Renfu Luo
Biographic Data
| ID | 3710507 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Renfu Luo |
| GIVEN NAMES | Renfu |
| FAMILY NAME | Luo |
| SIGNATURE | LUO R |
| AFFILIATIONS | Peking University |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 28 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 133 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 28 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2021 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Early childhood development and parental training interventions in rural China
Dietary diversity and mental health in preschoolers in rural China
Objective: To investigate the prevalence of mental health problems among preschoolers in rural China and examine the relationship between dietary diversity and mental health. Design: A cross-sectional survey analysis was performed. Child mental health was assessed with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Child dietary diversity was assessed with the dietary diversity score (DDS), which was calculated based on nine food groups usin…
Passive versus active service delivery
We present the results of a cluster-randomized controlled trial that evaluates the effects of a free, center-based parenting intervention on early cognitive development and parenting practices in 100 rural villages in China. We then compare these effects to a previous trial of a home-based intervention conducted in the same region, using the same parenting curriculum and public service system, accounting for potential differences between the stud…
Interrelationships of caregiver mental health, parenting practices, and child development in rural China
Parenting Knowledge, Parental Investments, and Early Childhood Development in Rural Households in Western China
This paper investigates the relationships between caregivers' parenting knowledge and early childhood development, based on a survey conducted in 1715 rural households in 100 villages located in an undeveloped rural area of western China. The results find that, first, caregivers' parenting knowledge is positively and significantly associated with children's development outcomes, including cognitive, language, motor, and social-emotional developme…
Does gender matter for the intergenerational transmission of education? Evidence from rural China
Interrelationships of parental belief, parental investments, and child development
Intergenerational transmission of parenting style in rural China and the mediation effect of Caregiver’s mental health
The quality of parenting is associated with both early childhood development and lifelong negative adult outcomes, and there is evidence to suggest that some aspects of parenting show patterns of intergenerational transmission. However, the mediating mechanisms of the intergenerational transmission of parenting style are not fully understood. This study aims to examine whether intergenerational transmission of parenting style occurs among caregiv…
The association between prenatal micronutrient supplementation and early development of children under age two
Maternal nutrition has been shown to positively impact the pregnancy outcomes of women, as demonstrated by a decreased rate of infants born with below-average weight and size for gestational age. However, current evidences supporting the association between prenatal micronutrient supplementation and the early development of children is limited and mixed. This study investigates the association between prenatal micronutrient supplementation and th…
Parental Migration and Early Childhood Development in Rural China
Nearly one-quarter of all children under age 2 in China are left behind in the countryside as parents migrate to urban areas for work. We use a four-wave longitudinal survey following young children from 6 to 30 months of age to provide first evidence on the effects of parental migration on development, health, and nutritional outcomes in the critical first stages of life. We find that maternal migration has a negative effect on cognitive develop…
From Quantity to Quality
A key challenge in developing countries interested in providing early childhood development (ECD) programmes at scale is whether these programmes can be effectively delivered through existing public service infrastructures. We present the results of a randomised experiment evaluating the effects of a home-based parenting programme delivered by cadres in China’s Family Planning Commission (FPC)—the former enforcers of the one-child policy. We find…
Are infant/toddler developmental delays a problem across rural China?
Using the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development-III (BSID-III), we examine the rates of developmental delays among children aged 0–3 years in four major subpopulations of rural China, which, altogether, account for 69% of China's rural children and 49% of children nationwide. The results indicate that 85% of the 3,353 rural children in our sample suffer from at least one kind of developmental delay. Specifically, 49% of the children hav…
Using community health workers to deliver a scalable integrated parenting program in rural China
Do Infant Feeding Practices Differ Between Grandmothers and Mothers in Rural China? Evidence From Rural Shaanxi Province
The overall goal of this study is to examine whether infant feeding practices differ between mothers and grandmothers in rural China. We randomly sampled 1383 caregivers of infants aged 18 to 30 months living in 351 villages across 174 townships in nationally designated poverty counties in rural areas. Results show that a high fraction of caregivers of 18- to 30-month-old children living in low-income areas of rural China do not regularly engage …
The Education Gap of China’s Migrant Children and Rural Counterparts
Rural residents in China today face at least two key decisions: a) where to live and work; and b) where to send their children to school. In this paper we study the second decision: should a rural parent send their child to a public rural school or have him or her attend a private migrant school in the city. While there is an existing literature on the impact of this decision on student academic performance, one of the main shortcomings of curren…
Impact of Text Message Reminders on Caregivers’ Adherence to a Home Fortification Program Against Child Anemia in Rural Western China
