Parental absence and the development of preschool children in a high migration civil conflict area

Abstract

Parental migration is widely associated with parent–child separation, yet evidence on how such separation affects children's well-being and development remains mixed and context-dependent. This study tests the hypothesis that parental absence negatively affects child development, taking into account the child’s age and gender, the SRQ score of the primary caregiver, household economic status, and child development activities within the household. Using the Developmental Surveillance and Promotion Manual (DPSM) tool, five domains of development were assessed: gross motor, fine motor, receptive language, expressive language, and personal-social. Data were drawn from a 2021 household survey conducted in Thailand’s three southernmost provinces, an area characterized by high migration rates and long-term civil conflict. The sample comprised 321 children aged 0–72 months (178 males and 143 females). Logistic regression models were used to examine factors associated with overall and domain-specific child development. Although findings were inconsistent across developmental domains, a significant association was found between maternal absence and developmental delay in the receptive language domain. This finding suggests that receptive language development may require particular attention in cases of maternal absence.