Single-child Families Research Articles

Physical maltreatment, insecure attachment, and online gaming disorder among Chinese adolescents: A multi-group analysis of single and non-single child family

This study examined the effect of physical maltreatment on online gaming disorder and investigated the mediating role of insecure attachment in the aforementioned relationship. Further, multi-group analysis was conducted aiming to explore whether the pathways in the conceptual model were significantly different across the groups of adolescents from single and non-single child families. Based on a multi-stage random cluster sampling method, a total of 2001 adolescents aged 12–18 years (51.3 % boys and 48.7 % girls) was obtained from Hebei Province, China. We used Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and multi-group analysis in SEM for data analyses.The results showed that physical abuse was directly associated with online gaming disorder (B=0.139, β = 0.107, p < 0.01, 95 % CI [0.063, 0.218]). Only anxious attachment mediated the relationship between physical abuse and online gaming disorder (B=0.069, β = 0.053, p < 0.001, 95 % CI [0.045, 0.098]), and between physical neglect and online gaming disorder (B=0.025, β = 0.029, p < 0.001, 95 % CI [0.015, 0.038]). The results of multi-group analysis suggested the significant difference in the pathway coefficients between the two groups. Significant difference was observed in the specific structural pathway between physical neglect and anxious attachment (CRD= − 2.851,p < 0.05), with the effect being stronger for adolescents from single child families (B=0.248, β = 0.279,p < 0.001, 95 % CI [0.176, 0.392]) compared with those from non-single child families (B=0.115, β = 0.137,p < 0.001, 95 % CI [0.073, 0.199]). The findings suggest the indirect influencing mechanism of insecure attachment in the relationship between physical maltreatment and online gaming disorder. The results of the multi-group analysis require future practitioners to evaluate the family conditions of siblings when intervening in online gaming disorder of adolescents.

The Difference of Parental Investment Model Between Multi-child Family and One-child Family

This study compared the parental investment patterns of multi-child families and single-child families. Through comparative analysis of the two family types, it is found that they have some differences in parental investment behavior. The results show that families with many children pay more attention to the cultivation of parent-child relationship, while families with only one child pay more attention to the cultivation of individual ability and independence. The research also found that the two kinds of families have differences in education investment, time investment and emotional investment, and different family types have their own characteristics and advantages in parental investment. These findings have important implications for understanding the differences in parental investment between different family types.

Examining Household Composition, Parental Style, and Consumer Socialization Practices Towards Children’s Media Consumption

This study investigates the consumer socialization practices of parents in single versus multi-child and nuclear versus extended families in an emerging market. Previous consumer socialization research has focused primarily on western cultures. We examine parenting in a developing market and suggest that single-child families are more nurturant and maintain greater control of their children’s media exposure than multi-child families. The findings indicate that Modal Indian consumer socialization practices may be shifting from an Authoritarian to an Authoritative parental style with greater maternal intervention in media exposure and support for regulating children’s advertising. Implications for marketers, consumer educators, and public policy makers are discussed.

Characteristics and Influencing Factors of Post-Traumatic Growth: A Cross-Sectional Study of Psychiatric Nurses Suffering from Workplace Violence in Guangdong China.

Workplace violence (WPV) had become an important issue that endangered the occupational safety of psychiatric nurses. A growing number of studies showed positive post-traumatic growth (PTG) resulting from coping with trauma. To investigate the characteristics of PTG in psychiatric nurses who experienced violence in the workplace and analyze its influencing factors. A total of 1202 psychiatric nurses participated in the study. From October 2022 to December 2022, this cross-sectional study collected data on psychiatric nurses from five tertiary hospitals in Guangdong Province, China. Twenty-item Chinese version post-traumatic growth inventory (PTGI), Jefferson Scale of Empathy Health Professional (JSE-HP), Confidence in Coping with Patient Aggression Instrument (CCPAI), Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist-Civilian Version (PCL-C), and Connor-Davidson ResilienceScale (CD-RISC) measured PTG level, empathy, the confidence in coping with WPV, post-traumatic stress disorder, and resilience, respectively.Bivariate analysis and multiple linear regression explored potential influencing factors of PTG. This study complies with the EQUATOR (STROBE) checklist. The sample was composed of a total of 1202 psychiatric nurses suffering from WPV. The average score of PTGI in psychiatric nurses was above average (65.75 points; SD = 20.20). Linear regression analyses showed from single-child family (β=0.052,95% CI=0.342,5.409, P<0.05), education background (β=0.108,95% CI=1.833,5.097, P<0.001), the confidence in coping with patient aggression (β=0.106,95% CI=1.385,4.317, P<0.001), empathy (β=0.057,95% CI=0.312,4.374, P<0.05), and resilience (β=0.484,95% CI=7.737,9.575, P<0.001) were associated with PTG level. Psychiatric nurses who were non-single child, had received higher education, had confidence in coping with patient aggression, had good resilience and strong empathy were prone to PTG after experiencing WPV. The study findings could help hospitals and nursing managers identify vulnerable individuals and take early intervention measures against such populations.

