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• A scoping study provides a better understanding of how local authorities in China support care-experienced young people. • Twenty-two social policies in China are mapped and examined. • Across localities, housing and employment services are prioritised to support care-experienced young people. • Current policy responses are insufficient, and people's opportunities to access the stipulated support are quite limited. An increasing amount of attention is being paid to young people with care experience on an international scale. They are often associated with negative outcomes after leaving care, such as low educational attainment, unstable housing, job instability and social exclusion. While many countries have prescribed social policies for supporting them for a more fruitful transition out of care, there is little information available in the context of China at local levels. Given this, this paper maps and examines existing local policies, exploring how local authorities support care-experienced young people in China. To achieve, it adopts a scoping review. The findings highlight (i) China's local polices as a whole prescribe a variety of services, resources, and/or measures to support care-experienced young people, of which housing and employment are at the top of the list; (ii) current policy responses are insufficient, and opportunities of this group of people to access the stipulated support are quite limited. The findings of this study indicate that policymakers need to improve local policies in order to make them more operable, sophisticated, and comprehensive, so that care-experienced young people can reap the greatest benefits from them. Also, a national leaving-care policy that provides guidance to local authorities should be considered, adding consistency and clarity to relevant policies across the country. The limitations of this paper relate mainly to its review methods, which point to the need to expand data sources and conduct cross-reviews to enhance the findings' credibility and robustness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Focus on community work for the betterment of floating children. • Use social network analysis within a Bourdieusian lens. • Analyse social groupings and the structures behind them. • Look at "small things" that are sociologically meaningful for social change. Drawing on Bourdieu's sociology, the concept of space in particular, this paper discussed the positions and dispositions of floating children in the urban space. It used social network analysis to test the homophily hypothesis that socially similar agents are physically proximate. Data were collected from 45 floating children and urban children in a community school in China. The results rejected the homophily hypothesis, calling for collective activism for small-scale but sociologically meaningful change to disrupt the correspondence between the physical and social distance established through the "site effects" of the hukou (household registration) system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This paper investigates the association between household debt and children's psychological well-being and further explored the mediating role of parent–child relations. • Household debt, especially mortgage debt, is positively associated with psychological illnesses among children. • Parent-child relations mediate the link between household debt and children's psychological well-being. Household debt is a psychological stressor for those who take the debt on, but it remains unclear whether and how this money-related stressor influences children's psychological well-being. The study investigated the association of household debt with children's psychological well-being and further explored the mediating role of parent–child relations. Data were obtained from two waves (2016 and 2018) of the China Family Panel Studies, with a sample of 1,828 children included. The Center for Epidemiological Studies of Depression Scale was applied to measure psychological well-being. Household debt was assessed by absolute and relative amounts of total debt, mortgage debt, and non-mortgage debt. We used positive and negative parent–child interaction to measure parent–child relations. The characteristics of children, parents, and households were included as covariates. Household debt, especially mortgage debt, was positively associated with psychological illnesses among children, and the link was substantially explained by parent–child relations. Household debt exerted detrimental effects on children's psychological well-being by jeopardizing parent–child relations in China. Strategies that address the need of vulnerable children are required to reduce the potentially negative psychological well-being outcomes of household debt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Child nutritional health has always been a research focus and an essential indicator reflecting children's health and living conditions in developing countries. This study investigates how household income and other individual and family factors influence child nutritional status. The Chinese Health and Nutrition Survey data are used to analyze changing patterns of child malnutrition status, and to compare the gap between genders, rural and urban areas etc., and the WHO new child growth standards are used in this paper as the reference for each specific age and gender. The findings in this paper include three aspects. First of all, the headcount ratio of undernourished children in both stunting and underweight has declined over years from 1991 to 2009 in China. Second, regional disparity in child nutritional status was significant, and the economic growth was a key driver to improve the nutritional conditions of the poor children. Furthermore, this paper also employs the stepwise logistic regression models to illustrate the influencing mechanisms of family income and other factors on child nutrition, and finds that household income affected child nutritional status significantly through the mechanisms of community, household, parental and individual factors. Highlights • This paper studies stunting and underweight rates of Chinese children and finds both malnutritional indicators have declined from 1991 to 2009. • This paper studies the regional and demographic differences in child nutrition and finds certain heterogeneity in malnutritional indicators. • This paper studies the relationship between family income and child nutrition and reveals significant and positive correlation between the two. • This paper finds significant impact mechanisms of individual, parental, family and community factors on child nutrition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We examined the educational aspirations of migrant children in urban China. • Migrant children with agricultural hukou showed higher aspirations of completing at least tertiary education. • Family social capital benefited migrant children's aspirations more than it did for their non-migrant counterparts. • Academic segregation of schools channeled migrant children with agricultural hukou to a less desirable condition. Rural–urban migrant children are a rapidly growing population in Chinese cities. There is emerging literature on the educational inequality faced by migrant children, but most studies focus on their educational performance or attainments and use non-migrant children with non-agricultural hukou in urban areas as one single