Parenting style and aggression in Chinese undergraduates with left-behind experience: The mediating role of inferiority

Abstract

Abstract Many Chinese college students have left-behind experience, as they stayed in hometown during childhood while their parents migrated to other regions for work. Previous studies have found that college students with left-behind experience usually present high-level aggression. In order to examine the relationship between parenting style and aggression in college students with left-behind experience, and to explore the mediating role of inferiority, two hundred and ninety-six Chinese college students with left-behind experience were recruited and completed survey questionnaires at two time points. Specifically, parenting style and aggression were assessed at the first time point. After 6 months, inferiority and aggression were assessed again. Results showed that feeling of inferiority meditated the contributions of paternal care and maternal control at T1 to the aggression behaviour at T2 of college students with left-behind experience, after controlling for prior aggression at T1. These findings indicate that among college students with left-behind experience, maternal control is a risk factor of aggression, and paternal care is a protective factor of aggression. In addition, high level of maternal control and low level of paternal care may increase aggression behaviour by increasing the level of feeling of inferiority among this population.