Relationship between parent-child attachment and depression among migrant children and left-behind children in China

Objectives: The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between parent-child attachment and depression in migrant children (MC), left-behind children (LBC) and non-left-behind children (NLBC) in China.

Study design: This was a cross-sectional study.

Methods: In total, 4294 children (4th to 9th grade) participated in this study, including 677 MC, 1411 LBC and 2206 NLBC from 17 different schools.

Results: The results showed that (1) the prevalence of depression among MC (21.0%) and LBC (14.0%) was significantly higher than that among NLBC (10.8%); (2) the quality of parent-child attachment among MC was statistically significantly lower than among LBC and NLBC (the proportion of children whose father-child and mother-child attachments were both insecure was 55.4% among MC, 29.9% among LBC and 33.7% among NLBC); and (3) depression was affected by the interaction between the group of children and parent-child attachment; compared with NLBC whose parent-child attachments were both secure, the odds ratio of depression among MC whose parent-child attachments were both insecure was 7.39, which was significantly higher than LBC (5.34) and NLBC (4.86) whose parent-child attachments were both insecure.

Conclusions: The prevalence of depression among MC and LBC was significantly higher than that among NLBC in China. The quality of parent-child attachment among MC was statistically significantly lower than that of LBC and NLBC. Secure attachment could reduce the risk of depression and insecure parent-child attachment increased the risk of depression. Depression was affected by the interaction between the group of children and parent-child attachment; migration was a significant risk factor associated with child depression.