，各种形式的父母缺席对抑郁、焦虑和压力有显著影响。具体而言，父母离异和留守儿童（DLC）的综合影响产生了协同效应，导致心理风险（OR=1.623-1.725，均P<0.001），显著高于单一因素（留守儿童/离异家庭）相关的风险。进一步分析确定了其他风险因素，包括高中（OR=1.486，P<0.001）、寄宿学校（OR=1.155，P=0.037）和女生（焦虑OR=1.213，P<0.001），所有这些都与不良心理健康结果显著相关。
我们的研究强调了四川地区青少年中与各种父母缺席模式相关的重大心理健康风险。通过加强亲子关系并提供有针对性的情感支持，有可能减轻父母缺席的不良心理影响，并帮助青少年更好地应对这些心理健康挑战。
