Migrant fathers and mental health concern: perceived paternal attachment, self-esteem, maternal nurturance, and mental health problems among left-behind adolescents

ABSTRACT

The current study aims to investigate the factors associated with mental health problems to draw the attention of the health experts to design interventions to improve the migrant father–adolescent relationship and their mental health. A quantitative design was utilized to investigate the mental health of left-behind adolescents in relation to paternal attachment, self-esteem, and maternal nurturance. Standardized instruments were administered to 400 left-behind adolescents (LBAs) from two districts in Pakistan using a survey methodology. The results revealed that self-esteem mediated the influence of paternal attachment on LBAs’ mental health problems. Furthermore, maternal nurturance moderated the first part of the mediation process.

KEYWORDS:

• Left-behind adolescents (LBAs)
• maternal nurturance
• migration
• paternal attachment
• self-esteem

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Contributions

Dr. Zubaida: Writing original draft, Data collection, Formal analysis, writing – review and editing. Dr. Tanvir : Supervision, Study design, Validation, Dr Waris: Methodology, Software, Investigation.

Compliance with ethical standards

This study was approved by the Research Committee of Foundation University Islamabad. The study was performed in accordance with the ethical standards as set forth in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all participants included in the study.

Permission to reproduce material from other sources

No material was taken from other sources which needed permission to publish.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, or publication of this article.