China’s “left behind children”

Introduction 

In the recent past, the nuclear family structures have been negatively impacted by the unprecedented migration flows throughout the world. When these children are separated from their parents, it is a saddening fact that a large number of these children will grow up in prolonged separation from the care of their parents. China has been on the sport with the highest number of left-behind children as the larger adult population migrates to large cities in search of employment opportunities leaving their vulnerable children behind. These children become vulnerable to problems like psychological and developmental which affect them for the better part of their lives. The movement is often as a result of financial constraints, limited access to public goods and stringent entry policies (Valtolina & Colombo, 2012). The study is focused on viewing the plight of the left behind children in China. 

Over the last forty years, there have been numerous changes in China's demographics, political, economic and technological. China, once a third world country, is now a superpower recognized worldwide and poses direct competition for both Russia and the United States. The rural migrant workers living on the outskirts of large cities may be attributed to the fast rise of China. The modern China cities have been flocked by migrant workers in the last two decades. The migrant population that leaves the rural settings to work in the large factories in China has also managed to migrate to the large American corporations and throughout the world in search of cheap labour. However, throughout these migrations, the children of the migrants have deeply felt this movement negatively. 

The departure of China’s migrant workers has really affected the children as they are forced to raise themselves while their parents leave for work. Numerous demographical, economic and political problems have been created that has impacted the children negatively despite the migrant workers greatly benefiting the economy of China and this may further affect China in future. This movement led to China's one-child policy which is set to affect China's future. 

“ Left behind” is the term used for the children who have been left by their parents who have gone to seek employment in the large cities. In China, about 61 million children are left behind and about 30 million children who have not celebrated their 18 th birthday do not have parents at home (Haub & Carl, 2014). These children experience worse conditions in the poor inland province where they often live with their grandparents and are visited once a year by their parents. Parents work very hard every day acknowledging this distance ensuring they provide for their families. According to these parents, visiting their children once a year is not enough to properly care for them as they have been away for long (McKenzie, David, & Zhang, 2014). Therefore, instead of an environment that is reliable and safe for the children, they get a broken one. 

Social effects of being unprotected 

These children grow without being properly nurtured and loved by their parents. The future of these children is not well prepared for success as the government also fails to provide them secure neighbourhoods, childcare and schools to assure their future success. Furthermore, with the weak government that does not mind those who live in poverty is another troubling fact. This fact is backed by the fact that despite China's large population living in poverty, there have been slow efforts towards reducing poverty since 1990. 

A large population in China lives out of the large cities and this is a problem as the remaining people are the poor. The biggest migrant population comes from the poor areas hence leave more than possession as they leave their children behind, children who largely depend on them for proper upbringing. Children who are left behind are exposed to a lot of abuses in the rural communities due to lack of government intervention and proper parental care, furthermore, these conditions are so harsh for a population that is going to be the future of China to experience. 

The children left behind currently experience a lot of social ills. Many of them lack proper care due to the broken home environment; moreover, the government has also been so insensitive and not taken care of them. A good example is that most of these children do not receive the proper physical and psychological care they deserve. Some of the problems these children go through is rape. These children are sexually abused even by their teachers in school. The parents of these children leave them back home with their grandparents thinking they are safe but it is just a lie. 

These children live in poor conditions and cannot access legal assistance as these channels are not supported either by the government or the school. These children become victims of rape as there is no one protecting them. Additionally, rape is used by teachers as a form of punishment for them in schools and is a common occurrence. These kinds of torture are negative to the psychological development of these children and tend to affect their productive power. In future, the Chinese economy will be greatly affected by such issues affecting its next generation. The rural communities mostly contain the children left behind. 

The population for the youth between the ages of zero and fourteen is about one hundred and seven million, most children in the rural areas are the ones who are mostly left behind and they make up about less than fifty percent of the entire youth population (C.I.A, 2014). The social skills of these children will be greatly affected together with their ability to keep employment due to the psychological trauma that is bound to haunt them for the rest of their lives. People suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD) due to rape are often associated with avoidance behaviours, social withdrawal, hostility, irritability anger and rage and are likely to Re-experience the trauma according to Violence against Women organization (Yuan, Nicole, Koss, & Mirto, 2014). 

These problems are bound to affect the general interaction of such victims hence may not be able to keep employment since employment demands a lot of interaction and great participation in the society. Furthermore, infertility may become a problem for such rape victims due to dysregulation of sex steroid hence they may lack the ability to give birth as a result of the sexual assault. These children are the future generation of China's economy either as its leaders, middle-class workers or cheap labourers. However, apart from rape, there are also other social problems that affect these children that should be looked into. 

Effects of migration on households 

The migration among the Chinese families is mainly in the poor household; this is because these households need the benefits of labour to ensure their survival. The migration is often taken positively by the spouses despite the difficulties associated with it. Various studies showed that the decision to migrate was a collective one within the poor households (Olimova and Kuddusov, 2007). However, despite the decision being collective, the spouse left to care for the children often experiences various vulnerabilities within the family including social and economic ones, moreover, the children are often hit hard by the migration (UNICEF, 2004). 

