Child Neglect and Life Satisfaction among Left-behind Children in Rural China: The Roles of Self-compassion and Gratitude

Abstract

Child neglect is a social problem that causes great concern and affects the long-term well-being of left-behind rural Chinese children against the backdrop of their parents having to leave them in the care of others for extended periods while they have to go and work in cities. However, previous studies have disproportionally focused on the negative processes through which child neglect may influence their life satisfaction. Guided by positive psychology, this study examined the role of self-compassion and gratitude on the association between child neglect and life satisfaction. Our research questionnaire Likert survey used a sample of 1,091 left-behind children and 754 non left-behind children from Shanxi Province and Hunan Province. The results indicated that left-behind children reported a higher level of child neglect, and that child neglect was negatively associated with left-behind children’s life satisfaction through decreased self-compassion and gratitude. The implications of these findings are that policy measures and interventions that focus on increasing the self-compassion and gratitude of neglected left-behind children may have a positive effect on their life satisfaction.

Keywords

child abuse neglect < child abuse mental health and violence

Introduction

Child neglect is a social problem that causes great concern and affects children’s healthy growth and long-term well-being all over the world. Child neglect is a distinct form of child abuse and studies on this have fallen disproportionally far behind studies on physical, psychological, and sexual abuse (Gershater-Molko et al., 2002; Hua et al., 2014). According to the World Health Organization (1999), child neglect refers to the failure to provide adequate health, education, emotional development, shelter, and safe living conditions for children’s development in all spheres. Although the measurement of child neglect remains inconclusive due to different cultures and traditions, physical neglect and emotional neglect have been identified as the two most prevalent forms of neglect in previous studies (Falkner, 1997; Welch & Bonner, 2013). The global prevalence of child neglect was 163/1,000 for physical neglect and 184/1,000 for emotional neglect (Stoltenborgh et al., 2015). One meta-analysis in China has indicated that 47% of primary and middle school students have suffered physical neglect and 44% emotional neglect (Wang et al., 2020). This implies that the rate of child neglect in China is higher than general global rates.

Accumulated evidence has shown that child neglect has deleterious impacts on developmental outcomes in childhood and adversely affects mental health, causing problems such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity, anxiety, depression, suicidal behavior, and substance use Manly et al., 2013; Mandelli et al., 2015; Varese et al., 2012). However, it was surprising to find that most studies focused on left-behind children’s (LBC’s) neglect and its associated mental health problems (Chang et al., 2017) and that few studies examined the impact of child neglect on the positive aspect of well-being, such as life satisfaction. Psychological well-being is not only absent of mental health problems, but also demonstrates positive affect. Life satisfaction is a major component of psychological well-being and an important indicator of psychological health (Dew & Huebner, 1994). Some studies have shown that life satisfaction plays an important role in child development, and has multiple benefits for children and adolescents’ psychological well-being (Park, 2004; Gilman & Huebner, 2003).

Child Neglect and Life Satisfaction

Child neglect has been recognized as a trauma that characterizes Chinese LBC (LBC are defined as children who stay in rural areas for more than six months while one or both of their parents go to urban areas for work) (Givaudan & Pick, 2013; Zhong et al., 2012). They are a particular group with a higher risk of child neglect and mental health problems in rural China. Wen et al. (2020) conducted a meta-analysis of LBC and found that the neglect rates and severity in LBC were both significantly higher than those in children living with their parents. According to the Ministry of Civil Affairs’ national information management system for LBC in rural areas, there were 6.97 million such children nationwide in 2018. Although millions of migrant parents pursue better living conditions for their children, these LBC actually live in a situation lacking parental care and nurture and are more likely to suffer neglect than others (Guang et al., 2017; Zhao et al., 2015).

Adverse childhood experiences are significantly associated with lower life satisfaction, lower psychological well-being, and lower social well-being, especially for those who report abuse during childhood (Mosley-Johnson et al., 2019). Tanaka and his colleagues (2015) have found that both forms of physical and sexual abuse were significantly associated with lower life satisfaction of children. LaBrenz et al. (2019) reported that people who were exposed to physical abuse had a lower probability of reporting life satisfaction. One study involving participants from three middle schools in China has shown that emotional neglect in childhood is an important negative factor affecting well-being (Ma et al., 2013). It is therefore hypothesized that physical and emotional neglect is negatively associated with LBC’s life satisfaction in rural China.