A comparison of the parental values of children's extracurricular music learning in Guilin, China and in Tampa, United States.

Many parents enroll their children in extracurricular music activities. However, cultural differences may contribute to parents' different values that ultimately influence their behaviors and attitudes. This cross-cultural study aimed to compare the value parents have on their children's private music education by examining four cases in Guilin, Guangxi (China) and Tampa, Florida (United States). Two main research questions guided this study: (1) How do parents in Guilin and Tampa perceive and value their children's music learning? (2) Does the value parents hold for their children's extracurricular music activities differ across different cultural contexts? If so, how do parents' values and perceptions of their children's involvement in extracurricular music activities differ between the contexts of Guilin and Tampa? We purposefully selected participants from two regions based on these criteria: (a) the participants included a single-child family and a two-child family in each of the two regions; (b) children's age ranged from 5 to 12 years and lived with their biological parents (c) children were currently taking music lessons after school. We interviewed both children and parents during the data collection. The key findings reveal that parental values transcend two cultural contexts, specifically in (1) motivations for music learning, (2) expectations of music learning, (3) utilizing personal background, and (4) strategies for success. The findings suggest that several factors, such as children's autonomy, musical joy, pursuit of musical career, "beauty development" and achievements, may have contributed to parents' values. The implication for parents, psychologists, and policymakers is to understand the diverse needs and values within different cultural backgrounds, to promote the children's development, to design curricula, and to use effective teaching methods in music education. In conclusion, both Guilin's and Tampa's parents' values varied due to cultural differences, which further influenced their behaviors, attitudes and perceptions toward their children's musical experiences.

Analysis of Domestic Research Trends Pertaining to Children of Divorced Families

This study examined the trends of domestic academic research on children of divorced families by classifying them by period, method, target, and subject. From 2000 to 2022, 105 papers published in 58 journals were surveyed. In terms of research methods, quantitative research was conducted using questionnaires and panel data. The subjects of the reviewed studies were mainly elementary school children, and there were many studies on both divorced single mother and child families as well as divorced single father and child families. By analyzing the core subjects of the study, papers related to children's personal adaptation accounted for the largest proportion, followed by problematic behaviors, psychological difficulties, such as depression and stress, and relationships. In conclusion, due to the high divorce rate in Korea there is a need to focus academic attention on the children of divorced families. To this end, it is necessary to study the adaptation and protection factors of the children of divorced families. More qualitative research should be conducted on children of divorced families of various ages, not just elementary school students.

