Relationship Between Stressful Life Events on Empathy of Left-Behind Children in China: The Role of Self-Esteem and Gender

In China, the number of left-behind children (LBC) was more than 61 million, accounting for 21.88% of the child population. Due to a lack of parental care and insufficient family support, these children were more susceptible to stressful life events, such as interpersonal relationship (e.g., conflicts with classmates or friends) and study pressure (e.g., failures in the exam). Empathy, as an important protective factor, played a significant role in promoting the socialization and coping with stressful life events of LBC. Prior studies confirmed the relationship between stressful life events and empathy but not the underlying mechanisms for LBC and whether there were gender differences in the relationship. With a sample of 702 LBC (<i>M</i>_age = 12.61, <i>SD</i> = 1.60; 55.27% girls, 44.73% boys), we studied the relationship between stressful life events, self-esteem, and empathy. The results showed that stressful life events were directly and positively associated with empathy, that is, LBC who experienced more stressful events exhibited higher empathy. Furthermore, self-esteem mediated the relationship between stressful life events and empathy, with higher scores on stressful life events indirectly lowered empathy scores by negatively impacting self-esteem. Moreover, gender moderated the relationship between stressful life events and self-esteem, with higher stressful life events associated with lower self-esteem in girls than in boys. The present study revealed the role of self-esteem and gender in the relationship between stressful life events and empathy, which has important theoretical and practical significance for the prevention and intervention of social adaptation ability in LBC.