The mechanisms through which child neglect influences psychological well-being were usually investigated from the point of view of negative cognition and emotional processes, such as negative attribution styles, automatic thoughts, or maladaptive schemas (Hankin, 2005), insecure attachment (Bifuico et al., 2006; Crittenden, 1999) and social-emotional dysregulation (Gibb et al., 2003; Zhou et al., 2019). However, the positive process has been ignored. Guided by emotion regulation theory, the present study aimed to explore the protective roles of self-compassion and gratitude in the association between child neglect and life satisfaction. According to emotional regulation theory, children with adverse early experiences were more likely to encounter emotional regulation difficulties, which further decrease their life satisfaction (O’Mahen et al., 2015).

The Role of Self-compassion

Self-compassion is an important concept in emotion regulation and has been paid increasing attention in the prevention of mental health problems. It is an essential self-regulating strategy to cope with suffering through acknowledging uncomfortable feelings with self-kindness, establishing connections between personal experiences and human experiences, and accompanying pain with clear mindfulness instead of criticizing oneself, isolating oneself, or over-identifying with pain (Neff, 2003).

An abundance of studies has shown that self-compassion is positively associated with children’s mental health, well-being, and life satisfaction (Bluth & Blanton, 2014; Ross et al., 2019; Tanaka et al., 2011). People who are compassionate toward themselves are more likely to be satisfied with their lives (Bluth & Blanton 2014). However, self-compassion is negatively affected by early adverse experiences. Child maltreatment may leave emotional scars on victims, damage their sense of self (e.g., self-concept, self-worth, self-schemas), and lead to negative constructions or maladaptive models of self (e.g., shame, self-worthlessness) (Rose & Abramson, 1992; Van Harmelen et al., 2010). One study has shown that people who experienced emotional abuse and neglect during childhood displayed lower levels of self-compassion (Wu et al., 2018). So, it is hypothesized that child neglect is negatively associated with LBC’s life satisfaction through decreased self-compassion.

The Role of Gratitude

Gratitude is defined as “a generalized tendency to recognize and respond with grateful emotions to other people's benevolence in the positive experiences and outcomes that one obtains” (McCullough et al., 2002). It is a kind of human strength highly stressed in positive psychology (Peterson & Seligman, 2004), and has been regarded as an affective trait that contributes significantly to the achievement of positive psychological outcomes such as subjective well-being and other indices of psychological health (Datu, 2014; Toussaint & Friedman, 2009; Wood et al., 2010).

Previous studies have shown that gratitude is positively associated with life satisfaction in both general and clinical samples (Datu & Mateo, 2015; Kong et al., 2014; Kwok et al., 2016). Compared to children with low levels of gratitude, those with high levels of gratitude reported greater life satisfaction (Kwok et al., 2016; You et al., 2018). In adolescence, deegocentrism and increased empathy become the most powerful development catalysts for gratitude (Saarni, 1999) and early adverse experiences have been found to be negatively associated with gratitude (Coleman et al., 2016; Vartanian et al., 2014). Wu and colleagues (2018) found that any type of abuse, including neglect, is hurtful and can undermine a person's gratitude towards others or for events. Furthermore, being the victim of abuse and neglect in childhood could lead to low levels of life satisfaction in adults because of the experience of suffering defeat and humiliation (Herrenkohl et al., 2012). Gratitude can be used not only to predict the onset of life satisfaction but also for interventions to improve it (Herrenkohl et al., 2012; Kwok et al., 2016). So, child neglect is negatively associated with LBC’s life satisfaction through decreased gratitude.

The Present Study

The consequences of child neglect among LBC in rural China have been relatively underexplored. In addition, the mechanism through which child neglect influences life satisfaction has mostly been investigated focusing on negative psychological processes. The present study aimed to explore the positive protective roles of self-compassion and gratitude in the association between child neglect and life satisfaction, inspired by the positive psychology and emotional regulation theory. It is hypothesized that LBC with higher neglect levels would report lower life satisfaction, and that child neglect is associated with life satisfaction through a decrease in self-compassion and gratitude.

