Childhood neglect among middle school students in Yixing city

Objective To examine the history of childhood neglect among middle school students in Yixing city of Jiangsu province and to provide evidence for the establishment of appropriate and effective interventions in the students.Methods With stratified cluster sampling,3 846 students were randomly selected from 6 junior and 2 senior high schools and 2 vocational schools in Yixing city and surveyed with child neglect scale.Results The female students reported significantly lower scores than the male students in the neglect domains of security (14.73±4.18 vs.15.24±4.26),communication(11.98±3.70 vs.12.56±3.96),physical fitness(10.64±2.97 vs.10.91±3.16),and emotion(24.49±6.80 vs.25.55±7.42)(all P<0.01).Compared to the students of Jiangsu province,the students from other province had significantly higher scores in neglect domains of communication (12.72±3.83 vs.12.20±3.83),physical fitness (11.46±3.11 vs.10.69±6.83),and emotion (26.17±6.83 vs.24.86±7.14)(all P<0.01).The score of physical neglect in rural students was higher than that in urban students(10.84±3.11 vs.10.74±3.05,P<0.05); the junior middle school students in towns had significantly higher scores for overall neglect and neglect domains of security,communication,physical fitness,and emotion than the junior middle school students in urban and rural areas(all P<0.05); and the vocational school students showed higher scores than junior and senior high school students in security and physical neglect(15.64±4.27 vs.14.89±4.15,11.45±3.15 vs.10.41±2.94; both P<0.01).Conclusion There is a certain degree of childhood neglect among middle school students in Yixing city.The female students had lower neglect scores than male students and the students from other provinces,vocational school,and rural areas have higher neglect score than the students in Jiangsu province and from junior and senior high schools and urban areas.