Українська сім’я в умовах війни

The purpose of this study is to determine the problems and risks for the Ukrainian family, which is the basic institution of society, in the conditions of the Russia’s war against Ukraine, and its role in preserving the human potential of country. The study is based on information from open sources, expert assessments, data from the State Statistics Service of Ukraine, and sample survey materials. The research was carried out using such methods as comparative analysis, generalization and induction, survey, system approach. The family is a primary and main center of society, which ensures the physical (biological) and sociocultural reproduction of generations of the human community. In recent decades, the development of the family in Ukraine took place in the same direction as in other European countries. Russia’s war against Ukraine deformed the natural processes of life and development of the Ukrainian family. Great human losses, the destruction of the environment necessary for life (housing, social and economic infrastructure, natural environment), forced mass migration made it extremely difficult to implement the main specific functions of the family (child-bearing, upbringing, and maintenance of children), but activated its protective function. Family practices in the conditions of war and forced migration testify to powerful family ties and their special importance in the crisis period. In the conditions of war and the socio-economic disorganization caused by the war, family becomes a support: family solidarity, mutual assistance, care, the exchange of activities and material resources between family members allow to sustain living, and sometimes to protect life. A significant part of the forced migrants, who left the dangerous areas, receive assistance, and often move to relatives in safe regions of the country. Socio-psychological functions of the family acquire protective character. At the same time, the war aggravated the problems of Ukrainian family and provoked new risks. The consequence of the full-scale war was the reduction and deformation of the marriage potential and negative changes in the marriage and family structure of the population: an increase in the number of widowed; single-parent families and families where children live without parents with relatives; single people of the oldest age. The increase in the number of orphans and children deprived of parental care (whose parents have died, are in captivity, forcibly deported, their whereabouts are unknown, etc.) is one of the most serious consequences of the war. Weakening of marital relations due to mobilization and large-scale migration with gender disproportions may lead to an increase in divorce rates in the future. An increase in the number of single-child families among families with children is to be expected, although its significant growth was a problem even in the pre-war years. The changes in the Ukrainian family may be fully understood only a few years after the end of the war.

Do housing booms reduce fertility intentions? Evidence from the new two-child policy in China

To ease pressure from the aging population, the Chinese government implemented a two-child policy for couples where either the husband or the wife is from a single-child family in 2014. Using this policy as a quasi-natural experiment, we find that housing booms inhibit the potential desire for more children. A one-standard-deviation increase in the housing price-income ratio decreases the probability of migrant couples’ intention to have a second child by 7.69%, with the effect being concentrated on renters. Housing booms affect couples’ desired fertility through negative income and high opportunity cost channels. (JEL code: R31, J13, J38).

Mediating effects of emotional intelligence on the relationship between empathy and humanistic care ability in nursing students: A cross-sectional descriptive study.

Patient-centered nursing holistic care is of utmost important to the nursing profession, and humanistic care cultivation has become a global nursing education concern. This study aimed to examine the relationship among emotional intelligence, empathy and humanistic care ability in nursing students, and to determine whether positive emotional intelligence could mediate the relationship between empathy and humanistic care ability. This study used a cross-sectional, descriptive design. A total of 323 nursing students was enrolled from one medical university in Heilongjiang Province, China. The emotional intelligence questionnaires, empathy scale and humanistic care ability scale were used to quantify participants' responses. There was no significant difference in gender, residence, single-child family and leader experience of nursing students' humanistic care ability. However, the significant differences were found in grade (t = 4.55, P < .01) and major interests (t = 7.06, P < .01). Obviously, there was positive correlation between positive emotional intelligence and empathy (R = 0.37, P < .01), and positive correlation between humanistic care ability and emotional intelligence (R = 0.62, P < .01), and empathy (R = 0.57, P < .01). Furthermore, emotional intelligence (β = 0.21, P < .01) had a significant mediating effect on the relationship between humanistic care ability and empathy. Nurse educators should improve the empathy of nursing students by developing and implementing emotional intelligence programs, in order to improve their humanistic care ability.

Association of single child family with subjective health complaints in children and adolescents

The number of single-child families has been increasing across developing countries during the last decades. We aimed to examine the association between being a single child (SC) and subjective health complaints (SHCs) in Iranian children and adolescents. This study was conducted as a part of the fifth survey of a national surveillance program entitled Childhood and Adolescence Surveillance and Prevention of Adult Non-communicable disease (CASPIAN-V). This national survey included a total of 14,400 students 7–18 years and their parents from rural and urban areas in 30 provinces of Iran. Data on demographic characteristics, lifestyle variables, and SHCs were measured using the questionnaire of the World Health Organization on Global School-based Health Survey (WHO-GSHS). Multivariate logistic regression models were used to estimate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) for the association of being an SC with SHCs. Data on 14,151 participants were available for this study, of whom 7.7% (1092) were SCs. The most frequent SHCs were irritability (37.1%, 95%CI: 36.3–37.9%), feeling nervous 32.5%, 95% CI: (31.7–33.3%), and headache 24.3%, 95%CI: (23.6–25.0% ). In the multivariate model, being an SC significantly increased the odds of dizziness [adjusted OR (95% CI): 1.37(1.08–1.72)] and backache complaint [1.22(1.01–1.47)]. The association of being an SC with other SHCs (feeling low, irritability, feeling nervous, difficulty in getting to sleep, headache, stomachache) was not statistically significant (p value > 0.05). Our results suggest that being an SC may be associated with higher odds of dizziness and backache complaints.