Methods

Participants and Procedures

The data for this study came from our survey on mental health issues among school-aged LBC in rural China in December 2018. Stratified sampling methods were adopted to select a representative sample of LBC across China. First, two provinces in west and central China were selected (Shanxi Province and Hunan Province). Second, children from Grades 5 to 9 were selected as the target unit, as they can understand the questions and fill in the questionnaires independently without any interventions from their teachers and parents. Third, schools and classes were randomly selected to administer our survey. A total of 12 schools (7 schools from Shanxi and 5 schools from Hunan Province) and 50 classes agreed voluntarily to participate in this study. The questionnaire was administered in the classroom setting without teachers, and it took about 30 minutes to be completed anonymously. Informed consent was obtained from children and their caregivers beforehand. Students could quit the survey at any time if they felt uncomfortable with the questions. This research protocol has been approved by the authors’ university research ethics committee.

There were 2,150 children who filled in the questionnaire. After excluding missing and invalid data (e.g., the same responses to all questions, and finish within five minutes), the final sample for our analysis consisted of 1,845 children, of whom 1,091 were left behind. The average age of the respondents was 13.07 years (SD = 1.23). Males accounted for 52.1% of the sample. More middle school students (81.7%) participated in the survey than primary school students. A total of 28.1% of students reported that their family was poorer than their neighbors and relatives. LBC and their counterparts did not show any difference in age, gender, and family economic status.

Measures

Child neglect

Child neglect was measured using the physical and emotional neglect dimensions of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire – Short Form (CTQ-SF) (Bernstein et al., 2003, which is widely used to evaluate child abuse and neglect. Sample items were: (a) Physical neglect (e.g., “My parents were too drunk or high to take care of the family”), and (b) Emotional neglect (e.g., “People in my family felt close to each other”). In the present study, the Chinese version of the CTQ-SF was used to measure childhood neglect (Fu et al., 2005). Each subscale has five items with a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (never true) to 5 (very often true). Among these items, emotional neglect was negatively worded questions, and they were reversely coded before computing the total score. A higher score indicates that the respondent suffered more serious physical and emotional neglect in childhood. The internal consistency coefficient for physical neglect and emotional neglect was 0.58 and 0.71, respectively.

Self-compassion

Self-compassion was measured using the 26-item Self-Compassion Scale developed by Neff (2003), which has been validated in Chinese adolescents and adults (Chen et al., 2011; Wu et al., 2018). This scale includes six subscales with responses ranging from 1 (totally false) to 5 (totally true). Three subscales capture the positive aspects of self-compassion, which include self-kindness (e.g., “When I am going through a very hard time, I give myself the caring and tenderness I need”), common humanity (e.g., “When I am down and out, I remind myself that there are lots of other people in the world feeling like I am”), and mindfulness (e.g., “When something painful happens, I try to take a balanced view of the situation”). The other three subscales capture the negative aspects: self-judgement (e.g., “I am disapproving and judging my own flaws and inadequacies”), isolation (e.g., “Thinking about my inadequacies makes me feel more separate and cut off from the rest of the world”), and over-identification (e.g., “When something upsets me, I get carried away with my feelings”). The responses on three negative subscales including self-judgement, isolation, and over-identification were reversely coded before computing the total score. The Cronbach alpha coefficient of self-compassion in our sample was 0.74.

Gratitude

The Gratitude Questionnaire-Six was used to test grateful disposition (e.g., “If I had to list everything that I felt grateful for, it would be a very long list” and “I am grateful to a wide variety of people”) (McCullough et al., 2002). The Chinese version of the questionnaire consists of six items with a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree) (Wei et al. 2011). The internal consistency coefficient of gratitude in this study was good (Cronbach’s α = 0.67).

Life satisfaction

Life satisfaction was measured by the Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diner et al., 1985). This scale has 5 items (e.g., “In most ways, my life is close to my ideal”), and the Chinese version has been well validated (Chang et al., 2003). The responses ranged from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). A higher total score indicated a higher level of satisfaction with life. The Cronbach alpha coefficient of this scale in our study was 0.72.

Left-behind children

One item was used to classify the respondents’ current left-behind status: “Are you left in a rural hometown for study while your parents move to cities for work more than six consecutive months?” Respondents could answer yes or no to this question.

