The Department of Sociology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
Department of Applied Social Sciences, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong.
Soc Sci Med. 2024 Jun;351:116991. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.116991. Epub 2024 May 18.
Although discrimination has gained increasing attention in research and practice intervention for family caregivers of children with disabilities, little is known about the social determinants that associate with the perceived discrimination among caregivers, especially in non-Western contexts. This study aims to examine the socio-familial and child-level determinants of perceived discrimination among family caregivers of children with disabilities in China.
This study drew from a population-based cross-sectional survey in Shenzhen, China. Proportional quota sampling was conducted to get data from 2500 family caregivers of children with disabilities in rehabilitation service centers (response rate = 94.9%, n = 2373), accounting for 25% of the total population of children with disabilities receiving service in Shenzhen. Latent profile analysis was conducted to categorize three perceived discrimination groups among caregivers (i.e., severe perceived discrimination group, moderate perceived discrimination group, and low perceived discrimination group). The multinomial logistic regression models were conducted to test the association between these social determinants and perceived discrimination.
Most caregivers (82.9%) reported moderate or severe levels of perceived discrimination. Caregivers of children with moderate and severe impairments and children with mental and multiple disabilities were more vulnerable to perceiving severe social discrimination. Socio-familial characteristics, particularly the intersectionality between gender and employment, influence caregivers' perceived discrimination.
Caregivers of children with disabilities experience pervasive social discrimination in contemporary urban China. Our study demonstrates that the social construction of disablism and the affiliate discrimination against family caregivers of children with disabilities is complex and multidimensional and depends upon the children's disability and the caregivers' socio-demographic characteristics.
尽管歧视在残疾儿童家庭照顾者的研究和实践干预中受到越来越多的关注，但对于与照顾者感知歧视相关的社会决定因素知之甚少，尤其是在非西方背景下。本研究旨在探讨中国残疾儿童家庭照顾者感知歧视的社会家庭和儿童水平决定因素。
本研究基于中国深圳的一项基于人群的横断面调查。采用比例配额抽样，从康复服务中心的 2500 名残疾儿童家庭照顾者（应答率为 94.9%，n=2373）中获取数据，占深圳接受服务的残疾儿童总人数的 25%。采用潜在剖面分析将照顾者感知歧视分为三组（即严重感知歧视组、中度感知歧视组和低度感知歧视组）。采用多分类逻辑回归模型检验这些社会决定因素与感知歧视之间的关联。
大多数照顾者（82.9%）报告中度或重度感知歧视。中重度残疾儿童和精神及多重残疾儿童的照顾者更容易感知到严重的社会歧视。社会家庭特征，特别是性别和就业之间的交叉性，影响着照顾者的感知歧视。
当代中国城市的残疾儿童照顾者普遍经历着社会歧视。我们的研究表明，残疾歧视的社会建构以及对残疾儿童家庭照顾者的附属歧视是复杂和多维度的，取决于儿童的残疾状况和照顾者的社会人口特征。