The Legal Landscape of Surrogacy in China

Surrogacy has increased globally due to the development of medical technology. In light of the abolition of the one-child policy in China, demand for surrogacy among Chinese citizens has increased, especially in single-child families that would like a second child but worry about childbearing at an advanced age. Meanwhile, highly educated women tend to have children at an advanced age. Hence, the need for surrogacy has risen. However, current policies and laws in China prohibit surrogacy, resulting in a domestic black market and people seeking international surrogacy. This article surveys legal and judicial practices in China and attempts to forecast whether China is likely to explicitly prohibit or legitimize surrogacy in the short term.

Changing family and marital structure in China: emotional strain at cultural and individual levels

This article examines the evolution of family and marital structure in modern China in the light of changes in China's culture, changing government policy and changes in the attitudes and situations of modern couples and families. The most dramatic changes involved the one-child policy, instituted in the late 1970s, that changed family structure from large male-preference families to single child families that enhanced the value of girls. Since sex was no longer mainly for procreation, it also revised the role of sexuality. The result was both to pamper the "only children" and increase the pressure on them both as children and as young adults, because this policy produced an ageing population without enough workers. The recent change in government policy to allow three children has not altered median family size as many young people do not want more children. There is also the lingering effect on families of China's history of trauma. Several clinical vignettes illustrate the complex mixture of forces at play in modern families.

The Association between Longitudinal BMI Patterns in Children and their Parents

ObjectivesParental (maternal and paternal) weight before and after pregnancy has been associated with an increased risk of obesity in the offspring. However, less is known on the longitudinal association between parental and child growth trajectories across early childhood. This work aims to describe parental and child body mass index (BMI) trajectory patterns from birth until adolescence and assess their association.MethodsWe analyzed 1537 single-child families participating in the Applied Research Group for Kids (TARGet Kids! ) cohort (ON, Canada). Children and their parents had repeated measurements of weight and length or height from child's birth to 13 years during scheduled visits with their primary care physician. These measurements were used to calculate BMI for parents and age and sex adjusted BMI z-scores (zBMI) for children based on the World Health Organization. Latent class mixed modeling was used to identify children and parental growth patterns. A loglinear analysis was conducted to study the tri-party interaction between child, maternal, paternal longitudinal patterns. Jaccard distance was used to assess cluster similarity.ResultsWe identified two distinct patterns in children (normal, increasing obesity), mothers (normal, increasing obesity), and fathers (overweight, obesity). The three-way loglinear analysis indicated that the tri-party interaction between children, maternal and paternal growth patterns interaction was significant (χ2 (1) = 15.1, p < .001). 92.1% of children in the normal pattern had mothers in the normal pattern and fathers in the overweight pattern. Cluster similarity was 63% for mothers and children, but 12.5% between fathers and children, with most children from the increasing obesity group with a father in the overweight group.ConclusionsThere is a significant tri-party association between children, maternal and paternal BMI patterns from birth to adolescence. Future studies should aim in studying eating and other health behaviors associated with these relationships at the family level.Funding SourcesJoannah and Brian Lawson Center for Child Nutrition, Ontario Graduate Scholarship, Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

Investing in Infants: the Lasting Effects of Cash Transfers to New Families

Abstract We provide new evidence that cash transfers following the birth of a first child can have large and long-lasting effects on that child’s outcomes. We take advantage of the January 1 birthdate cutoff for U.S. child-related tax benefits, which results in families of otherwise similar children receiving substantially different refunds during the first year of life. For the average low-income single-child family in our sample, this difference amounts to roughly ${\$}$1,300, or 10% of income. Using the universe of administrative federal tax data in selected years, we show that this transfer in infancy increases young adult earnings by at least 1%–2%, with larger effects for males. These effects show up at earlier ages in terms of improved math and reading test scores and a higher likelihood of high-school graduation. The observed effects on shorter-run parental outcomes suggest that additional liquidity during the critical window following the birth of a first child leads to persistent increases in family income that likely contribute to the downstream effects on children’s outcomes. The longer-term effects on child earnings alone are large enough that the transfer pays for itself through subsequent increases in federal income tax revenue.

