Association between different parent-child separation types and emotion regulation strategies among preschool children / 中国学校卫生

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To understand effects of timing and duration of separation experiences from parents on emotion regulation of left-behind preschoolers,and to provide the reference for phychological instruction and intervention among the special groups of children.@*Methods@#Children’s emotion regulation strategy and the relevant information among 1 373 left-behind preschool children from Funan county in Fuyang.Qianshan county in Anqing,Changfeng county and Fexi county inFeixi were investigated.@*Results@#Children with left-behind experiences younger than 18 months old tend to use less cognitive restructuring (P=0.03) and alternative action strategies (P=0.00) than non-left behind children. Children separated from father less than 47 months (median) and 36 months (median) from mother tend to use less cognitive restructuring (P=0.00) and alternative action strategies (P=0.00) than non-left behind children.@*Conclusion@#Separation experiences from parents younger than 18 months old exert severe damage on children’s emotional regulation. With the duration of separation increases, children show resilience of emotion regulation, which might be a protective factor for negative emotion due to parent-child separation.