Factors that Influence Chinese Parents' Intentions to Use Physical Violence to Discipline Their Preschool Children.

This study explored factors affecting parents' intentions to use physical violence (PV) to discipline their children in the future. The theory of planned behavior (TPB) guided selection of variables. A sample of 1337 preschool children's parents from nine kindergartens located in a county of Henan Province, China were selected by stratified random cluster sampling. Data on parents' attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control over PV, intentions to engage in PV to discipline their preschool children in the future, self-reported PV behavior toward their children during the past three months, and demographic characteristics were collected via a paper-based questionnaire. Multivariable logistic regression analyses examined putative predictors of parents' intentions to use physically violent discipline. Nearly three-quarters of the sample said they definitely will not use violent discipline, while 23.4% either said they would use it, or did not rule it out. Logistic regression analysis showed that parents' lower level of perceived behavioral control over using violence (OR 4.17; 95% CI: 2.659, 6.551), attitudes that support PV (OR 2.23; 95% CI: 1.555, 3.203), and having been physically violent with their children during the past three months (OR 1.62; 95% CI: 1.032, 2.556) were significantly associated with parents' tendency either to include, or not exclude, the use of violent discipline. Parents' subjective norms regarding PV had no significant impact on their intentions (p > 0.05). The influence of TPB constructs varied according to parents' gender. Intervention programs that aim to reduce violent discipline should focus both on increasing parents' perceived behavioral control over PV and changing their attitudes toward physically violent practices, especially among mothers and parents who have already used PV to discipline their children.

Erratum: Wang, H., et al. The Relationship between Parental Perception of Neighborhood Collective Efficacy and Physical Violence by Parents against Preschool Children: A Cross-Sectional Study in a County of China. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16, 2305.

The authors would like to correct the Cronbach's α for the measures in the "Methods" section of their previous paper [1] as follows: [...].

The Relationship between Parental Perception of Neighborhood Collective Efficacy and Physical Violence by Parents against Preschool Children: A Cross-Sectional Study in a County of China.

Children exposed to negative neighborhood environments are at high risk of experiencing violence. This study aimed to explore the effects of parental perception of neighborhood collective efficacy on parental physical violence (PV) to their preschool children in a county of China. A total of 1337 parents from nine kindergartens were recruited by the stratified random cluster sampling method. Data about parental PV behavior toward children during the past three months, parental perception of neighborhood collective efficacy, together with their attitudes towards the use of corporal punishment to discipline children, and demographic characteristics were collected. Their relationships were investigated by applying multivariable logistic regression models. Overall, 67.5% of the parents reported at least one form of PV during the past three months. The rates of minor PV (MPV) and severe PV (SPV) were 67% and 22.8%, respectively. The results of multivariate logistic regression showed that only social cohesion was associated with lower odds of parental PV and MPV behavior after controlling for covariates. The results suggest that neighborhood collective efficacy is associated with parental PV behavior against their children to some extent, but the effects differ according to the severity level of PV. Neighborhood social cohesion may have a positive role in reducing parental PV behavior in the county surveyed at present study.

Emotional neglect among kindergarten children in a county of Henan Province / 中国学校卫生

Objective@#To explore the incidence and influencing factors of child emotional neglect, and to provide evidence for the relevant departments to prevent child emotional neglect.@*Methods@#Stratified random cluster sampling method was used to select 1 354 parents from a county of Henan Province. Anonymous questionnaire survey was conducted among them to investigate child emotional neglect, logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the influencing factors of emotional neglect.@*Results@#The total incidence of child emotional neglect was 15.7%, and the rate of boys and girls was 14.7% and 16.8%, respectively, that of fathers and mothers was 18.3% and 15.1%, respectively. There were no statistically significant differences in rates between fathers and mothers’ emotional neglect behaviors, neither between boys and girls (χ2=1.18，3.14, P>0.05).90.2% parents could often/always console children when they were hurt or feared. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that risk factors of high emotional neglect incidence included living in rural areas, poorer family economic status, parents with lower social support and childhood neglect experience, biological parents are not married(OR=2.71, 2.56, 2.64, 2.66, 4.11, 1.76, P<0.05).@*Conclusion@#Parents’ emotional neglect of kindergarten children existed in the research area, attention should be paid to the emotional neglect of parents from rural areas, and parental education activities should be carried out to enhance parents’ parenting skills.