Research on Influencing Factors of Rural Children's Psychological Development in China

There is little systematic research on the psychological development of rural children as a whole in previous studies. This study was designed to examine rural children's psychological development and its influencing factors. Responses from 2,410 rural children throughout the Central China were collected through a survey research. Factor analysis was used to analyze the variables of psychological development for rural children. Results indicate: (a) rural children are developing well in psychology, (b) the order of the important factors influencing rural children's psychological development are gregariousness, parental reliance and subjective well-being, (c) peer group is an important variable of subjective well-being of rural children. Based on the research conclusions, the paper proposes that families, schools, the society and the government should make joint efforts to raise the gregariousness awareness of rural children, to resolve the problems of rural children whose parents are migrant workers, and to guarantee rural children's mental health.