Studies on Left-Behind Children in China: Reviewing Paradigm Shifts

Abstract

More than 60 million children have been left behind in rural China by parents going to work in cities. Given the effects of child-parent separation (CPS) on development, this phenomenon has drawn considerable governmental and academic attention in recent years. Outlining developments with reference to relevant studies, this review characterizes the perspectives used to explore and understand this phenomenon in terms of three major paradigms: (1) the diagnostic approach, which takes for granted the assumption that CPS would be the only cause of negative effects observed among left-behind children (LBC), and has focused primarily on measuring psychological and behavioral disorders among these "problematic kids"; (2) the advanced diagnostic approach, which refines the previous approach by incorporating theories and techniques developed outside of China, elaborating on the early approach by bringing into consideration more factors and exploring the interactions between CPS and these factors, particularly social ones; (3) the sociologically oriented approach, which provides the research with a much broader framework in terms of how to orient the phenomenon of LBC, especially the transformation of China's social and economic systems during the last 30 years of urbanization, where the reproduction of labor has been based on a "splitting family structure," such that problems associated with the phenomenon of LBC cannot be solved without systematic social and economic changes. Based on these analyses, future directions for research on LBC in China are also discussed.