Objective: To understand the current situation of neglect among middle school students in Shenzhen and explore the relationship between neglect and parenting styles.
Methods: A convenience sampling method was used to select one middle school and one high school from both urban villages and non-urban village areas in Shenzhen, totaling four schools. Stratified random cluster sampling was then employed, selecting two classes per grade from each school, covering grades 7-9 for middle schools and grades 10-12 for high schools, resulting in a total of 12 classes. Students from these classes were surveyed using demographic questionnaires, the Middle School Students’ Neglect Evaluation Questionnaire, and the Parenting Style Evaluation Scale. and scale were used to investigate the current state of neglect among middle school students in Shenzhen and analyze the parenting styles.
Results: Out of 1 019 teenagers surveyed, 995 valid questionnaires were collected, with an effective response rate of 97.64%. Among the respondents, 331 students experienced neglect, with an overall neglect rate of 33.27% and a neglect score of 50.87. There were statistically significant differences in neglect rates among different groups, including gender, grade level, household registration, source of admission, parental education level, family type, and parental relationship (p<0.05). Scores for ‘strict punishment’ and ‘denial or refusal’ parenting styles by both fathers and mothers were higher than the national average, with statistically significant differences (p<0.05). Analysis showed that students who were not neglected scored higher in the ‘emotional warmth’ dimension of both parents’ parenting styles, with statistically significant differences (p<0.05).
Conclusions: Parents should emphasize communication with their children in family life, and an emotionally warm parenting style can greatly reduce the feeling of neglect among children. Schools and society should actively guide parents to master correct parent-child communication methods and promote family-school-society collaborative education. Parents should enhance their communication with schools and strive to improve their own parenting knowledge and skills.