Psychological problems arise in China’s left-behind children

Ten million children in rural China go a full year without seeing their parents as adults leave for the nation's boomtowns in search of work, a report into the country's "left behind" generation has found.

一份关于中国“留守儿童”的报告称，由于成年人到大城市找工作，中国农村约有1000万儿童一年到头见不到父母。

The ‘White Paper on Left Behind Children’, published on Thursday by the Beijing Children's Mental Health Care Centre, said children of economic migrants left alone or with elderly relatives can suffer serious psychological problems.

“上学路上儿童心灵关爱中心”18日在北京发布的《中国留守儿童心灵状况白皮书（2015）》指出，独自留在家里或交给老人照管的打工者子女可能会出现严重心理问题。

"We may not be able to help the children directly, but through the impact of the media, the community and by mobilising resources, we can bring about indirect change," said Li Yifei, professor of psychology at Beijing Normal University and report author, in The Beijing Times. "These children need mental nourishment just as much as material donations."
北京师范大学心理学教授李亦菲说：“我们可能没有办法直接帮助这些孩子，但通过媒体和社会的影响，通过调动各种资源，我们可以带动间接变化。这些孩子既需要物质捐助，也需要精神滋养。”

The problem is particularly prevalent in China's poorest regions. Families in China's north-west were identified by the report as being most at risk followed by the south-west. The economically prosperous eastern coastal region was least affected.
在中国的最贫困地区，这个问题尤为严重。该报告说，中国西北部地区的家庭最高危，其次是西南部地区。经济繁荣的东部沿海地区受影响最小。

The reports followed the tragic deaths of four siblings, aged between 5-13 years old, in the south-western province of Guizhou last Tuesday, which sparked widespread sympathy and outrage across China.
报告发表不久前，中国西南部的贵州省刚刚发生了一起5岁到13岁的四兄妹自杀事件，在中国各地引发了广泛同情和愤慨。

The nationwide survey asked 2,000 families living across the breadth of the country, from China's south-eastern industrial belt to its poorest provinces in the north, focusing on the rural areas of Guizhou, Shandong, Hebei, Gansu, Yunnan and Guangxi province.
“上学路上儿童心灵关爱中心”对生活在各地的2000多个家庭进行了调查，其中包括中国东南部的工业地区，也包括西北的贫困省份。

There are an estimated 61 million children left behind in China. The report said 15.1 per cent of this group go without parental contact for an entire year. Some 4.3 per cent do not even receive a phone call in that time.
中国约有6100万留守儿童。 该报告说，其中有15.1%的儿童一年到头见不到父母。大约4.3%的儿童甚至一年都接不到父母的一个电话。

The report pointed to the growing cases of acute distress and anxiety among children who are forced to fend for themselves and live without critical parental nurture.
报告指出，被迫自己照料自己或者没有父母关怀的孩子出现了日益严重的烦乱和焦虑问题。

If children fail to receive a bare minimum of physical contact once at least once a week, their odds of developing mental illness are significantly increased.
如果孩子得不到一周至少一次的直接接触，出现精神疾病的可能性就会显著增大。

The report also cited gender differences, claiming that signs of distress and anxiety were more prevalent in girls than boys, as they tend to be "more sensitive, cautious and introvert", and less able to express their trauma.
报告还提到了性别差异，认为女孩的烦乱和焦虑问题比男孩更严重，因为她们“心思更加细密、敏感，更为内向，不轻易表露”。