Objectives. To test whether text message reminders sent to caregivers improve the effectiveness of a home micronutrient fortification program in western China. Methods. We carried out a cluster-randomized controlled trial in 351 villages (clusters) in Shaanxi Province in 2013 and 2014, enrolling children aged 6 to 12 months. We randomly assigned each village to 1 of 3 groups: free delivery group, text messaging group, or control group. We collect…
China’s Left-Behind Children
China's rapid development and urbanization have induced large numbers of rural residents to migrate from their homes to urban areas in search of better job opportunities. Parents typically leave their children behind with a caregiver, creating a new, potentially vulnerable subpopulation of left-behind children in rural areas. A growing number of policies and nongovernmental organization efforts target these children. The primary objective of this…
The Han-Minority Achievement Gap, Language, and Returns to Schools in Rural China
Although access to quality education in rural China has expanded dramatically over the past 3 decades, significant disparities persist between ethnic minorities and the Han majority. This article compares the academic achievement and determinants of achievement of minority and Han students in rural western China. In a survey of nearly 21,000 primary school students, we find that minority students score significantly lower than their Han peers on …
Improving the Health and Education of Elementary Schoolchildren in Rural China
We report on the results of a randomised controlled trial conducted among over 2,000 children in 60 elementary schools in rural Shaanxi Province, North-west China. We find that providing children with daily iron supplements for six months improved children’s haemoglobin levels and standardised maths scores. In comparison, educating parents about nutrition and anaemia in a special parents meeting produced a modest impact on children’s haemoglobin …
The education of China's migrant children
Text Messaging and its Impacts on the Health and Education of the Poor
School Dropouts and Conditional Cash Transfers
The overall goal of this study is to examine if there is a dropout problem in rural China and to explore the effectiveness of a Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programme on the rate of dropping out. To meet this goal, we conduct a randomised controlled trial (RCT) to assess the impact of the CCT using a sample of the poorest 300 junior high school students in a nationally-designated poor county in Northwest China. We find that the annual dropout …
Providing quality infrastructure in rural villages
Nutrition and Educational Performance in Rural China's Elementary Schools
Despite growing wealth and a strengthening commitment from the government to provide quality education, a significant share of students across rural China still have inadequate access to micronutrient-rich regular diets. Such poor diets can lead to nutritional problems, such as iron-deficiency anemia, that can adversely affect attention and learning in school. The overall goal of this article is to test whether simple nutritional interventions lo…
Dropping out
The education of China's migrant children
Dropping out
The effect of primary school mergers on academic performance of students in rural China
Parental Migration and Early Childhood Development in Rural China
Nearly one-quarter of all children under age 2 in China are left behind in the countryside as parents migrate to urban areas for work. We use a four-wave longitudinal survey following young children from 6 to 30 months of age to provide first evidence on the effects of parental migration on development, health, and nutritional outcomes in the critical first stages of life. We find that maternal migration has a negative effect on cognitive develop…
From Quantity to Quality
A key challenge in developing countries interested in providing early childhood development (ECD) programmes at scale is whether these programmes can be effectively delivered through existing public service infrastructures. We present the results of a randomised experiment evaluating the effects of a home-based parenting programme delivered by cadres in China’s Family Planning Commission (FPC)—the former enforcers of the one-child policy. We find…
The Han-Minority Achievement Gap, Language, and Returns to Schools in Rural China
Although access to quality education in rural China has expanded dramatically over the past 3 decades, significant disparities persist between ethnic minorities and the Han majority. This article compares the academic achievement and determinants of achievement of minority and Han students in rural western China. In a survey of nearly 21,000 primary school students, we find that minority students score significantly lower than their Han peers on …
Using community health workers to deliver a scalable integrated parenting program in rural China
Providing quality infrastructure in rural villages
Does gender matter for the intergenerational transmission of education? Evidence from rural China
Nutrition and Educational Performance in Rural China's Elementary Schools
Despite growing wealth and a strengthening commitment from the government to provide quality education, a significant share of students across rural China still have inadequate access to micronutrient-rich regular diets. Such poor diets can lead to nutritional problems, such as iron-deficiency anemia, that can adversely affect attention and learning in school. The overall goal of this article is to test whether simple nutritional interventions lo…
Passive versus active service delivery
We present the results of a cluster-randomized controlled trial that evaluates the effects of a free, center-based parenting intervention on early cognitive development and parenting practices in 100 rural villages in China. We then compare these effects to a previous trial of a home-based intervention conducted in the same region, using the same parenting curriculum and public service system, accounting for potential differences between the stud…
Interrelationships of parental belief, parental investments, and child development
Text Messaging and its Impacts on the Health and Education of the Poor
Village Elections, Public Goods Investments and Pork Barrel Politics, Chinese-style