reference group. This paper argues that Chinese society is segmented by both hukou type and location, and examines the educational aspirations of migrant children from the perspective of segmented assimilation theory. On the basis of the 2013–2014 wave of the China Education Panel Survey, the results show a segmented assimilation pattern: migrant children with non-agricultural hukou had a similar likelihood of aspiring to tertiary education or above; whereas migrant children with agricultural hukou showed higher aspirations of completing at least tertiary education, and the disparity remained significant after considering family resources and school segregation. In family resources, social capital, in form of social communication with parents, benefited migrant children's aspirations more than it did for their non-migrant counterparts, regardless of their hukou type. In school segregation indicators, academic segregation channeled migrant children with agricultural hukou to a less desirable condition. These findings carry practical and policy implications for understandings of migrant children's educational aspirations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Delinquency of street children in China is prevalent, but the etiology of pathways into delinquency among street children in China has yet to be explored. By drawing on in-depth interviews with 40 street children in Kunming, China, this paper investigates the processes that lead street children to become involved in crime. The research finds that street children's pathways to delinquency occurs via three stages: (1) initial attempts to make a living through conventional activities; (2) involvement in the informal economic activity as a middle solution; and (3) engaging in instrumental crime as a last resort. Delinquent behavior is thus street children's natural adaptation when access to legitimate survival opportunities are eliminated by institutional exclusion to the formal labor market and because of the government's efforts to tackle child homelessness which often have negative consequences for children living on the streets. This reflects both anomie/strain theory and resilient perspectives, and this research constructs a model of anomie, resilience and crime. The article concludes by arguing that policy and practical implications for reducing street children crime in China should focus on providing life and work opportunities and help to raise awareness of street children in China and the mechanisms they use to assist their survival on the streets. • The study investigates the pathways to delinquency for street children in China. • Street children's delinquency is a response to the oppressive social structure. • Delinquency reflects street children's resilient adaptation. • Policy and service should focus on providing opportunities to street children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Chinese Hukou system, a major tool for social control employed by the government, has undergone various fundamental reforms and has received increasing attention in recent years. This study investigates the relationship between Hukou policy innovations and migrant children's cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes, which are vital to the lifetime development of individuals. On the basis of 2654 children holding non-local Hukou from the 2013–2014 wave of the China Education Panel Survey, the results show that migrant students who expect to have fair access to local senior high schools have significantly higher test scores and higher educational aspirations than their counterparts. The expectation of attending a local senior high school improves migrant students' relationship with teachers and the social acclimation with classmates. These findings carry policy implications for addressing migrant children's educational challenges and shed light on China's reform of its Hukou system to achieve social justice and equality. • This paper analyzes the impacts of Hukou reforms on migrant students. • Test scores are higher for migrant students expecting fair access to local senior high schools. • Fair access is positively related to higher educational aspirations. • Fair access improves student-teacher relationships for migrant students. • Fair access improves classmate relationships for migrant students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Based on empirical studies of 5836 children in six provinces of China's Mid-Western regions, this paper contributes to existing knowledge by analyzing the severity, consequences and risk factors of child abuse. There are three major findings. Firstly, significant regional disparities of the severity of child abuse exist in China and non-Han ethnic minority regions have higher reported child abuse rate. Secondly, psychological trauma of child abuse is tremendous and children's psychological wellbeing in all domains is seriously affected when suffering from different forms of abuse. Children in poor ethnic minority regions and younger children experience severe trauma consequences. Thirdly, family relationships including the quality of couple relationships and intergenerational relationships are significant risk factors of child abuse, indicating the necessity of improving relationships for addressing child abuse. Implications of the empirical findings for future policies and actions for alleviating child abuse are summarized in the end. Highlights • Significant regional disparities of the severity of child abuse exist in China and non-Han ethnic minority regions have higher reported child abuse rate. • Children's psychological wellbeing is affected when being abused. • Children in poor ethnic minority regions and younger children experience severe trauma consequences. • Family relationships including the quality of couple relationships and intergenerational relationships are significant risk factors of child abuse, indicating the necessity of improving relationships for addressing child abuse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined the relationships between parent–child discrepancies in educational aspiration and child academic achievement and the mediating role of child's academic self-efficacy. In total, 829 Chinese elementary students (10 years old) and their mothers (36 years old) were invited to participate. The educational aspirations of the students and their mothers and students' academic self-efficacy and academic achievement based on their most recent midterm and final examinations were assessed. The results indicated that the absolute difference between mothers' and children's raw aspiration scores was negatively associated with children's academic achievement. Additionally, after accounting for the degree of discrepancy, the direction of the discrepancies showed differential effects. Compared to children whose aspirations were the same as their mother's, children whose mothers held higher aspirations than their own had lower academic self-efficacy. Furthermore, academic self-efficacy played a significant mediating role in the relationship between children's academic achievement and the direction of discrepancy “mothers' aspirations > children's”. In contrast, the direction “mothers' aspirations < children's” was positively associated with children's academic achievement. The reasons for this finding are also discussed in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to analyze the legislation for early childhood education (ECE) in China with Kingdon's (1995) multiple streams framework (MSF). Document analysis was used to evaluate academic papers and secondary data to explore the problem stream, the policy stream, the politics stream, the opening of the policy window, and the merging of the three streams suggested by the MSF. The results of these analyses indicated that all the stakeholders were willing and indeed ready for the legislation, and according to the MSF, the law should have been enacted. But the opposite is true, indicating that Kingdon's model should be modified to fit in the case of China: the entrepreneurs are critical to policymaking, but the final decision lies with the ruling party of the country. This is because China is a unique society, which follows the rule by law under the rule of the Communist Party of China. Implications and suggestions are also addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mindfulness emphasizes the awareness of the “here-and-now.” Studies in the recent decade have found that mindfulness can affect positive change in child and adolescent school performance. As an emerging field, however, the mechanisms and effects of mindfulness practice on academic performance for children in developing countries have not been elaborated sufficiently in previous studies. Using China as an example context, this paper examines the relationship between mindfulness practice and academic performance of migrant children, and explores the role of executive function in this relationship. Through a survey with 219 fifth-graders in two migrant schools in Beijing, this study validates the positive association between mindfulness, executive function, and better school grades in Chinese, math, and English tests. Additionally, this study adds empirical evidence to the roles of mindfulness in child development, and also sheds light on the pathway through which mindfulness positively correlates with academic performance. These findings provide implications for addressing child academic challenges and conducting further research among migrant children in China and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We apply generalized propensity score matching method and instrumental variable method to explore the relationship between breastfeeding duration and child development. • The relationship is relatively stable and presents a U shape, with the optimal breastfeeding duration (6–10 months) promoting children's early behavior performance. • Breastfeeding longer than the optimal duration delays child development. • The optimal duration of breastfeeding had a greater positive effect on children from disadvantaged backgrounds. • The conclusions of this paper have obvious practical value for the policy of child development strategies and parenting practices. Based on a large-scale survey in China, we use the generalized propensity score matching method and instrumental variable method to explore the effect of breastfeeding duration on child development, and find that there is a relatively stable "U" relationship between breastfeeding duration and children's early behavioral performance, with the optimal breastfeeding duration (6–10 months) promoting children's early behavioral performance. However, more than the optimal breastfeeding duration will delay child development. We further find that the effect of breastfeeding duration on child development varies among different groups. There is evidence that the optimal breastfeeding duration has a greater positive effect on children from disadvantaged backgrounds. The conclusions of this paper have obvious practical value for the policy of child development strategies and parenting practices. Given the importance of early child development, there should be a reasonable breastfeeding duration, and the feeding interventions for disadvantaged children can bring higher returns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Existing studies on intergenerational income mobility have two main flaws: biased downward estimate and omission of government spending. To address these problems, this paper provides the consistent estimate of the intergenerational income elasticity in China, and also extends the standard model by incorporating government spending into it. It is found by IV estimate that China's intergenerational correlation in long-term income is 0.830, and paradoxically, government spending in public education fails to effectively make the society more mobile. However, by measuring the effect of the Compulsory Education Law using the DID method, this paper finds that public education has significantly raised the beneficiaries' income by 43%. Therefore, although public education appears to have a rather restrictive effect in the short run, increase in government spending aimed at poor families helps to mitigate the intergenerational transmission of economic status in the long run. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Child protection has become an increasingly important issue in China. Notably however, few studies have explored the Chinese child protection system itself. The purpose of this study is to explore the basic elements of China's child protection system, which was initiated as a pilot program in May 2013, in order to find out how this child protection program works. A content analysis approach was used for this study. A total of 97 related public documents and 11 supplemented interviews were analyzed. We report on the five major categories of basic elements of China's child protection, accompanied by a detailed analysis. Findings show that: (1) The child protection pilot program aims to serve more vulnerable and disadvantaged children rather than abused and neglected children; (2) Although Minors' Protection Office was established to specialize in improving child protection mechanisms and services, a number of agencies bear the primary responsibilities of children protection in practice; (3) A reporting system for reporting suspected child abuse has been advocated in the practice of child protection for the first time; (4) Domestic child protection organizations and institutions play important roles in providing alternative care services. The findings presented in this paper also indicate that although a basic framework for child protection has formed in pilot areas, there are significant barriers to developing and implementing such a system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Social anxiety level of Chinese adolescents increased significantly over time. • Macro social indicators predicated the increase of adolescent social anxiety in China. As social anxiety is a key indicator measuring the mental health of adolescents, it is necessary to examine the changes in social anxiety level of Chinese adolescents with time. This research conducted a cross-temporal meta -analysis of 55 papers using the Interaction Anxious Scale (IAS) to investigate the changing trends and the influencing factors of adolescent social anxiety(N = 83893) from 2002 to 2020. The results showed that: (1) In the past 19 years, the score of social anxiety was significantly positively correlated with the year, indicating that social anxiety level of Chinese adolescents increased significantly year by year; (2) Score of social anxiety was significantly associated with four social indicators of economic condition (the residents' consumption level) and social connectedness (the divorce rate, the family size, and the urbanization level), suggesting that social change may account for the rise in