This comment from the Lancet reviews the implications of the COVID-19 crisis on children's mental health, including children who are separated from their caregivers.

The present research contains two studies: in Study 1 the authors compared prosocial behavior between emerging adults with left-behind experience (EA-LB) and their non-left-behind counterparts; in Study 2, the authors, adopting a sub-sample of Study 1, examined the direct and interactive effects of parental autonomy support, mindfulness, and gender on prosocial behavior in EA-LB.

This study examines the psychosocial impact of rural-to-urban migration on youth in China, a fast-urbanizing country with 268 million rural migrant workers and 103 million migrant youth. Using data from 2012 China Family Panel Studies (n = 2084, age 10–15), this study examines psychosocial disparities (depressive symptoms, social relationships, and future aspirations) among youth migrated with parents, youth left behind by migrant parents, and their peers.

The authors of this article investigated the associations of individual- and family-related factors with psychological distress in a sample of left-behind children (LBC) aged 10–15 using logistic regression. A total of 954 LBC were included in the study.

This study examined the effects of left-behind experience on college students’ mental health and compared the prevalence of mental health problems in left-behind students and control students (without left-behind experience) in China.

This study examined the association between parental migration and early childhood nutrition of left-behind children (LBC) in rural China.

This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the Happy Parenting: Round-the-Clock Parenting (HPRCP) program for Macau parents on shift work, using randomized controlled trial design.

In this paper a cross-sectional study was conducted in a common rural village in China to examine the amelioration effect of social support for left-behind children (LBC).

This study aimed to survey the extent of social anxiety in rural left-behind children in China, reveal the relationship of social anxiety to family cohesion and adaptability, and provide a theoretical basis for health intervention.

This study zeroes in on the issue of left-behind children and draws on data from the China Family Panel Studies surveys to examine the impacts of parental absence on child development in psychological, physical and cognitive domains.