Developmental behavioral problems among migrant children in Jiaxing city

Objective To explore mental health status and developmental behavioral problems among migrant workers' children and to provide evidences for improving family and school education.Methods Totally 1 236 native children and 1 396 migrant children aged 6 to 12 years were selected with stratified cluster sampling.A self-designed questionnaire on demography,Combined Raven's Test,and Strength and Difficulty Questionnaire(SDQ)were adopted in the survey.Results There was no significant difference in intelligence quotient(IQ)score between migrant and native children(102.27±16.31 vs.103.35±14.57;t=1.79,P >0.05).There were significant differences between migrant and native children in the familial membership of caregiver,parental education level,education expenditure,the time spent with the children,parental attitude towards education,study environment at home,the degree of parental concern,and the confusion about education of the parents(all P <0.01).There were significant differences between migrant and native children in the proportions of the students with normal(67.3% vs.79.9%),suspicious(15.7% vs.11.0%),and abnormal(17.0% vs.9.1%)objective difficulty defined by SDQ(χ²=54.96,P <0.01).The migrant children studying in an independent or combined class of local public schools had higher SDQ total score and subscale scores than the children studying in special schools for migrant children(all P <0.01).Conclusion Migrant children are lack of family support and education resource and the situation may lead to abnormal psychosomatic development of the children.