Chinese adolescents' social anxiety level. This research explored the changing trend of social anxiety among Chinese adolescents in the past 19 years and served as a valuable reference for the intervention of Chinese adolescents' social anxiety in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examined the extent of child poverty in urban China, and how the structural and individual risk factors impact on child poverty in urban China using China Health and Nutrition Survey data. Child poverty is measured using a multidimensional deprivation approach. Eight dimensions that are indicative of children's basic rights as ratified in UNCRC (1989) are used to identify poor children, including nutrition, water, sanitation, health, education, information, participation and protection. The empirical results show that the hukou type of the family and parents' work units as the structural risk factors exerted the greatest influences on child poverty in urban China. These structural barriers for realising children's basic rights should be removed in order to achieve the Chinese government political goal of eradicating poverty in China in the next five years before 2020. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the multidimensional child poverty status and its dynamic changes in China from 1989 to 2009 using the China Health and Nutrition survey data. Built on the Alkire–Foster methodology, the adjusted child poverty headcount ratio is calculated which measures not only the traditional headcount ratio of child poverty but also the average deprivation intensity among poor children. The overall poverty rates declined over years from 1989 to 2009 in national wide and among provinces, where the key driver was the reduction of the poverty headcount ratio. With the property of decomposition for the adjusted headcount ratio, this study also examines the provincial and regional contribution to the national poverty reduction. Provinces in the middle region of China received the biggest reduction of child poverty rate, and the regional gap of child poverty has been narrowed down, but more effort of poverty reduction should be made to the poorest provinces and rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The evolution and development of juvenile delinquency correction in China has experienced several phases. • Value orientation refers to people's ethical codes, moral principles, value judgements, personalities, and beliefs when dealing with various contradictions, conflicts, and relations. • The traditional Chinese society highly values social standards, and individuals are regarded as an important part of society. • Since modern times, new methods for the treatment and correction of juvenile delinquency have been establishing in an attempt to reverse the traditional policy of punishment as the main response to juvenile delinquency. There have been several phases in the evolution and development of juvenile delinquency correction in China, including preparation and initiation phase, learning and transformation phase, construction and exploration phase, then development and promotion phase. The value orientation of juvenile delinquency correction in China has also changed from "punishment and class domination" to the "transformation of criminals and social control" and then to the "correction and comprehensive management of social security". Previous studies on the value orientation of juvenile delinquency correction have largely focused on contemporary practices and strategies in China, and there are still very few studies regarding the evolution and development of such an orientation. In this regard, this paper examines the historical evolution of the value orientation of juvenile delinquency correction in China. First, the paper describes the characteristics of the different historical phases; then, it thematically and chronologically examines the major turning points in these historical processes using a spatio-temporal linear structure. This study adopts a qualitative methodology with a range of research methods, such as historical, comparative, and inductive methods. The findings of this study not only enrich the research field but also shine new light on the study of the value orientation of juvenile delinquency correction from the lens of history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Risk perception of COVID-19 negatively correlated to willingness to help. • Interpersonal alienation partially mediated the link between risk perception of COVID-19 and willingness to help. • Expressive suppression moderated the associations between interpersonal alienation and willingness to help. Previous studies have revealed that situational risk factors have a significant influence on the willingness to help. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, maybe risk perception of COVID-19 is also correlated to the willingness to help. This study examined the mediating effect of interpersonal alienation and the moderating effect of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression in the relationship between risk perception of COVID-19 and willingness to help. Data from a large sample of Chinese college students (N = 2, 163) completed the measures of risk perception of COVID-19, willingness to help, interpersonal alienation, emotion regulation strategies including cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. The results indicated that the risk perception of COVID-19 negatively correlated to willingness to help. Interpersonal alienation partially mediated the link between risk perception of COVID-19 and willingness to help. College students' expressive suppression moderated the associations between interpersonal alienation and willingness to help. And who adopted more expressive suppression, the connection between interpersonal alienation and willingness to help was weaker compared to students who reported less expressive suppression. But cognitive reappraisal did not moderate the relationship between risk perception of COVID-19 and interpersonal alienation. Implications of the present paper for theory and practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Using 2004–2015 CHNS dataset, this paper studies nutrition status of left-behind children in China. • This study employs the structural equation model to illustrate the multilevel impact mechanisms. • Children with mother working out suffer higher hazards of stunting and underweight. • Child individual factors and parental genetic factors have direct effects on child nutrition. • Parents' education influences indirectly through family income and household living facilities. With the rapid process of urbanization in China, a large wave of rural labor force has migrated to cities, leaving their children behind in villages. As a new vulnerable group, left-behind children's nutrition is facing more uncertainties. This paper investigates how left-behind status affects child malnutrition including stunting and underweight, using China Health and Nutrition Survey datasets (2004–2015). The multivariate regression results show that children (0–15 years) with mother working out suffer higher hazards of stunting and underweight than non-left-behind children, which highlights the essential role of mother as a caregiver. In addition, this study also employs the structural equation model to illustrate the multilevel impact mechanisms. Child individual factors (age, gender) and parental genetic factors (height, weight) have direct effects on child