This study aims to examine the effects of strain, social control and learning variables on the likelihood of deviant behaviour among left-behind children (thereafter LBC) and non-left-behind children (thereafter NLBC) in China. A cross-sectional survey study was conducted among 380 LBC and 656 NLBC in elementary and middle schools in three cities of Hubei Province, China. Bivariate and multivariate binary logistic regression analyses were conducted to assess whether LBC and NLBC differ in deviant behaviour and three main groups of correlates of deviance that reflect strain, social control and ...