Data Analysis

The analyses were performed using SPSS 22.0 software. First, descriptive statistics (including mean, standard deviation, and Cronbach’s alpha of each variable and zero-order correlations) were run. Second, the SPSS macro-PROCESS (model 6) was adopted to examine the indirect effects of self-compassion and gratitude in the association between child neglect and life satisfaction. Then, the 5,000 times bootstrapping method was used to estimate the indirect effects with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Direct and indirect effects of child neglect on life satisfaction were calculated with unstandardized parameter estimates and bias-corrected 95% CIs. If the CI did not include zero, it suggested that the direct and indirect effects were significant. In our study, age, gender, and family economic status were controlled in examining the direct and indirect effects.

Results

Descriptive Statistics

Table 1 presents the comparisons of child neglect, self-compassion, gratitude, and life satisfaction between LBC and children living with their parents. Compared with their counterparts, LBC reported a lower level of gratitude (F = 6.03, p < .05) and life satisfaction (F = 11.38, p < .01). They also reported a higher level of physical neglect (F = 8.13, p < .01) and emotional neglect (F = 7.05, p < .01).

Table 1.

Comparisons of Life Satisfaction, Self-compassion, Gratitude, and Child Neglect Between LBC and Their Counterparts.

	Total Sample(n = 1,845)	Left Behind Status		F
	Total Sample(n = 1,845)	No (n = 754)	Yes (n = 1,091)	F
Life satisfaction	19.62 (6.30)	20.18 (6.33)	19.16 (6.24)	11.38**
Self-compassion	80.19 (12.02)	81.27 (12.47)	79.80 (11.79)	2.80*
Gratitude	29.56 (6.24)	30.01 (6.17)	29.28 (6.26)	6.03*
Physical neglect	10.25 (3.20)	10.21 (3.30)	11.25 (3.12)	8.13**
Emotional neglect	13.71 (3.05)	13.61 (3.09)	14.56 (3.04)	7.05**

Note. * p < .05, ** p < .01.

Zero-order Correlations Between Child Neglect, Self-compassion, Gratitude and Life Satisfaction

Table 2 presents the zero-order correlations between child neglect (physical neglect and emotional neglect), self-compassion, gratitude, and life satisfaction among LBC. Physical and emotional neglect were all negatively associated with life satisfaction at the p < .01 level of significance. Self-compassion and gratitude were all positively associated with life satisfaction (r = .24, p < .01; r = .28, p < .01). Physical and emotional neglect were negatively associated with self-compassion (r = –.18, p < .01; r = –.22, p < .01) and gratitude (r = –.31, p < .01; r = –.37, p < .01) respectively.

Table 2.

Zero-Order Correlations Between Child Neglect, Self-compassion, Gratitude, and Life Satisfaction Among LBC in Rural China (n = 1,091).

	Physical Neglect	Emotional Neglect	Self-compassion	Gratitude	Life Satisfaction
Physical neglect	1.00
Emotional neglect	0.34*	1.00
Self-compassion	–0.18*	–0.22*	1.00
Gratitude	–0.31*	–0.37*	0.32*	1.00
Life satisfaction	–0.25*	–0.30*	0.24*	0.28*	1.00

Note. * p < .01.

Direct Effect of Child Neglect and Mediating Effects of Self-compassion and Gratitude

Table 3 presents the direct and indirect effects through self-compassion and gratitude of child neglect on life satisfaction, while controlling the participants’ age, gender, and family economic status. The direct effect of physical neglect on life satisfaction was significant (β = –0.193, p < .001, 95% CI [–0.256, –0.137]). The direct effect of emotional neglect on life satisfaction was also significant (β = –0.152, p < .001, 95% CI [–0.209, –0.093]).

Table 3.

