Objective  To examine the status of child neglect among Tujia and Miao pupils at ages of 6 to 11 years in rural areas of Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture in western Hunan province.

  Methods  A total of 1 162 pupils in four primary schools in rural areas of two counties of Xiangxi Tujia-Miao Autonomous Prefecture were selected and surveyed with Neglect Normative Evaluation Scale for Chinese Rural Pupils of 6 – 11 Years Old between September to November 2015. Neglect rate and neglect degree were adopted to describe the situation of child neglect among the participants.

  Results  The total neglect rate among the pupils was 53.79 %; the neglect rate was significantly higher among the boy pupils than among the girl pupils (57.36 % vs. 50.00 %, χ² = 6.322; P = 0.012) and significantly higher among the Miao pupils than among the Tujia pupils (64.76 % vs. 47.17 %, χ² = 33.929; P = 0.000). Among all the pupils, the overall neglect degree was 49.70 ± 9.76; the neglect degree was significantly higher among the boy pupils than among the girl pupils (50.85 ± 9.84 vs. 48.47 ± 9.52, t = 4.184; P = 0.000) and significantly higher among the Miao pupils than among the Tujia pupils (51.93 ± 10.03 vs. 48.35 ± 9.34, t = 6.156; P = 0.000), and the neglect degree was significantly higher among the left-behind pupils than among the non-left-behind pupils (50.29 ± 9.67 vs. 49.10 ± 9.82, t = 2.071; P = 0.039). Both the rate and degree of medication, education, and security neglect were higher among the boy pupils than among the girl pupils and higher among the Miao pupils than among the Tujia pupils. The rate of physical and medication neglect and the degree of social neglect were higher among the pupils aged 6 – 8 years than among the pupils at the ages of 9 – 11 years; whereas the rate of emotional and education neglect and the degree of emotional neglect were higher among the pupils aged 9 – 11 years than among those aged 6 – 8 years; the degree of physical and medication neglect were significantly higher among the left-behind pupils than among the non-left-behind pupils (P < 0.05 for all). Among the pupils with child neglect, one term neglect was a major type, which was reported by 19.02 % of neglect sufferers and accounted for 35.36 % of all the neglect reports; the proportion of child neglect sufferers declined with the increment of neglect terms reported.

  Conclusion  Child neglect is serious among Tujia and Miao pupils at ages of 6 to 11 years in rural areas of Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture, suggesting that education on child neglect needs to be promoted among the pupils and their parents, especially among the boy pupils, Tujia pupils, and left-behind pupils.