Abstract
Background
The plight of left‐behind children affected by parental migration has aroused widespread public concern in China. However, limited research has been conducted on the positive aspects of the development (e.g., subjective well‐being) among left‐behind children. Recently, a new means to investigating the mechanisms of positive development in left‐behind children emerged from the positive youth development (PYD) approach. Grounded in the framework of PYD, this study was designed to examine how ecological assets (i.e., neighborhood social cohesion and trusting relationships with caregivers) and individual strength (i.e., resilience) predict subjective well‐being among left‐behind children.
Methods
Altogether 1,449 left‐behind children (50.70% boys; Mage = 12.11 years, SD = 1.84) were recruited to complete questionnaires designed to assess perceived neighborhood social cohesion, trusting relationships with caregivers, resilience, and subjective well‐being.
Results
The results show that neighborhood social cohesion and trusting relationships with caregivers positively predicted left‐behind children's subjective well‐being. Moreover, structural equation modeling results reveal that resilience partially mediated the effect of neighborhood social cohesion and trusting relationships with caregivers on subjective well‐being.
Conclusions
In this research we identified key contextual and personal enablers for subjective well‐being among left‐behind children. The results provide some important implications regarding the manner in which subjective well‐being can be promoted among left‐behind children by increasing neighborhood and family ecological assets and enhancing resilience.