A series of regressions of life satisfaction on physical neglect among LBC and their counterparts

DV	IV	β	SE	p	R²_Adjusted	p
LBC
Self-compassion	Physical neglect	–0.22	0.11	.000	0.05	.000
	Age	–0.04	0.31	.16
	Gender	–0.09	0.70	.002
	Poverty	–0.02	0.76	.36
	Province	0.02	0.82	.49
Gratitude	Self-compassion	0.25	0.01	.000	0.20	.000
	Physical neglect	–0.30	0.05	.000
	Age	0.03	0.15	.23
	Gender	0.10	0.34	.000
	Poverty	–0.02	0.37	.36
	Province	–0.06	0.40	.03
Life satisfaction	Self-compassion	0.12	0.01	.000	0.19	.000
	Gratitude	0.15	0.03	.000
	Physical neglect	–0.19	0.06	.000
	Age	–0.12	0.15	.000
	Gender	–0.07	0.34	.01
	Poverty	–0.13	0.37	.000
	Province	–0.10	0.40	.000
Non-LBC
Self-compassion	Physical neglect	–0.20	0.44	.000	0.04	.000
	Age	–0.09	0.36	.01
	Gender	–0.07	0.91	.03
	Poverty	0.01	1.04	.65
	Province	0.03	0.93	.30
Gratitude	Self-compassion	0.21	0.01	.000	0.15	.000
	Physical neglect	–0.27	0.21	.000
	Age	–0.01	0.16	.70
	Gender	0.04	0.42	.20
	Poverty	–0.07	0.48	.02
	Province	–0.03	0.43	.39
Life satisfaction	Self-compassion	0.17	0.01	.000	0.20	.000
	Gratitude	0.18	0.03	.000
	Physical neglect	–0.16	0.22	.000
	Age	–0.12	0.16	.000
	Gender	–0.09	0.42	.004
	Poverty	–0.10	0.48	.002
	Province	–0.11	0.43	.000

Table 4.

A Series of Regressions of Life Satisfaction on Emotional Neglect among Left-Behind Children and Their Counterparts.

DV	IV	β	SE	p	R²_Adjusted	p
Left-behind children
Self-compassion	Emotional neglect	–0.18	0.11	.000	0.04	.000
	Age	–0.06	0.31	.05
	Gender	–0.06	0.70	.02
	Poverty	–0.04	0.76	.14
	Province	0.03	0.83	.27
Gratitude	Self-compassion	0.27	0.01	.000	0.18	.000
	Emotional neglect	–0.25	0.05	.000
	Age	0.01	0.15	.67
	Gender	0.13	0.34	.000
	Poverty	–0.04	0.37	.09
	Province	–0.04	0.40	.15
Life satisfaction	Self-compassion	0.13	0.01	.000	0.18	.000
	Gratitude	0.17	0.03	.000
	Emotional neglect	–0.15	0.06	.000
	Age	–0.13	0.15	.000
	Gender	–0.05	0.35	.05
	Poverty	–0.14	0.37	.000
	Province	–0.09	0.40	.001
Non left-behind children
Self-compassion	Emotional neglect	–0.18	0.45	.000	0.04	.000
	Age	–0.10	0.36	.006
	Gender	–0.06	0.91	.09
	Poverty	0.008	1.04	.81
	Province	0.04	0.94	.27
Gratitude	Self-compassion	0.22	0.01	.000	0.16	.000
	Emotional neglect	–0.28	0.21	.000
	Age	–0.02	0.16	.51
	Gender	0.06	0.42	.06
	Poverty	–0.08	0.48	.01
	Province	–0.02	0.43	.55
Life satisfaction	Self-compassion	0.18	0.01	.000	0.19	.000
	Gratitude	0.18	0.03	.000
	Emotional neglect	–0.14	0.22	.000
	Age	–0.12	0.16	.000
	Gender	–0.08	0.42	.01
	Poverty	–0.11	0.48	.001
	Province	–0.10	0.43	.002

Table 5.

Bootstrapping Analyses of Direct and Indirect Effects of Child Neglect on Life Satisfaction among Left-Behind Children and Their Counterparts.

