Parental Migration and the Suspected Developmental Delay of Left-Behind Children in Rural China

IF 1.8 4区医学 Q2 PEDIATRICS

Child Care Health and Development Pub Date : 2025-06-03 DOI:10.1111/cch.70108

Yating Cheng, Yuxuan Zhu, Ying Wang, Xianhong Huang, Tao Sun, Feng Wang

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background

There are estimated 41.77 million left-behind children (LBC) in rural China, among whom 14.26 million are under the age of 5 years. However, limited research exits on how different parental migration status affects the early development of rural LBC. The purpose of this study is to examine early child development of previous-left-behind children (PLBC), children with single parent migrating (SLBC), children with both parents migrating (BLBC) as compared to never-left-behind children (NLBC). This study also attempts to explore the factors affecting the early development levels of four types of rural children.

Methods

A questionnaire survey was conducted among 1614 child caregivers in Nanling County, Anhui Province. Ages & Stages Questionnaires–Chinese version (ASQ-C) was conducted to measure suspected developmental delay (SDD) of rural children. The parenting knowledge, depressive symptoms and parenting behaviours of caregivers were measured using the Knowledge of Infant Development Inventory-P (KIDI-P), Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) and Family Care Indicators (FCI). After controlling for the sociodemographic characteristics of children and primary caregivers, binary logistic regression was employed to assess the association between various categories of rural children and early developmental delays.

Results

The results showed significant differences in total SDD among the four types of rural children (p < 0.01), and the risk of total SDD in BLBC was 1.78 times that of NLBC [OR = 1.78, 95% CI (1.23–2.60), p < 0.01]. The study showed that caregivers' parenting knowledge [0.54, (0.31–0.93), p < 0.05], parenting behaviour [0.86, (0.80–0.92), p < 0.001] and caregiver depressive symptoms [1.51, (1.14–1.99), p < 0.01] were strongly associated with total SDD.

Conclusion

In this study, BLBC exhibit the most pronounced early developmental delay. Additionally, PLBC who have experienced being left behind also face disadvantages. The findings provide valuable insights into LBC across various parental migration contexts and contribute to a better understanding of the risk factors of early childhood development. Correspondingly, the study emphasizes that family, society and government should formulate corresponding intervention measures to reduce the risk of early development for rural children.

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父母迁移与农村留守儿童疑似发育迟缓

据估计，中国农村有4177万留守儿童（LBC），其中1426万为5岁以下儿童。然而，不同父母迁移身份对农村LBC早期发展的影响研究较少。本研究的目的是比较前留守儿童（PLBC）、单亲迁移儿童（SLBC）、双亲迁移儿童（BLBC）与非留守儿童（NLBC）的早期儿童发展情况。本研究还试图探讨影响四类农村儿童早期发展水平的因素。方法对安徽省南陵县1614名托儿人员进行问卷调查。年龄,采用分期问卷中文版（ASQ-C）对农村儿童的疑似发育迟缓（SDD）进行测量。采用婴儿发育知识量表- p （KIDI-P）、贝克抑郁量表- ii （BDI-II）和家庭护理指标（FCI）对照顾者的育儿知识、抑郁症状和育儿行为进行测量。在控制儿童和主要照顾者的社会人口学特征后，采用二元logistic回归评估农村儿童不同类别与早期发育迟缓的关系。结果4种类型农村儿童总SDD差异有统计学意义（p < 0.01）， BLBC发生总SDD的风险是NLBC的1.78倍[OR = 1.78, 95% CI (1.23 ~ 2.60), p < 0.01]。研究表明，照顾者的养育知识[0.54,(0.31-0.93),p <； 0.05]、养育行为[0.86,(0.80-0.92),p <； 0.001]、照顾者抑郁症状[1.51,(1.14-1.99),p <； 0.01]与整体SDD有显著相关。结论在本研究中，BLBC表现出最明显的早期发育迟缓。此外，经历过落后的PLBC也面临不利。这些发现为不同父母迁移背景下的LBC提供了有价值的见解，并有助于更好地理解儿童早期发展的风险因素。相应地，本研究强调家庭、社会和政府应制定相应的干预措施，降低农村儿童的早期发展风险。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Child Care Health and Development 医学-小儿科

CiteScore

3.40

自引率

5.30%

发文量

136

审稿时长

4-8 weeks

期刊介绍： Child: care, health and development is an international, peer-reviewed journal which publishes papers dealing with all aspects of the health and development of children and young people. We aim to attract quantitative and qualitative research papers relevant to people from all disciplines working in child health. We welcome studies which examine the effects of social and environmental factors on health and development as well as those dealing with clinical issues, the organization of services and health policy. We particularly encourage the submission of studies related to those who are disadvantaged by physical, developmental, emotional and social problems. The journal also aims to collate important research findings and to provide a forum for discussion of global child health issues.