In another study, it was found that the women left to take care of the family often experience resistance from the community as a whole in regards to making decisions (Olimova and Bosc, 2003). Additionally, it was found that when the husbands of these women return especially with money, the social standing of these women increases within the society (Olimova & Kuddusov, 2007). The responsibility of taking care of the children and the elderly are often shouldered by the women left in the family, and they are often forced to work for more hours as compared to those in non-migrant families. The women in migrant families often inherit more responsibilities and the role of a family head but one without power and appreciation. The traditional stereotype of the society that men are more valuable than women does not go away despite the changes brought about by migration (Olimova & Kuddusov, 2007). 

Impact on psycho-social well-being 

Various studies have successfully shown that the children get affected psychologically. The psychosocial well-being of the children gets affected when their parents migrate especially if they are left without any parent. The social costs of migration are high in abandoned households, this is often due to lack of parental care and family disintegration. These children are often associated with psychosomatic disorders, the social problems such as emotional problems; depression and anxiety often cause these disorders. The children often feel lost and are always hostile. 

Another study also concluded that these problems often impact hard on the female children as compared to the male. The four impact areas considered due to migration include; 

Depression and isolation - these children are often depressed since they still need the care of their parents especially in the situation where both parents are away. 

Lack of parental control, aggressiveness and rebelliousness - these children tend to vent out their frustrations and become aggressive and rebellious since they lack parental control. 

Bullying, teasing and stigma - these children become the laughing stock among their peers, which often leaves them stigmatized and many are times when they get bullied by their mates. 

Risky behaviour (alcohol, drugs and sexual behaviour )- evidence from numerous studies showed that these children often become sad, withdrawn and depressed which often leads them to risky behaviours during their youth. However, being sad and depressed may also be attributed to the mother who is left behind since they deal with a lot of family burden on their own. 

There are occasions when these children are tempted to commit suicide. It was found that 37% of children aged 14-16 who were left behind had thought of committing suicide, while those who had made plans were 12% and 6.3% failed in their attempt to commit suicide. Generally, it was concluded that when parents migrate, 60% of the children consider suicide (C.I.A, 2014). Lack of proper parenting as a result of migration was attributed to the increased juvenile crime rates which are at 13%. Furthermore, the left behind children was more involved in crimes compared to other juveniles. In regards to psychology, it was found that a majority of these children develop various mechanisms in order to cope with their situation including; 

Defence mechanism  – these children use, rationalization, fantasy or regression to attribute their faults to others. 

Hatred  – they develop the hate for their parents. 

Inter-personal relationship  – they become stubborn and develop introverted behaviours as they are the bullying candidates in school. 

Play hooky  – these children tend to develop a bad attitude for school and begin skipping classes and may end up leaving school. 

Misconduct  – these kids grow up without standards as their parents are not there to set the standards for them hence easily become influenced into abusing drugs. 

Bad habit  – their lives lose meaning and become less concerned about their lives. 

Impact on education 

The left behind children tends to experience a lot of problems from the society associated with their parent's migration. According to psychologists, children left behind at a tender age often become withdrawn and lacks proper concentration. This often affects them even in their studies. Others seem to lose focus and at the end lose interest in attending school. Children stop becoming involved in academic activities due to sadness. The impact of leaving children behind may prove costly for China since a large population of the children is left behind. This shows that a large population will also not successfully get the education due to various reasons associated. Therefore this means the next China's leadership will fall on uneducated children. The effect of leaving children behind may seem normal now for China but in future, it may come to haunt her. 

Impact on health 

There are also health problems associated with these children left behind apart from the psychological problems. China's description according to the Central Intelligence Agency's (C.I.A.) World Fact Book, 15.1% of the drinking water is not fit for human consumption is still being used in the rural areas (C.I.A., 2014). The water in these communities is not safe for the children to consume as it risks bringing them health complications and they may even die, this may end up interfering with their education. This also another added danger these children have to live with every day on top of psychological scars resulting from other problems. The current state of China is reflected by these problems as they clearly show lack of government participation in trying to find solutions. 

According to numerous studies, the decision of the parents to embrace a trade-off between an increase in the family income and disrupted parental care often results in affecting the well-being of children. The government of China has been slow in its reaction to the plight of these children population (C.I.A., 2014). The left-behind children are often associated with various neglects and other health concerns including food diversity, nutrition, and morbidity and health practices. In a research conducted concluded that about 49.2 percent of the children left behind suffered from serious injuries compared those who had both parents at 42%. 

These children are often injured from falling, attacked by animals, burned or slashed. Various studies have concluded that the majority of the left behind children are poor; therefore this means these children do not get proper nutrition due to their socio-economy. Accessing medical health is also another problem for these children due to the poverty levels they are experiencing. Majority of these children often grow up having gone through numerous health problems while a good number of them also die from these challenges. 

Conclusion 

The cost of exposing the next generation to such extreme risks is very dangerous. Therefore, China should find a solution to the problem fast to rescue her future generation. These children become vulnerable to problems like psychological and developmental which affect them for the better part of their lives. Most of these children do not receive the proper physical and psychological care they deserve. The social costs of migration are high in abandoned households, this is often due to lack of parental care and family disintegration. The current state of China is reflected by these problems as they clearly show lack of government participation in trying to find solutions. These children are often associated with psychosomatic disorders, the social problems such as emotional problems; depression and anxiety often cause these disorders. This problem is proving costly for China hence it must salvage these children as they are the future of the country. 

References 

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