	Effect	SE	95% CI
	Effect	SE	Lower Upper
Left-behind children
Physical neglect
Direct effect	–0.193***	0.061	–0.446	–0.205
Indirect effect through self-compassion	–0.026***	0.013	–0.072	–0.020
Indirect effect through gratitude	–0.045***	0.017	–0.105	–0.034
Indirect effect through self-compassion and gratitude	–0.008**	0.003	–0.019	–0.005
Emotional neglect
Direct effect	–0.152**	0.061	–0.367	–0.125
Indirect effect through self-compassion	–0.023***	0.010	–0.053	–0.012
Indirect effect through gratitude	–0.042***	0.015	–0.085	–0.026
Indirect effect through self-compassion and gratitude	–0.008**	0.002	–0.015	–0.003
Non left-behind children
Physical neglect
Direct effect	–0.158***	0.0351	–0.227	–0.088
Indirect effect through self-compassion	–0.036***	0.010	–0.059	–0.017
Indirect effect through gratitude	–0.050***	0.012	–0.076	–0.026
Indirect effect through self-compassion and gratitude	–0.008**	0.002	–0.014	–0.003
Emotional neglect
Direct effect	–0.146***	0.035	–0.216	–0.076
Indirect effect through self-compassion	–0.033***	0.009	–0.054	–0.016
Indirect effect through gratitude	–0.052***	0.013	–0.080	–0.028
Indirect effect through self-compassion and gratitude	–0.007**	0.002	–0.013	–0.003

Note. Gender, age, poverty, and province were controlled for. ** p < .01, *** p < .001.

The indirect effects of self-compassion and gratitude on the association between two types of child neglect and life satisfaction were separately examined while controlling for the other type of child neglect as well as participants’ age, gender, family economic status and province. We found that self-compassion has a mediating effect on the association between physical neglect and life satisfaction (a₁b₁ = –0.026, p < .001, 95% CI [–0.046, –0.014], see Figure 1). Self-compassion also has mediating effect on the association between emotional neglect and life satisfaction (a₁b₁ = –0.023, p < .001, 95% CI [–0.040, –0.012] see Figure 2). Gratitude also has mediating effects on the association between physical neglect and life satisfaction (a₂b₂ = –0.045, p < .001, 95% CI [–0.073, –0.027]), as well as between emotional neglect and life satisfaction (a₂b₂ = –0.042, p < .001, 95% CI [–0.066, –0.027]). In addition, the indirect effects of child neglect on life satisfaction through self-compassion and then gratitude were also significant (β = –0.008, p < .01, 95% CI [–0.014, –0.004]; (β = –0.008, p < .01, 95% CI [–0.014, –0.004]). Furthermore, the indirect effects through self-compassion and gratitude were larger than that of the indirect effect only through gratitude or self-compassion (β = –0.022, p < .001; β = –0.04, p < .001). The indirect effect of self-compassion and gratitude accounted for 29.0% of the total effect from physical neglect to life satisfaction. Meanwhile, the indirect effect of self-compassion and gratitude accounted for 32.4% of the total effect from emotional neglect to life satisfaction. It should be noted that the effects of child neglect on life satisfaction and associated mechanisms have shown similar pattern for non-LBC (see Table4 and Table5).

Figure 1.

The Direct and Indirect Effects of Physical Neglect on Life Satisfaction for LBC.

Figure 2.

The Direct and Indirect Effects of Emotional Neglect on Life Satisfaction for LBC.

Discussion

Over the past 20 years substantial evidence has indicated that child neglect is quite prevalent in both Western and Eastern countries (Gilbert et al., 2009; Kobulsky et al., 2019). Also, child neglect has been proved to be a significant problem that threatens children’s health and well-being (Cecil et al., 2016; Naughton et al., 2017). The present study aims to explore the protective roles of self-compassion and gratitude in the association between child neglect and life satisfaction among left-behind rural Chinese children.

Our study found that LBC reported a higher degree of physical neglect and emotional neglect than their rural counterparts living with both parents, which is consistent with previous studies (Li et al., 2015; Zhong et al., 2012). Actually, the LBC suffer double neglect from migrant parents and caregivers at home. While it is not the intention of the migrant parents, their absence, by definition, results in a form of child neglect (Chen & Chan, 2016), leaving LBC without their parents’ life care and adequate emotional communication. The family members who take care of the children at home have to do more farm work and domestic work after the main laborers of the family had left to work in the cities, therefore, often lack the time and energy to adequately care for the LBC (Wen et al., 2019). In addition, major caregivers in rural areas of LBC (e.g., grandparents) lack scientific knowledge about caring for children and are unable to provide nutritious diets, medical care, psychological care, and other necessary care (Yang et al., 2014).

