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Online Parent-Child Communication and Left-Behind Children’s Subjective Well-Being: the Effects of Parent-Child Relationship and Gratitude

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Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate the association between online parent-child communication and left-behind children’s adaptation as well as the underlying mechanisms – the mediating role of parent-child relationship and the moderating role of gratitude. A sample of 756 left-behind children (53.94% boys, Mage = 14.42) in central China was recruited to complete measures on online parent-child communication, parent-child relationship, gratitude, and subjective well-being. Results showed that online parent-child communication was positively associated with left-behind children’s subjective well-being, and parent-child relationship could mediate this relationship. Moreover, both the direct effect of online parent-child communication on left-behind children’ subjective well-being and the mediating effect of parent-child relationship were moderated by gratitude, they were stronger among individuals with higher gratitude. This study not only deepens our understanding on left-behind children’ development and adaptation in current information society, but also provides guidance for the intervention and improvement of their adaptation.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by MOE (Ministry of Education in China) Project of Humanities and Social Sciences (19YJC190019), the Social Science Fund Project of Shaanxi Province (2018Q05), the Postdoctoral Research Foundation of China (2018 M631131), and the Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior (CCNU), Ministry of Education (2018B02). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

We thank Xiaoyi Shao at School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Xi’an Jiaotong University, for his assistance in editing the English writing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Social Psychology, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, 710049, China

    Gengfeng Niu, Zhanxing Li & Li Wu

  2. Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior (CCNU), Ministry of Education, Wuhan, 430079, China

    Gengfeng Niu, Huanyou Chai, Li Wu, Xiaojun Sun & Zongkui Zhou

  3. National Engineering Research Center for E-Learning, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, 430079, China

    Huanyou Chai

  4. School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, 430079, China

    Xiaojun Sun & Zongkui Zhou

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  1. Gengfeng Niu
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Correspondence to Xiaojun Sun or Zongkui Zhou.

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Niu, G., Chai, H., Li, Z. et al. Online Parent-Child Communication and Left-Behind Children’s Subjective Well-Being: the Effects of Parent-Child Relationship and Gratitude. Child Ind Res 13, 967–980 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-019-09657-z

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