stunting and underweight rates, whereas parents' educational attainment influences indirectly through the mediator of family income and household living facilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Technology helps expand service areas and population range in remote learning. • Technology helps NGOs reduce scaling cost and enhance government and social trust. • The effectiveness of teaching practical skills online is limited. • Technology brings challenges of user retainment and digital literacy of users. • The model provides reference for a better use of technology for NGOs to scale impact. This paper takes the innovative practices of a Chinese NGO serving adolescents with intellectual disabilities (ID) as a case to analyze whether technology can effectively promote the impact scaling of NGOs providing services for intellectually disabled adolescents. It was found that the use of technology can have positive effects on expanding service areas and population range in terms of improving professional skills and knowledge, reducing scaling costs, increasing flexibility, and enhancing government and social trust. Challenges faced by the program included user retainment, digital literacy of target users, difficulty teaching practical skills virtually, and the loss of specificity through standardization. Based on the case study, this paper has summarized a "COATE influencing factor model," composed of a series of considerations that NGOs serving adolescents with ID should make prior to deciding which technological means to implement in their service model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Parental belief is associated with Child social-emotional development. • Parental investments mediate parental belief and child development. • The mediation effects vary across investments and developmental outcomes. • The varieties of play materials and activities are the strongest mediators. Parental investments are associated with early child outcomes, and some evidences outside China suggest that parental belief might affect parental investments. However, the interrelationships of parental belief, parental investments, and early child development has not been well documented in China. This paper aims to study the interrelationships between the caregiver's parental belief, the caregiver's parental investments, and the child's early developmental outcomes in rural China. A total of 1787 sample households in an undeveloped rural area of western China are enrolled in the cross-sectional study. A parental belief questionnaire, the Family Care Indicators (FCI), the Bayley Scales of Infant Development version III (BSID-III), and a socioeconomic questionnaire were used to measure the caregiver's parental belief on parenting practices, the caregiver's parental investments, the child's early developmental outcomes, and the socioeconomic characteristics of sample households, respectively. The mediation model was then applied to estimate the interrelationships. The results find that the caregiver's parental investments significantly mediate in the relationships between the caregiver's parental belief and the child's early developmental outcomes. Through parental investments, one standard deviation (SD) increase in the caregiver's parental belief is corresponding to 3% of one SD increase in the child's four developmental outcomes (cognition, language, motor, and social–emotion) respectively. For future studies aimed at designing targeted interventions on early child development in rural China, the key findings of this paper might be informative. Early interventions aimed at strengthening the caregiver's subjective belief on parenting practices and increasing the parental investments in the household might be effective to improve the development of rural children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the ethnic differences of being traditionally bullied and cyberbullied in China. Two datasets are used. One is a national survey including 3675 participants from seven cities (Study-N) while the other covers 2155 students in one minority autonomous county in northwest China (Study-L). All types of pre-college schools are included in both surveys, but students from grade one to grade three in primary schools are excluded. Overall, being an ethnic minority is less likely to be traditionally bullied in the national survey, though this effect becomes insignificant when the control variables are included. In the ethnic diversity area (Study-L), the dominant majority in this county who are a national minority (Yugur) has a significantly lower probability of being traditional bullied than the national majority (Han), while the differences between Han and Tibetans and other minorities are insignificant. No significant differences regarding being cyberbullied are founded between the minorities and the majority in both studies. Besides, being a boy is a risk factor, while better academic performance and social relations are protective factors. Elementary schools have the highest prevalence of school bullying. This paper indicates that ethnicity plays little effect on school bullying involvement in China. • The ethnic differences in being traditionally bullied and being cyberbullied are examined. • Both the situation in cities across China and the situation in an ethnic diversity area are investigated. • There is no significant difference in being traditionally bullied in cities. • The dominated minority group (Yugur) in the ethnic diversity area have a lower probability of being traditional bullied than Han. • No significant difference regarding being cyberbullied is found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Father-only migration and double-parents migration raise children's odds of school disruption in rural China. • Migrant children show substantially lower risk of school disruption than do left-behind children. • Migrant children are not different from rural children in non-migrant households in the hazard of school disruption. • Remittances and the three-generation living arrangement demonstrate protective effects for children's school progression. • The presence of parents is more important than migration itself in affecting children's school disruption. The massive rural-to-urban migration in China has caused widespread separate living arrangements for rural children and their parents. Meanwhile, some children join their migrant parents to live in urban areas. We examined the school disruption of children who were left behind by or migrated with their parent(s) in this paper. Using longitudinal data from the 2010–2014 China Family Panel Studies, we compared the hazards of school disruption between children of migrant parent(s) and children living with both of their parents in rural China. Propensity scores were calculated to control for the probability of having migrant parent(s) and the probability of being left behind for children with migrant parent(s). Findings show that parental migration, especially father-only migration and double-parents migration, raises children's odds of school disruption in rural China. Remittances and the three-generation living arrangement demonstrate protective effects for children whose father migrates and children whose both parents migrate, respectively. Rural-to-urban migrant children overall are insignificantly different from rural children in non-migrant households. Migrant children show substantially lower risk of school disruption than do left-behind