Our findings on the associations between child neglect, self-compassion, gratitude, and life satisfaction were also consistent with previous studies (Booker & Dunsmore, 2019; You et al., 2018; Wang et al., 2018; Zhang et al., 2020). The neglected LBC reported a lower degree of life satisfaction (Wang et al., 2018) and they were less likely to be compassionate toward themselves and showed a lower grateful disposition (Wu et al., 2018). Consistent with previous findings, people who are compassionate towards themselves and feel grateful report higher degree of life satisfaction (Chen et al., 2011; Liu et al., 2017; Zhao & Lei, 2015). In the present study, self-compassion and gratitude were negatively associated with physical neglect and emotional neglect. The neglect of children’s needs for physical and mental growth and development would damage their senses of self and the positive view of others and the world (Wu et al., 2018), thus making them less satisfied with their lives.

In our study, child neglect among LBC was associated with life satisfaction directly and indirectly through self-compassion and gratitude. After being neglected, which is a negative life event, LBC may often internalize neglect as their own problem and decrease the level of self-compassion. They feel deprived of a feeling of warmth and benevolence, which in turn hinders their development of gratitude (Wu et al., 2018; Yu et al., 2020). In other words, LBC with experience of neglect are less likely to be kind to themselves and grateful to others, and thus they are more likely to be dissatisfied with their lives.

Furthermore, our study revealed that both self-compassion and gratitude have significant indirect effects on life satisfaction for LBC suffering from child neglect. And when they act together, the effect might be more powerful than if they were alone, thus self-compassion and gratitude both need to be strengthened as much as possible. In addition, the impact of child neglect on life satisfaction and the mediating roles of self-compassion and gratitude have shown similar pattern for both LBC and their rural counterparts. The reasons for this similarity may lie in: First, Chinese government’s policies targeting LBC have brought positive impacts since 2016, as parents, schools and communities and social service organizations have been mobilized to care for them. Second, there are over 70% left-behind rural children in our surveyed provinces, so LBC as a majority may gain resilience quickly from their peers, which deserves further examination in future studies.

Although important findings were revealed by the present study, there are several limitations that should be noted. First, this study used a cross-sectional approach that limits the examination of mediating effects over time, as all variables were measured at one-time point during the survey period. Future studies could use a longitudinal design to test the roles of self-compassion and gratitude between child neglect and life satisfaction. Second, all variables were based on self-reports from children, which involves common method variance, recall bias, and is subject to social desirability, affecting the validity of research. So, multiple approaches of data collection and a social desirability scale should be adopted to improve the validity of survey research. Third, our findings only suggest the specific emotional paths of child neglect on the life satisfaction of LBC in rural China. Researchers should be cautious when interpreting the findings in a different cultural context and other cognitive and behavioral paths were not fully investigated, especially sensitive to LBC.

Conclusion and Implications

Despite these limitations, this study has contributed to our understanding of the association between child neglect and life satisfaction among LBC in rural China. The present study indicates that child neglect is negatively associated with the life satisfaction of LBC in rural China, and this association occurs through decreased self-compassion and then decreased gratitude. Guided by positive psychology and the emotion regulation theory, it has provided first-hand empirical evidence on the mechanism through which child neglect influences life satisfaction, which deepens our understanding of how to protect the rural LBC who suffer from child neglect as well as promote their mental health and resilience. Finally, this study has generated important implications for child neglect prevention and intervention programs for child protection in rural China. Knowing that there is a high prevalence of child neglect and that it has a negative impact on life satisfaction, service providers and policy makers should support programs that reduce child neglect and associated negative consequences. Our research suggests that self-compassion and gratitude are potentially effective elements that could be incorporated into interventions to improve life satisfaction of LBC who suffer from child neglect, especially in rural context.

Footnotes

Compliance with Ethical Standards

The authors have strictly complied with ethical standards.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research and/or authorship of this article: The research has been supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities and the Research Funds of Renmin University of China (20XNL014).

Informed Consent

Written informed consents were obtained from all participants and their caregivers.

ORCID iD

Huiping Zhang

Author Biographies

Huiping Zhang is professor in Center for Studies of Sociological Theory and Method, and the School of Sociology and Population studies at Renmin University of China. She received a PhD degree in family study at the University of Hong Kong. Her research focuses on child and family studies, and mental health.

Yali Li is a MSW student in Department of Social Work and Social Policy, and the School of Sociology and Population studies at Renmin University of China. She received a bachelor’s degree from Renmin University. Her research focuses on disadvantaged child and family studies.

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