Assessing household financial burdens for preprimary education and associated socioeconomic inequalities: a case study in China.

BACKGROUND: Providing young children with universal access to preprimary education (PPE) is considered a powerful tool for human capital development and eliminating the intergenerational transmission of poverty. To remove household financial barrier for achieving universal PPE, this study proposed a measure to identify households incurring 'heavy financial burdens from paying for PPE' (HBPPE) and conducted a case study in China. METHODS: Using nationally representative data in 2019, we estimated the percentage of households with HBPPE (spent 7% or more of their total annual expenditure) and associated socioeconomic inequalities. We also applied a three-level logit regression model to investigate the factors associated with the probabilities of households incurring HBPPE. RESULTS: Half of the sampled households spent 7% or more of their expenditures on PPE. Households in the lowest wealth quintile (54%) or households with children attending private PPE (55%) had higher percentages of HBPPE than households in other wealth quintiles (eg, 51% in the highest wealth quintile) or households with children attending public kindergartens (41%). Logit regression analysis shows that the poorest households and households with children attending private kindergarten were more likely to incur HBPPE than their counterparts. CONCLUSION: To ensuring universal access to PPE in China, future policy should consider increasing the enrolment of children from low-income families in public kindergartens and increasing governmental investments in low-income households by subsidising children attending PPE.

Reciprocal relationship between interpersonal communication and depressive symptoms and the mediating role of resilience across two years: Three-wave cross-lagged panel model.

BACKGROUND: Depression among children has been a growing public health concern. It is generally recognized that individuals with depression are likely to have interpersonal malfunctioning. However, there remains a limited scientific understanding of the reciprocal relationship between interpersonal communication and depressive symptoms among rural Chinese children in a longitudinal approach. METHODS: Therefore, guided by the interpersonal model of depression and the developmental cascade model, the present study conducted a cross-lagged panel analysis study to explore the bidirectional relationship between interpersonal communication and depressive symptoms across three waves among 2188 elementary school students in rural areas of one county of Gansu Province, China. We also examined the mediating effect of resilience and sex differences of the models. RESULTS: Our results showed that depressive symptoms negatively predicted interpersonal communication from T1 to T2 and T2 to T3. Interpersonal communication negatively predicted depressive symptoms from T1 to T2, but not T2 to T3. Furthermore, resilience showed significant partial mediating effects in the reciprocal relationship between interpersonal communication and depressive symptoms. In terms of sex differences, the significant relationship between depressive symptoms at T1 and interpersonal communication at T2 was found to be significant among male students and marginally significant among female students. The full mediating effect of resilience at T1 was found only among male students, whereas resilience at T2 functioned as a full mediator between depressive symptoms at T2 and interpersonal communication at T3 only among female students. LIMITATIONS: First, the present sample consisted of only third and fourth grade (i.e., in T1) students from one county in rural China. Second, the present study examined depressive symptoms instead of depression as a clinical diagnosis. Third, the third wave of the data was collected during COVID-19. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic could unexpectedly pose on child mental health. CONCLUSIONS: The finding underlined the importance of providing comprehensive depression prevention and intervention from fostering children's inner resilience and promoting their ability to navigate interpersonal resources.

The Latent Class Analysis of Adverse Childhood Experiences among Chinese Children and Early Adolescents in Rural Areas and Their Association with Depression and Suicidal Ideation.

Exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) is a global public health concern that is detrimental to the psychological outcomes of Chinese children in rural areas due to the lack of public awareness of ACEs and mental health resources. The objective of this study was to identify the patterns of ACEs and the impact of ACE patterns on depression and suicidal ideation among 4683 students (mean age = 10.08 years, SD = 0.99; 48.17% female students) from 63 elementary schools in rural areas in Guizhou Province, China. Latent class analysis was conducted to identify the best class pattern. A three-step approach was undertaken to explore the association between the class patterns and demographic covariates and depression and suicidal thoughts. An overall three-class pattern of ACEs was identified, which was: (1) high ACEs, (2) high verbal abuse and emotional neglect and low household dysfunction, and (3) low ACEs. The results also showed that children in the high ACEs class tended to show higher depression rates and more frequent suicidal ideation across the three groups. Being female and younger and having a lower socioeconomic status were risk factors. Our study identified a class pattern that was not found in previous research, which is high verbal abuse and emotional neglect and low household dysfunction.

Measuring early childhood development with The Early Human Capability Index (eHCI): a reliability and validity study in China.

BACKGROUND: With the importance of early childhood development more recognized by the international society, low-cost and cross-culturally comparable measures of early childhood development is in great demand, both in China and worldwide. In this study, we aim to test the psychometrics of the Chinese version of The Early Human Capability Index (eHCI), which is designed as a measurement for school readiness in large population. METHODS: We evaluated the internal consistency, test-retest reliability, inter-rater reliability, factor structure, criterion-related validity, and discriminant validity of the eHCI in 20,324 preschool children in Shanghai. We also compared eHCI scores with test result of ASQ in 815 children in Yexian and EAP-ECDS in 6947 children in Daming. RESULTS: The ICC between parents and teachers were 0.83 and 0.63 for Literacy Numeracy and Overall Development. The confirmatory factor analyses showed good model fit (χ2 = 509,323, p < 0.001; CFI = 0.901; RMSEA = 0.038). The correlations between the scores of eHCI and other ECD metrics ranged between r = - 0.42 and r = 0.53. The scale discriminated between children's developmental level based on sex, parental education, family income, family assets, and nutrition status. CONCLUSIONS: Results from Chinese population suggested that eHCI is valid and reliable for measuring early childhood development in children aged 3-6 years. The eHCI can be applied to map the global distribution of early childhood development for allocating scarce resources to help those in greatest demand. Longitudinal studies are warranted to test its predictive validity for later outcomes.

The effects of attending selective college tiers in China.

We estimate the effects of attending the first versus second-tier of higher education institutions on Chinese students' at-college and expected post-college outcomes using various quasi-experimental methods such as regression discontinuity, genetic matching, and regression discontinuity controlling for covariates. Overall we find that just attending the first versus second-tier makes little difference in terms of students' class ranking, net tuition, expected wages, or likelihood of applying for graduate school. The results do show, however, that just attending the first versus second tier makes it less likely that students will get their preferred major choice.

Tandem reactions of 1,3-diacid chlorides with 2-methylimidazoline and 2-methyl-1,4,5,6-tetrahydropyrimidine: one-pot synthesis of 1,8-naphthyridinetetraones.

The reactions of 2-methylimidazoline and 2-methyl-1,4,5,6-tetrahydropyrimidine with 1,3-diacid chlorides, in the presence of Et3N in refluxing MeCN give highly functionalized potentially bioactive 1,8-naphthyridinetetraones. 2-Methylimidazoline and 2-methyl-1,4,5,6-tetrahydropyrimidine can be viewed as tridentate nucleophiles which give four consecutive tandem nucleophilic attacks on electrophiles.