children. Unequal hazards between children of different migration statuses cannot be explained by their variation in guardian-child communication about school life. Findings suggest that the presence/absence of parents is more important than migration itself in affecting children's school disruption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• There is no significant difference between the OVOP centers and county level centers in terms of ECD. • Early learning environment is positively associated with ECD. • Teachers' burnout shows no relationship with ECD. • OVOP centers promoted the equality of rural ECE. Early childhood development (ECD) has become an issue of great concern in academics. This study evaluated the effects of a foundation-supported intervention called the One Village One Preschool (OVOP) project, which provided access to early childhood education (ECE) to disadvantaged and minority children in rural areas in central and western China. This study aimed to examine the variance in ECD between OVOP preschools and county level preschools. Hierarchical linear modeling involving 540 rural children aged 4 to 7 years was employed to explore the effects of early learning environment in predicting ECD. We found that the implementation of the OVOP project had benefited the children by enhancing their ECD. This paper discusses the policy implications of the study to promote the equality of ECE in rural China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Anxiety mediates the association between self-esteem and addictive smartphone use. • Self-esteem is negatively associated with anxiety. • Anxiety is positively associated with addictive smartphone use. • Self-control moderates the association between self-esteem and anxiety. Existing research supports an association between self-esteem and addictive smartphone use, yet the underlying mechanism is not clear. Building on the compensatory internet use model, the current study explored the possible mediator role of anxiety and moderator role of self-control in the link between self-esteem and addictive smartphone use. Two middle schools and two elementary schools in a metropolitan city in China were selected through convenient sampling. Eleven hundred and twelve adolescents from those schools completed a paper-and-pencil survey, which included measurements of self-esteem, addictive smartphone use, anxiety, and self-control. The relationships among variables were analyzed using a moderated mediation model in an SPSS macro named PROCESS. The moderated mediation model achieved satisfactory effect size, R2 = 28.65%; Specifically, (1) anxiety fully mediated the association between self-esteem and addictive smartphone use, CI = [−0.1, −0.05]: Self-esteem was negatively related to anxiety, which in turn was positively related to addictive smartphone use; (2) moderated mediation analysis results showed that high self-control enhanced the protective effect of self-esteem against anxiety. High self-esteem in adolescents is related to relatively low anxiety, which is related to less addictive smartphone use. Moreover, the protective effect of self-esteem against anxiety was enhanced by high self-control, suggesting that increasing self-esteem alone would not prevent addictive smartphone use in all adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Parental investment and skill mediate caregiver mental health and child development. • Caregiver depression are more harmful to parenting practices and child development. • The variety of play material has significant mediation effect on child development. • Coercive parenting mediate caregiver mental health and child development. Parenting practices are associated with early childhood development (ECD), and some evidences suggest that mental health might affect parenting practices. However, the interrelationships of mental health, parenting practices, and ECD outcomes have not yet been well documented in developing contexts like rural China. This paper aims to investigate the interrelationships between the caregiver's mental health, parenting practices, and the child's ECD outcomes in rural China. A total of 1787 sample households in an undeveloped rural area of western China are enrolled in the study. A socioeconomic questionnaire, the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale, the Family Care Indicators, the Parent and Family Adjustment Scales, and the Bayley Scales of Infant Development version III were used to measure the socioeconomic characteristics of sample households, the caregiver's mental health, parental investments and parenting skills, and the child's development outcomes, respectively. Mediation model was then applied to estimate the interrelationships. The results showed that parental practices significantly mediated between the caregiver's mental health and the child's cognition, language, motor, and social–emotion development. Through parental investments, one standard deviation increases in the caregiver's mental health test score was associated with the decline in the child's four development scores by 0.6% standard deviation, respectively. Through parenting skills, one standard deviation increases in the caregiver's mental health test score was associated with the decline in the child's language and social-emotional score by 2% and 5% standard deviation, respectively. Different dimensions of caregiver mental health, parental investments and skills played heterogeneous roles in the interrelationships. Early interventions aimed at improving the caregiver's mental health, parental investments and skills are important and might be effective to improve early childhood development in rural China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The first attempt to explore why strong employment support for PwDs has not brought about positive outcomes in China. • Under the productivist ideology, PwDs are regarded as inefficient and a drag on economic development. • Government support for PwDs is all talk, no action; quasi-governmental support just goes through the motions; and the primary group is self-centered. • Primary group is hypocritical and unsustainable as it's complicated by the issues of face and repaying favors. Employment is an important way for persons with disabilities (PwDs) to participate in society and fulfil their potential. However, despite the impression that employment support for PwDs is improving, why is the actual employment situation in China stagnant or even worsening? In order to answer this question, this paper uses a qualitative study in BTQ City, QL Province, China to analyze the causes of the general problems in employment support for PwDs by breaking them down into official government, quasi-government, and primary support groups. This study finds that the prioritization of 'economic development' dominates people's thinking and actions, to the detriment of social and economic goals. Consequently, the responses of the three employment support systems are: (a) an official government focus on "productivism" means PwDs employment is not a priority, and official support is usually "all talk, no action"; (b) bureaucratic quasi-government organizations are reluctant to assist beyond mere formalities to boost PwDs employment as this does not form part of their performance assessment; and (c) individualism resulting from societal breakdown makes the primary support group perceive a lack of benefit in assisting PwDs, and any assistance they render is done purely out of self-interest and are therefore unsustainable. We hope that the findings of this study will provide some inspiration and reference for improving the employment policy of PwDs in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Children in China and Australia learn English in distinct sociolinguistic contexts. • China forbids early childhood English education, despite great parental demand. • Australia has no curriculum framework for early childhood English education. • Both countries are similarly inactive in guiding early childhood English education. Although English is taught to students worldwide at different educational levels, the actual implementation of early childhood English language education (ECELE) may vary from country to country. This study aims to comprehensively compare how ECELE is being put into practice in China and Australia, where young children learn English as a foreign language and as an additional language or dialect, respectively. Based on a critical analysis of relevant policy documents and the empirical studies found in the literature, this paper provides a detailed account and comparison of how ECELE is delivered in China and Australia. It is found that despite their different sociolinguistic contexts, the educational authorities in both countries share the same ostrich policy and inactive involvement in overseeing and directing ECELE. The implications for policymaking are also addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Intergenerational transmission of parenting styles exists in rural China. • The transmissible parenting style emphasis the role of father in parenting. • There is intergenerational transmission of rejective, hostile parenting style. • The transmission of parenting style is mediated by caregiver's mental health. The quality of parenting is associated with both early childhood development and lifelong negative adult outcomes, and there is evidence to suggest that some aspects of parenting show patterns of intergenerational transmission. However, the mediating mechanisms of the intergenerational transmission of parenting style are not fully understood. This study aims to examine whether intergenerational transmission of parenting style occurs among caregivers in rural China, and whether the mental health of caregivers is a critical mediator in the transmission process across generations. The sample consists of 194 caregivers who were recruited from an investigation in rural Jiangxi Province, China. Parenting style of both father and mother of the caregiver were self-reported by the caregiver using the simplified version of Egna Minnen av Barndoms Uppfostran (s-EMBU) inventory. The current parenting style of the caregiver is assessed by using the Parenting Practice Questionnaire (PPQ). We use multivariate regression to predict the intergenerational transmission of parenting style and examine the potential mediation effects. We found that 'emotional warmth' and 'rejective' parenting style of caregiver's parents are positively and significantly associated with 'warm' and 'hostile' parenting style of the caregiver, respectively. The transmission of rejective, hostile parenting style across generation is fully mediated by the mental health status of the caregiver. Specifically, the mediation effect of caregiver's depression, anxiety, and stress are all statistically significant. Findings in this paper support the existence of intergenerational transmission of parenting styles in rural China. Caregiver's mental health mediate the transmission process of rejective, hostile parenting style. This raises the possibility that parenting services may benefits across generations, and provides empirical evidence for preventive services aimed at improving caregiver's mental health and parenting styles at the early stage of child development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dissemination of compelling evidence for the benefits and importance of comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) and it is hoped that review of this issue contribute to its delivery for children and youth with disabilities. The paper presents a brief summary of academic publications including both original researches and reviews about sexuality education in mainland China between 1990 and 2019. A coding system was developed to systematically analyse on its development, delivery and barriers, followed by countermeasures, suggestions and implications for future high-quality and curriculum-based CSE. Children and youth with disabilities should have equal acquisition that equipping them with knowledge and skills to protect themselves and make informed decisions about their sexuality and relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The gender disparities in DCM vary among different maltreatment subtypes. • DCM's negative effect was more severe for girls than for boys. • Gender heterogeneity is less evident than gender homogeneity in the risk factors. Currently, gender disparities in domestic child maltreatment (DCM) have become an important and highly controversial issue worldwide. This study aims to provide panoramic evidence from China on this issue. Data were derived from a survey of 4,308 children (M age = 12.13, 48.7% were boys) conducted in seven provinces in rural China from June to December 2019. This study used multistage cluster sampling to select respondents, and modified versions of the JVQ Scale and the DSM-5 Scale (11–17 years old) were adopted. This study reached three significant conclusions. First, the gender disparities in DCM vary among different maltreatment subtypes. Compared with girls, boys are more likely to experience physical abuse. A higher prevalence of neglect is observed among girls than among boys. Second, although DCM significantly increased the likelihood of posttraumatic depression for all children, its negative effect was more severe for girls than for boys. Third, gender heterogeneity is less evident than gender homogeneity in the risk factors for DCM. In rural China, children's problematic behaviours, family structure, parents' experiences of childhood violence and family relationships are common predictors of maltreatment for all children. This paper highlights gender differences in the risk of DCM among children in rural China, reveals the Confucian culture behind DCM and gender, and provides Chinese evidence for building an international dialogue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Explore the effect of work-family conflict on parenting stress for ADHD families. • Identify work-family conflict as a potent contributor to parenting stress. • Non-working parents have higher parenting stress than employed parents do. • Chinese mothers experience higher parenting stress than fathers do. • More research is needed given the absence of work and parenting stress research. This paper reports the results of a one-time survey among Chinese families of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (n = 314) and families with typically developing (TD) children (n = 308) in mainland China, which aimed to examine the effects of the parenting role, work-family conflict, child ADHD symptoms, parental depression, anxiety, and somatization, parenting alliance, and social support on parenting stress. The results of the study have shown that (i) parents of children with ADHD experienced significantly higher levels of parenting stress than did parents of TD children; Chinese mothers experienced significantly higher parenting stress