In China, since the rural labor, leaving their children in the hometown to other caregivers is a trend that has been increasing, and the impact of parental absence on the well-being of left-behind children is increasingly drawing attention in the Chinese society. However, there is a lack of study on the potential impacts of being left behind on later psychosocial outcomes in adolescence and associated protective factors.

This study was conducted on a large sample of Chinese college students to test the moderating effect of resilience between left-behind experience and mental health problems.

The Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale and Symptom Checklist as well as a self-reported questionnaire about left-behind experience designed by the authors were adopted for a survey with 2,968 Chinese college students as respondents.

Totally, 1,063 students (35.8%) had 1 year or more left-behind experience. Compared to those who had no left-behind experience, the students who had left-behind experience were rated lower on resilience score and higher on mental health problem score. Mental health problems had a negative correlation with resilience. Regression analysis showed that resilience moderated left-behind experience and mental health problems.

Individuals with left-behind experience are more vulnerable to mental health problems. Promoting resilience may be helpful for prevention of mental health problems in college students with left-behind experience.