American Left-Behind Children Oral History

This paper examines emotional resilience, and independence in “left behind children,” defined as those growing up with one or more parents working and living away from home. In considering existing literature on the subject, as well as drawing from oral interviews conducted, this paper suggests that “left behind children” are indeed more emotionally resilient and independent than their peers who do not fall into this category. The participants in this study are five high-school students, two from China and three from America, who grew up with one or more parents living outside of the household. This research complicates broader assumptions regarding “left behind” identity, a term typically associated with low socioeconomic rural Chinese children of migrant workers. The findings of this paper highlight the interviewees’ minimal emotional distress and relatively apathetic dispositions toward their circumstances, challenging canonical assumptions of adverse mental and physical effects.