Parental care deficiency and non‐suicidal self‐injury among Chinese rural left‐behind adolescents: The mediating role of negative emotion and the moderating role of emotion regulation ability

Lack of parental care is a common disadvantage faced by Chinese rural left‐behind children and an important factor leading to various psychological and behavioural problems. Although parental care deficiency may play an important role in Chinese rural left‐behind adolescents' non‐suicidal self‐injury (NSSI), the underlying mediating and moderating mechanisms of this relationship have not been explored. The sample consisted of 633 rural left‐behind adolescents in China, including 318 males (50.24%) and 315 females (49.76%) aged 12–17 years, from middle and high schools in Hunan Province. Participants completed self‐report questionnaires that assessed parental care deficiency, negative emotion, emotion regulation ability, and NSSI. Parental care deficiency not only directly affected NSSI of Chinese rural left‐behind children but also indirectly affected NSSI by increasing negative emotions. At the same time, the mediating effect of negative emotion was moderated by emotion regulation ability. Specifically, when emotion regulation ability was low, the mediating effect of negative emotion was significant, but when emotion regulation ability was high, the mediating effect of negative emotion was not significant. In order to prevent and intervene in NSSI among Chinese rural left‐behind children experiencing parental care deficiency, we should focus on developing their emotion regulation ability.