National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, Beijing Key Laboratory of Mental Disorders, Beijing Anding Hospital, Beijing Institute for Brain Disorders Capital Medical University, Beijing People's Republic of China.
United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Health, Nutrition & WASH Section, UNICEF China Office, Beijing, China.
J Adolesc Health. 2020 Nov;67(5S):S48-S54. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2020.06.016. Epub 2020 Nov 24.
Children who are left behind when their parents migrate for work have a high prevalence of emotional and behavioral problems, which affect social function and increase family burden. To date, no national survey has been conducted on the emotional and behavioral problems of left-behind children (LBC) in China. This study aimed to investigate the emotional and behavioral outcomes of primary school LBC in the fourth grade in impoverished rural China and the possible influences of family environment and parenting practices.
A cross-sectional study was carried out in 27 rural counties in the central and western parts of China from November 2016 to January 2017. The method of quota sampling was adopted to achieve a representative sample using postweighting adjustment. The survey sample was distributed proportionately across each county. LBC were defined as children aged <16 years who had two parents leave home to work or one parent leave home while the other lost the capacity to rear their children. The term "non-left-behind children" (NLBC) refers to children who have at least one parent who has not migrated for work. The Strengths and Difficulty Questionnaire (SDQ) was applied to measure children's emotional and behavioral problems.
After the weighted calculations were performed, there were 1,147 LBC and 3,953 NLBC. The proportion of abnormal SDQ total scores (>17) was significantly higher in the LBC group than in the NLBC group (15.6% vs. 11.6%; p < .01). Binary regression analysis showed that high levels of insomnia (odds ratio [OR] 1.54, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.04-2.27), loneliness (OR 1.65, 95% CI 1.13-2.43), and self-harm (OR 1.92, 95% CI 1.17-3.16) may increase the risk of abnormal SDQ total scores in LBC.
LBC showed a higher prevalence of abnormal SDQ total scores than NLBC. Insomnia, loneliness, and self-harm behavior were associated with abnormal SDQ total scores in LBC.
父母外出工作而留守的儿童情绪和行为问题高发，影响社会功能，增加家庭负担。迄今为止，中国尚未对留守儿童的情绪和行为问题进行全国性调查。本研究旨在调查中国贫困农村地区四年级小学生留守儿童的情绪和行为结果，以及家庭环境和养育实践的可能影响。
本研究于 2016 年 11 月至 2017 年 1 月在中西部 27 个农村县进行了一项横断面研究。采用配额抽样法，通过后加权调整实现代表性样本。调查样本在每个县按比例分配。留守儿童是指父母双方外出工作的年龄<16 岁的儿童，或父母一方外出工作而另一方丧失抚养子女能力的儿童。“非留守儿童”是指至少有一位父母没有外出工作的儿童。采用长处与困难问卷（SDQ）衡量儿童的情绪和行为问题。
经过加权计算后，有 1147 名留守儿童和 3953 名非留守儿童。留守儿童组的 SDQ 总分（>17）异常比例明显高于非留守儿童组（15.6%比 11.6%；P<.01）。二元回归分析显示，失眠程度较高（比值比 [OR] 1.54，95%置信区间 [CI] 1.04-2.27）、孤独感（OR 1.65，95% CI 1.13-2.43）和自残行为（OR 1.92，95% CI 1.17-3.16）可能会增加留守儿童 SDQ 总分异常的风险。
留守儿童的 SDQ 总分异常发生率高于非留守儿童。失眠、孤独和自残行为与留守儿童的 SDQ 总分异常有关。
