Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Comment
  • Published:

A call for immediate action to improve the mental health of left-behind children in the post-COVID-19 era

Nature Mental Health volume 2, pages 466–468 (2024)Cite this article

Subjects

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused profound mental health problems among left-behind children (LBC). Here we discuss the challenges that LBC are facing in the post-COVID-19 era and the potential underlying mechanisms, and provide recommendations for future policy priorities.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: The number of immigrants and LBC globally and in China.

References

  1. Fellmeth, G. et al. Lancet 392, 2567–2582 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  2. Mahidol University & UNICEF. https://go.nature.com/3xPTANo (2020).

  3. Liu, J. J., Bao, Y., Huang, X., Shi, J. & Lu, L. Lancet Child Adolesc. Health 4, 347–349 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. Wu, P. et al. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry Ment. Health 17, 113 (2023).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  5. Graham, E. & Jordan, L. P. J. Marriage Fam. 73, 763–787 (2011).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  6. Gao, C., Tadesse, E. & Khalid, S. Child Indic. Res. 15, 1719–1740 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  7. Li, K. et al. Int. J. Soc. Psychiatry 69, 916–927 (2023).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Pfefferbaum, B. J. Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry 61, 957 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  9. Hillis, S. D. et al. Pediatrics 148, e2021053760 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Van Lancker, W. & Parolin, Z. Lancet Public Health 5, e243–e244 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  11. Britto, P. R. et al. Lancet 389, 91–102 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Danese, A., Smith, P., Chitsabesan, P. & Dubicka, B. Br. J. Psychiatry 216, 159–162 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Walsh, F. Fam. Process 46, 207–227 (2007).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. McAuliffe, M. & Triandafyllidou, A. (eds) World Migration Report 2022 (IOM, 2021).

  15. UNICEF. https://go.nature.com/4aIuxuo (2022).

  16. National Bureau of Statistics of China, UNICEF China, UNFPA China. Population Status of Children in China in 2015: Facts and Figures (2017).

Download references

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge funding support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grants 71925009 and 71861147003) to C.L., and the China Scholarship Council (grants 202003250063 and 202007650029) to J.L. and Q.R. These sponsors of fundings have not taken part into the work of the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    Jinkai Li & Qiuzhen Ren

  2. China Academy for Rural Development (CARD), School of Public Affairs, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

    Erga Luo

  3. Catalytic and Plasma Process Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

    Chuanlong Ma

  4. China Center for Agricultural Policy, School of Advanced Agricultural Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China

    Chengfang Liu

Authors
  1. Jinkai Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Qiuzhen Ren
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Erga Luo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Chuanlong Ma
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Chengfang Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Qiuzhen Ren or Erga Luo.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Peer review

Peer review information

Nature Mental Health thanks the anonymous reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Li, J., Ren, Q., Luo, E. et al. A call for immediate action to improve the mental health of left-behind children in the post-COVID-19 era. Nat. Mental Health 2, 466–468 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44220-024-00253-x

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44220-024-00253-x

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing