title: [Comparative study on the situation of neglected children aged 3-6 year-olds between urban and rural areas of China].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate and analyze the situation of urban and rural neglected children aged 3 - 6, in China, so as to provide basis for the analysis and comparison on relevant risk factors.
  
  
  METHODS
  1163 urban children aged 3 - 6 (with 49.6% males and 4.5% with minority ethnicity) were investigated from 25 cities of 14 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities in the whole country. Multi-stage stratified cluster sampling method was used. Again, using the same sampling method, 4096 rural children (of whom 50.6% were males with 6.2% as minorities) were chosen from 26 cities of 10 provinces or municipalities. Identification of children being neglected was based on "Child Neglect Evaluation Norms of Children Aged 3 - 6 Years in Urban/Rural China". SPSS-Windows 13.0 was employed for data analysis. Scores, frequency/degrees, age, sex and types (physical, emotional, educational, safety, medical and social) of children under negligence on every group of the regions, were calculated. χ(2) test (Chi-Square) and Analysis of variance (ANOVA) were processed to determine the significance of their differences.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The overall frequencies of negligence were 28.0% and 53.7% respectively among the urban and rural children aged 3 - 6, while the total degrees of negligence were 42.2 and 44.4 respectively. Significant difference was found between children from the urban and the rural areas (P < 0.05). Significant difference was also found between urban and rural children on every age group (P < 0.05). The frequencies of negligence among males were 32.6% and 55.9% respectively in urban and rural areas while among females, the figures appeared to be 23.7% and 51.6% respectively. The degrees of negligence were 42.7 and 44.6 among male while 41.8 and 44.3 among female children, in the urban or rural areas. Significant differences were found on male or female between urban and rural groups (P < 0.05). Frequencies of negligence in urban children aged 3 - 6 for the six types were from 5.1% to 12.9%, with the frequency in rural areas as 13.1% - 26.6%. Significant difference was found between urban and rural group for any other type (P < 0.05), in addition to the safety type. The degrees of negligence in urban children aged 3 - 6 for the different type were between 39.4 and 43.4, while in the rural areas as from 36.5 to 48.2, with significant difference for every type (P < 0.05). The degrees of negligence related to education, emotion, or physical strength were more serious on children from the urban than from the rural areas. The highest frequency of child negligence was seen in the single-parent families on both urban and rural groups (42.9% and 60.0% respectively), with no significant difference found (P > 0.05). The urban and rural children aged 3 - 6 were mainly involved in single item of negligence, with incidence rates as 16.5% and 22.7% and proportions as 58.9% and 45.1% respectively, despite the factors as age or sex.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There were large differences on the situation of negligence between the urban and rural children aged 3 - 6. The frequencies and degrees of negligence in every age group and different sex for children living in the rural areas were higher than those urban children. The frequency of negligence among boys was higher than girls for both urban and rural areas. The rural children had suffered more serious negligence than the urban children at any other type, in addition to the 'safety'. Both urban and rural children had the highest frequency of negligence in single-parent family, and were mainly suffered from single item of negligence.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, College of Medicine, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China.
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Jian-ping
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.forename: Song-jie
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Zi-Ni
authors.initials: ZN
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Wei-qing
authors.initials: WQ
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Chun-hong
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Fei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Xiao-mei
authors.initials: XM
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Qian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Niu
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shen
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012424:Rural Population; D014505:Urban Population