The effect of ECD program on the caregiver’s parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices: based on a cluster-randomized controlled trial in economically vulnerable areas of China

Table 1 Baseline characteristics of the participants in the treatment and control group

	Control	Treatment	p-value
*Individual characteristics*
Gender	0.484	0.489	0.888
	(0.025)	(0.018)	0.888
Months	20.594	20.139	0.455
	(0.513)	(0.370)	0.455
Premature	0.041	0.044	0.878
	(0.008)	(0.012)	0.878
Minority	0.085	0.008	0.046
	(0.038)	(0.004)	0.046
The child was firstborn	0.745	0.780	0.276
	(0.026)	(0.021)	0.276
Low birth weight ( < = 2.499 kg)	0.043	0.045	0.863
	(0.007)	(0.010)	0.863
The first factor of cognitive development	0.026	0.004	0.824
	(0.066)	(0.073)
The first factor of non-cognitive development	0.111	-0.082	0.073
	(0.081)	(0.084)
The first factor of physical development	0.072	-0.046	0.269
	(0.070)	(0.081)
*Family characteristics*
The primary caregiver is a mother	0.718	0.667	0.172
	(0.022)	(0.031)	0.172
Mother’s education level (> 9 years of formal education)	0.450	0.443	0.933
	(0.080)	(0.063)	0.933
Age of the mother (years)	29.232	29.267	0.957
	(0.511)	(0.375)	0.957
Hukou of parents	1.397	1.354	0.784
	(0.126)	(0.114)	0.784
Whether is Dibao (low income family)	0.112	0.124	0.738
	(0.029)	(0.021)	0.738
Distance from the home to township seat	1.516	1.561	0.859
	(0.156)	(0.205)	0.859
N	483	481

Notes for variable Minority: China is a unified multi-ethnic country. Due to the large population of Han ethnicity (over 90% of the country’s total population), it is customary to refer to the other 55 ethnic groups as ethnic minorities. In terms of differences among the ethnicities, Han ethnicity speak Chinese, and some ethnic minorities have their own languages and scripts. In addition, there are differences between Han and some ethnic minorities in life customs, values, folk customs, and etiquette. In terms of geographical area of residence, most ethnic minorities are distributed in frontier provinces, and some of them migrate to live in Han-dominated regions. In the sampled area of this study, there is a very small number of Hui ethnicity. These few Hui people have been migrated to the sampled area and integrated into local cultures for a long time, thus, there is no significant differences in terms of language, values, and customs between these minorities and the Han ethnicity. The Chinese government does not discriminate in preferential policies neither. Therefore, in terms of the intervention, the two groups received the identical treatments.

ISSN: 1471-2458