Parent child behavior pattern in single child families

Quantitative descriptive design has been used to describe the mental health of the adult single child. A sample size of 220 adults was studied through snow ball sampling method by using standardized inventory. The self-designed general information questionnaire was used to collect the demographic information of the respondents. The parent child inventory (R.S. Sandhya 2016) and mental health inventory (Dr. Srivastava and Dr. Jagdish, 1996) were used to assess the parent child behavior pattern and the mental health of the respondents in their childhood and adulthood stage respectively. The results of the study showed that there was a significant relationship between parent child behavior pattern and mental health of single children in their adulthood at 0.01 level (Karl Pearson co efficient of correlation).

Familial hypercholesterolemia in China requires greater efforts

Familial hypercholesterolemia in China requires greater efforts

Does the Efficacy of Behavior Management Techniques Differ Between Children From Single-Child and Multi-Child Families?: A Quasi-Experimental Study.

AimBehavior management techniques (BMTs) efficiently deliver dental treatment to children with dental anxiety. The objective of this quasi-experimental study was to examine whether the efficacy of BMTs applied for the improvement of compliance in pediatric patients differs between children 3–10-year-olds from single-child and multi-child families.Materials and MethodsIn this quasi-experimental, 197 caregiver-child couples were divided into two groups: single-child group (116 couples) and multi-child group (81 couples). Children's pre- and post-treatment anxiety levels were measured by facial mood scale (FMS) and Frankl Behavior Rating Scale (FBRS), respectively.Caregivers' dental anxiety was measured by the Chinese version of the Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (MDAS), which was included in the self-designed questionnaire. Data were analyzed by using the Mann-Whitney U-test, chi-square tests, and binary multivariate regression analysis.ResultsThere was no statistically significant difference in the demographic characteristics of the children between the two groups. BMTs were found to be capable of reducing children's dental anxiety (CDA): the compliance rate was 45.69–88.79% in the single-child group and 44.44–85.79% in the multi-child group pre- and post-BMTs, but there was no significant difference in the change of compliance between the two groups (p > 0.05). In the subgroup analysis, parenting style (odds ratio [OR] = 0.054, p < 0.05) and father's education (OR = 8.19, p < 0.05) affected the varies of children's compliance in the single-child group. In contrast, in the multi-child group, gender (OR = 8.004, p < 0.05) and mother's occupation (OR = 0.017, p < 0.05) were associated with these changes in compliance.ConclusionsIn this study, BMTs were proved to be beneficial in improving compliance in 3- to 10-year-olds children in dental treatment. Though there was no significant difference in the change of compliance between children from single-child and multi-child families, different associated factors may affect the two groups. Therefore, the related family factors should be taken into account when professionals manage each child's behavior in dental practice.

Structural family factors and bullying at school: a large scale investigation based on a Chinese adolescent sample

