Developmental Trajectory of Depressive Symptoms among Left-behind Children in Rural China: The Roles of Family Adversity and Personal Growth Initiative.

Abstract

The adversity faced by left-behind children due to parental migration affects their depressive symptoms, but little is known about the mechanism underlying this association and protective factors from a dynamic perspective. The present study examined the association between family adversity and the developmental trajectory of depressive symptoms, and the potential mediating and moderating role of personal growth initiative in this association among left-behind children. A total of 363 left-behind children (48.8% female; M_age = 12.97 at T1, SD_age = 0.55) from five rural middle schools in the Hunan Province of China participated in this three-wave study, employing one-year intervals between assessments. The results indicated the initial level of personal growth initiative mediated the association between family adversity at T1 and the development of depressive symptoms, while the growth rate of personal growth initiative both mediated and moderated this association, with consistent effects across sexes. These findings underscore the critical role of personal growth initiative in the association between family adversity and depressive symptoms among left-behind children.