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Article History

Received: 6 August 2025

Accepted: 6 April 2026

First Online: 25 April 2026

Competing interests

: The authors declare no competing interests.

: All research procedures undertaken in this study adhered to the ethical standards of the institutional ethics committee and were consistent with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its subsequent amendments, as well as comparable international ethical guidelines. The study was formally approved by the Ethics Committee on Human Research Protection at East China Normal University (Approval No.: HR2-0234-2024) on December 26, 2023.

: This study was also approved by the local education authorities, and the participating school principals. In China, research projects that are approved by local education authorities and school administrators and that are deemed to provide a service to students do not require parental consent (Zhou et al., 2014). For the specific population of de facto unattended children in this study, many of their legal guardians are out of contact or unable to provide informed consent. Thus, in accordance with local regulations and ethical guidelines, this study was not required to obtain written informed consent from parents. However, written informed consent was obtained from school principals, classroom teachers, and each participating student. The school administrators were provided with clear information about the study’s objectives, procedures, and participants’ rights. Participants were assured that their anonymity and confidentiality would be strictly protected, with no personally identifiable information collected. No compensation was provided for students’ participation. Importantly, our research team has been providing ongoing psychological services to these welfare-oriented schools, further ensuring that the study was conducted in the best interests of the students.