than fathers did; (ii) mothers of children with ADHD had more work-family conflict than mothers of TD children did; (iii) non-working parents had higher levels of parenting stress than the employed parents did; (iv) work-family conflict, depression, anxiety, and somatization, child ADHD symptoms, parenting role, and social support accounted for 40.9% of the variance in parenting stress; parenting alliances did not approach significance in the regression. Implications for social work practice and service development are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• About 22% of middle school students report experiencing primary school retention. • Students in more rural and remote regions are more vulnerable to grade retention. • Retention is associated with poorer subsequent academic and psychosocial outcomes. • Causal analysis suggests that retention may signal but not cause poorer outcomes. This paper analyzes the prevalence, correlates, and behavioral and academic impacts of grade retention using national and single-province data from China. Retention is a more common experience in China than official estimates suggest; it is more frequent in less-developed parts of the country; and it is associated nationally with poorer subsequent performance and psychosocial well-being, even after adjusting for numerous confounders. However, with certain caveats, findings suggest that retention is primarily a "red flag" and is not a cause of poorer achievement and behavioral outcomes. A longitudinal analysis in one province shows that retained children can gain ground in academic and behavioral outcomes; a further causal analysis using matched samples and difference-in-difference approaches shows no evidence of a causal impact of retention on outcomes. High levels of population mobility and associated school transfers may contribute to grade retention being reported by students and families but not captured in school records. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Despite legislation and financial redistribution, unequal access to educational resources in China remains. • The government has failed to provide sufficient financial support to underdeveloped provinces. • In underdeveloped areas, financial capacity is lower, but educational need is higher. There is great inequality of educational resources between different provinces in China due to unbalanced economic development. Despite continued redistribution of financial resources by the central government in favor of poorer provinces, educational inequality remains. In this paper, we argue that focusing on educational resources is far from sufficient. Poorer provinces do not only suffer from a lower level of educational resources, but they also have more children to educate, i.e. a greater need for education. Combining and analyzing the data in the Sixth National Population Census of China and the official statistics on education spending and resources, we found that provincial-level variations in the child population and the child dependency ratio have made access to educational resources even more unequal given the unequal financial capacity at the provincial level. Poorer provinces face a higher child dependency ratio and have lower economic development, and these two factors jointly lead to limited educational resources. Apart from a much higher level of redistribution in favor of less developed provinces, encouraging more balanced distribution of teachers and more broadly promoting economic equality are essential to reduce inequality in educational resources in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Adopted Chinese youth scored more favorably on BASC-3 than non-adopted Chinese youth. • Adopted Chinese youth scored more favorably on BASC-3 than non-adopted US youth. • High adoptive family SES benefited adopted youth adjustment. • Testing measurement invariance is important for cross-cultural comparison. In this paper, we examined if high SES families had an effect on youth's adjustment by comparing 226 internationally adopted female Chinese youth who experienced pre-adoption institutionalization with 1059 non-adopted Chinese peers living in China, as well as 209 non-adopted American peers. On average, the adopted youth's families had a higher SES status than the two comparison groups. Survey data on behavioral problems and prosocial adjustment were collected with the third edition of the Behavioral Assessment for Children (BASC-3). We found the adopted Chinese youth outperformed their Chinese counterparts in all comparisons and their US counterparts in most comparisons. These results offer some evidence that a high family SES may compensate for the adoption-related risks such as earlier institutionalization. Possible mechanisms underlying the benefit of high SES were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Gifted and poor children are hard to reach their potential. • Education philanthropy can raise human capital for poor and gifted children. • Education philanthropy increases well-being via raising human capital accumulation. In China, increasing income inequality has created excessive obstacles to the social mobility of low-income children. Private wealth may play a positive role in ameliorating inequality by way of investing in education philanthropy. Using an alumni survey from a high school in Guangdong, China, this paper utilizes human capital theory to examine the effects of education philanthropy on human capital accumulation and well-being for low-income and gifted students. The findings indicate that a well-designed education philanthropy program significantly increases well-being via human capital accumulation for these children and demonstrates potential to also reduce intergenerational inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has 55 ethnic minorities with 114 million population. As a piece of the worldwide picture of child abuse in ethnicity, the study on child abuse in Chinese ethnic regions is significant but insufficient currently. Therefore, this study examined the prevalence, negative effects, and risk factors of child abuse involving girls in Chinese ethnic regions. A multi-stage cluster sampling procedure and paper-and-pencil questionnaire survey were used to conduct the study in 126 classes in three counties of Southwest China, which includes a total sample of 2899 girls. The rates of physical abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect to girls in ethnic minority areas were significantly higher than those in the Han areas. Moreover, all types of child abuse negatively affected girls' mental health at different levels. However, the effects of abuse were more severe for girls in Han than for ethnic minorities with similar abuse severity. In addition, academic performance and parent-child relationship were correlated with child abuse for girls in the ethnic regions, and the risk was especially higher for girls in rural towns and those of younger age. Findings from this study indicated that the prevalence of child abuse of girls in ethnic regions was high. Although with lower prevalence of child abuse, girls in Han should be intervened for their more severe mental health problems with abuse than the peers in ethnic minority areas. Great attention should be paid to girls in ethnic regions with poor academic performance, bad parent-child relationship, especially in rural towns and in young age, to prevent the risk of child abuse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]