宿州市父母外出务工对农村大龄留守儿童生长发育与孤独感的影响

Impact of parental migration on the growth and loneliness of rural older left-behind children in Suzhou City

目的评估外出务工人员子女生长发育及心理孤独感状况,促进留守儿童健康成长。方法按照父母外出务工情况将被调查者分为留守儿童组与非留守儿童组,采用倾向性得分匹配方法进行数据分析。结果平衡性检验显示两组样本系统差异不具有统计学意义,匹配结果较好地平衡了数据。核匹配法结果显示父母外出务工对农村大龄留守儿童年龄别身高(HAZ)的平均处理效应为-0.200(P<0.05),对其孤独感得分的平均处理效应为1.978(P>0.05)。经半径匹配法检验,结果具有稳健性。结论父母外出务工对农村大龄留守儿童生长发育呈负面影响,对其孤独感的影响不显著。应通过完善入学政策、增加留守儿童营养膳食及卫生服务投入、开展留守儿童监护人健康教育宣传活动、完善学校教育等措施缓解父母外出务工对农村大龄留守儿童生长发育的负面影响。

Objective To assess the growth/development and loneliness among children of migrant workers and to promote the healthy growth of left-behind children(LBC).Methods Children were divided into LBC group and non-LBC group according to their parents'migrant status,and propensity score matching was used for data analysis.Results Test for systematic difference between these two samples showed no significant difference,and the matching well balanced the data.Kernel matching showed that the average treatment effect of parental migration on the height-for-age Z-scores(HAZ)was-0.200(P<0.05),and the mean treatment effect on the loneliness scores was 1.978(P>0.05).The results were robust,as validated by the radius matching method.Conclusions Parental migration has a negative impact on the growth of older LBC in rural areas,although its effect on the loneliness is not significant.Effective measures,including optimizing school enrollment policies,increasing the investment in nutritional meals and health services for LBC,carrying out health education and awareness-raising activities for LBC's guardians,and improving school education,should be developed and implemented to alleviate the negative impact of parental migration on the growth and development of older LBC in rural areas.