Living with contradictions: A corpus-assisted analysis of grown-up left-behind children discourses in Zhihu

Abstract

As the early generation of left-behind children (LBC) in China transition into adulthood and integrate into society, there is a pressing need to understand their experiences beyond the limited scope of existing research. While existing studies have predominantly focused on the short-term and long-term effects of left-behind experiences on children, there exists a notable research gap concerning grown-up LBC. This study addresses this gap by employing the corpus-assisted discourse studies (CADS) to examine the discourse of grown-up LBC on social media. By utilizing Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic modeling, collocation and concordance analysis, and the ecological systems theory, this study unveils the challenges and opportunities encountered by grown-up LBC, along with their underlying reasons. The findings reveal a myriad of challenges experienced during their left-behind childhood, including material poverty, inadequate parental care, peer bullying, and deficiencies in family and school education. These challenges have been found to contribute to poor psychological well-being, weakened sense of family, distant relationships with parents, and difficulties in forming intimate connections for grown-up LBC. Significantly, the study also uncovers potential positive outcomes, such as the development of self-esteem, independence, and maturity. Moreover, the research highlights the intricate interactions among microsystems, mesosystems, exosystems, and macrosystems, collectively influencing the growth and development of LBC. The findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the complex factors influencing the lives of grown-up LBC.