為考察父母關愛對農村留守兒童抑郁的影響機制,采用父母關愛問卷、自尊量表、神經質人格問卷、友誼質量問卷和抑郁量表對279名四年級和七年級農村兒童進行2.5年追蹤調查。以前、后測間一直處于相同留守狀態的207名兒童為分析對象,結果顯示:與非留守兒童相比,前后測中單、雙留守兒童報告的父母關愛均較少、抑郁均較高;雙留守兒童的后測抑郁顯著高于前測;控制性別對抑郁的作用后,父母關愛對留守兒童抑郁有即時與延時負向預測效應;即時預測中,自尊、神經質起部分中介作用;延時預測中,后測自尊、神經質起部分中介作用;增加控制后測父母關愛對后測抑郁、自尊、神經質的作用后,前測父母關愛對后測抑郁的直接效應降低但仍接近顯著,同時對后測自尊、神經質的直接作用不顯著;上述兩種控制條件下,前測父母關愛與前測友誼質量交互項對后測自尊與神經質的預測作用均顯著,隨著友誼質量的提高,父母關愛對自尊、神經質的延時影響增大,后測自尊與神經質的中介效應隨之增強;該調節效應僅發生在初中留守兒童中。

There are about 61.02 million left-behind rural children in China, who were left at their hometowns by one or both of their rural-to-urban migrant parents. As a result of parental migration, left-behind children receive compromised parental care and are at higher risk for depression than non-left-behind children. In light of the huge number of Chinese left-behind children and their heightened risk for depression, the association between parental care and left-behind children’s depression and the underlying mechanisms were examined in a sample of 279 fourth-graders and seventh-graders over 2.5 years. The analytic sample included 72 children left behind by both parents, 79 children left behind by fathers, and 56 non-left-behind children. These children’s family structure, guardians, and the left behind type remained stable across the 2.5 years. The results showed that children left behind at home by one or both of their migrant parents reported less parental care and higher depression at both the pretest and the posttest than non-left-behind children. Depression assessed at posttest was higher than that at pretest among children left behind by both parents. When controlling for gender, parental care at pretest was associated with concurrent depression among left-behind children via self-esteem and neuroticism; parental care at pretest also was associated with left-behind children’s depression at posttest via self-esteem and neuroticism at posttest. When controlling for gender and posttest parental care, pretest parental care was marginally associated with posttest depression but the mediation effects via posttest self-esteem and neuroticism disappeared. Under either controlling condition, the interaction between pretest parental care and pretest friendship quality predicted posttest self-esteem and neuroticism. Specifically, associations between pretest parental care and posttest self-esteem and neuroticism were stronger among left-behind 7 th-graders with higher friendship quality than those with lower friendship quality. The findings of this study supported some propositions of the diathesis-stress theory on depression. Moreover, the findings have several practical implications for future intervention on reducing depression among left-behind children. Programs that aim to decrease those children’s depression should pay attention to strengthening their parental care, improving their self-esteem and emotional stability, and promoting their friendship quality.