BackgroundsVarious family factors have been identified in association with school bullying and the involvement of children and adolescents in bullying behaviors.MethodsA total of 11,919 participants (female = 6671, mean age = 15) from 22 middle schools in Suzhou City, China completed the questionnaire. The associations between structural family factors (family socio-economic status, living arrangement, number of siblings, whether they were local residents/migrants, had an urban/rural hukou [a household registration system in China], parental and maternal education levels, and other various bullying-related constructs (i.e. bullying witnessing, bullying involvement, bystander intervention, and fear of being bullied) were all examined. Odds ratios (ORs) adjusted for covariates were calculated for the four bullying-related constructs (bullying witness, bullying involvement, bystander intervention, and reactions to being bullied) using structural family factors.ResultsThe result showed that all demographic household characteristics were associated with bullying at school except for being from a single-child family. Adolescents from rural families witnessed more bullying incidents than those from local families (OR = 1.35, 95% CI: [1.09, 1.68]). Adolescents who come from migrant families (OR = 1.12, 95% CI: [1.07, 1.43]) with a rural hukou (OR = 1.31, 95% CI: [1.00, 1.74]) and low parental education levels (OR = 1.42, 95% CI: [1.01, 2.57]) were more likely to be bullies. Adolescents who came from migrant families (OR = 1.37, 95% CI: [1.03, 1.82]), with low maternal education levels (OR = 1.42, 95% CI: [1.06, 1.91]) engaged in more negative bystander intervention behaviors. Furthermore, adolescents with less educated mothers experienced a higher fear of being bullied (never versus sometimes: OR = 1.33, 95% CI: [1.00, 1.85]; never versus usually OR = 1.39, 95% CI: [1.01, 1.20]).ConclusionsA systematic examination of the relationship between school bullying and demographic household characteristics may be used to inform school policies on bullying, such as training management on the importance of paying attention to adolescents from disadvantage household backgrounds. Identifying demographic factors that may predict bullying can also be used to prevent individuals from becoming involved in bullying and reduce the related negative consequences from being bullied.

Job preferences of undergraduate pharmacy students in China: a discrete choice experiment

BackgroundPharmacists are a crucial part of the health workforce and play an important role in achieving universal health coverage. In China, pharmaceutical human resources are in short supply, and the distribution is unequal. This study aimed to identify the key job characteristics that influence the job preferences of undergraduate pharmacy students and to elicit the relative importance of different job characteristics to shed light on future policy interventions.MethodsA discrete choice experiment was conducted to assess the job preferences of undergraduate pharmacy students from 6 provinces in mainland China. A face-to-face interview was used to collect data. Conditional logit and mixed logit models were used to analyse data, and the final model was chosen according to the model fit statistics. A series of policy simulations was also conducted.ResultsIn total, 581 respondents completed the questionnaire, and 500 respondents who passed the internal consistency test were analysed. All attributes were statistically significant except for open management. Monthly income and work location were most important to respondents, followed by work unit (which refers to the nature of the workplace) and years to promotion. There was preference heterogeneity among respondents, e.g., male students preferred open management, and female students preferred jobs in public institutions. Furthermore, students with an urban background or from a single-child family placed higher value on a job in the city compared to their counterparts.ConclusionThe heterogeneity of attributes showed the complexity of job preferences. Both monetary and nonmonetary job characteristics significantly influenced the job preferences of pharmacy students in China. A more effective policy intervention to attract graduates to work in rural areas should consider both incentives on the job itself and the background of pharmacy school graduates.

Design of intelligent real-time safety supervision system for pension institutions based on LBS

Abstract With the gradual ageing of China's population and the single-child family system becoming the backbone of society, the traditional pension way of relying on children at home not only does not guarantee the quality of life of the elderly, but also brings great pressure to the work and life of young people. The way of relying on pension institutions to provide for the aged is becoming gradually accepted by society. In elderly care institutions, safety supervision systems provide an important link to protect the safety of the elderly, thereby ensuring accurate analysis and supervision of the elderly persons’ activity routes and activity rules, and thus allowing an early warning to be given in a dangerous situation. The system realises the real-time positioning and monitoring of the elderly activity track, and can give early warning and timely rescue to the elderly who enter into any dangerous area. The system includes a server monitoring program and mobile APP; ASP.NET Technology to develop the monitoring program; SQL Server 2012 for data storage; and model view controller (MVC) architecture for the APP to improve the efficiency of program development. The supervision program comprises the functions of personnel information management, fence management, positioning service, activity track record, danger warning and rapid rescue. The APP deploys the location-based service (LBS) technology of Android, uses Baidu map API to obtain location information and draw activity track, and stores the information in the mobile phone SQLite database. The APP is installed on mobile phones, bracelets and other devices carried by the elderly and staff, which can record the current position of the person in real-time and simultaneously transmit it to the computer. When the elderly enter into a dangerous area, the system can quickly select the nearest staff and inform them for rescue, so as to ensure the safety of the elderly. After simulation test, the system has now reached the preset function.