AUTHOR=Gao Feifei , Yao Yuan , Yao Chengwen , Xiong Yan , Ma Honglin , Liu Hongbo TITLE=The Status of Pro-social Tendency of Left-Behind Adolescents in China: How Family Function and Self-Esteem Affect Pro-social Tendencies JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology VOLUME=Volume 10 - 2019 YEAR=2019 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01202 DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01202 ISSN=1664-1078 ABSTRACT=
In China, adolescents are frequently left behind. To date, few studies have focused on the pro-social tendencies of left-behind adolescents and the relationship of family function, self-esteem, and pro-social tendency is yet to be examined. This study, therefore, aims to understand the status of pro-social tendency of left-behind adolescents and to explore the mediating and moderating roles of self-esteem in the relationship between family function and pro-social tendency. A large, school-based survey was conducted in three Chinese provinces. An analysis of covariance was first used to identify the differences in pro-social tendency between adolescents who were and were not left behind. We then analyzed the variance within left-behind adolescents using demographics, left-behind type, years of being left-behind, and caregiver related characteristics. A structural equation model was used to analyze the relationship of family function, self-esteem, and pro-social tendency, with bootstrapping used to explore the mediating role of self-esteem. Additionally, an ordinary least squares regression was used to examine the moderating effect of self-esteem. The results showed that the pro-social tendency of left-behind adolescents was lower than in non-left-behind adolescents (