A key issue in political economy concerns the accountability that governance structures impose on public officials and how elections and representative democracy influence the allocation of public resources. In this paper we utilise a unique set of survey data set from nearly 2450 randomly selected villages describing China's recent progress in village governance reforms and its relationship to the provision of public goods in rural China between…
Anemia in Rural China's Elementary Schools
Despite growing wealth in China, a significant share of children across rural China still have no access to iron-rich foods, vitamins, and other micronutrients. Such poor diets may result in high incidences of nutritional problems, including anemia. The objective of the study was to increase understanding of the extent of anemia, and identify structural correlates of anemia in poor Shaanxi province's primary schools. The article shows that the ov…
The effect of primary school mergers on academic performance of students in rural China
Dropping out
Nutrition and Educational Performance in Rural China's Elementary Schools
Despite growing wealth and a strengthening commitment from the government to provide quality education, a significant share of students across rural China still have inadequate access to micronutrient-rich regular diets. Such poor diets can lead to nutritional problems, such as iron-deficiency anemia, that can adversely affect attention and learning in school. The overall goal of this article is to test whether simple nutritional interventions lo…
School Dropouts and Conditional Cash Transfers
The overall goal of this study is to examine if there is a dropout problem in rural China and to explore the effectiveness of a Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programme on the rate of dropping out. To meet this goal, we conduct a randomised controlled trial (RCT) to assess the impact of the CCT using a sample of the poorest 300 junior high school students in a nationally-designated poor county in Northwest China. We find that the annual dropout …
Providing quality infrastructure in rural villages
Improving the Health and Education of Elementary Schoolchildren in Rural China
We report on the results of a randomised controlled trial conducted among over 2,000 children in 60 elementary schools in rural Shaanxi Province, North-west China. We find that providing children with daily iron supplements for six months improved children’s haemoglobin levels and standardised maths scores. In comparison, educating parents about nutrition and anaemia in a special parents meeting produced a modest impact on children’s haemoglobin …
The education of China's migrant children
Text Messaging and its Impacts on the Health and Education of the Poor
China’s Left-Behind Children
China's rapid development and urbanization have induced large numbers of rural residents to migrate from their homes to urban areas in search of better job opportunities. Parents typically leave their children behind with a caregiver, creating a new, potentially vulnerable subpopulation of left-behind children in rural areas. A growing number of policies and nongovernmental organization efforts target these children. The primary objective of this…
The Han-Minority Achievement Gap, Language, and Returns to Schools in Rural China
Although access to quality education in rural China has expanded dramatically over the past 3 decades, significant disparities persist between ethnic minorities and the Han majority. This article compares the academic achievement and determinants of achievement of minority and Han students in rural western China. In a survey of nearly 21,000 primary school students, we find that minority students score significantly lower than their Han peers on …
Impact of Text Message Reminders on Caregivers’ Adherence to a Home Fortification Program Against Child Anemia in Rural Western China
Objectives. To test whether text message reminders sent to caregivers improve the effectiveness of a home micronutrient fortification program in western China. Methods. We carried out a cluster-randomized controlled trial in 351 villages (clusters) in Shaanxi Province in 2013 and 2014, enrolling children aged 6 to 12 months. We randomly assigned each village to 1 of 3 groups: free delivery group, text messaging group, or control group. We collect…
The Education Gap of China’s Migrant Children and Rural Counterparts
Rural residents in China today face at least two key decisions: a) where to live and work; and b) where to send their children to school. In this paper we study the second decision: should a rural parent send their child to a public rural school or have him or her attend a private migrant school in the city. While there is an existing literature on the impact of this decision on student academic performance, one of the main shortcomings of curren…
Do Infant Feeding Practices Differ Between Grandmothers and Mothers in Rural China? Evidence From Rural Shaanxi Province
The overall goal of this study is to examine whether infant feeding practices differ between mothers and grandmothers in rural China. We randomly sampled 1383 caregivers of infants aged 18 to 30 months living in 351 villages across 174 townships in nationally designated poverty counties in rural areas. Results show that a high fraction of caregivers of 18- to 30-month-old children living in low-income areas of rural China do not regularly engage …
Are infant/toddler developmental delays a problem across rural China?
Using the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development-III (BSID-III), we examine the rates of developmental delays among children aged 0–3 years in four major subpopulations of rural China, which, altogether, account for 69% of China's rural children and 49% of children nationwide. The results indicate that 85% of the 3,353 rural children in our sample suffer from at least one kind of developmental delay. Specifically, 49% of the children hav…
Using community health workers to deliver a scalable integrated parenting program in rural China
Parenting Knowledge, Parental Investments, and Early Childhood Development in Rural Households in Western China
This paper investigates the relationships between caregivers' parenting knowledge and early childhood development, based on a survey conducted in 1715 rural households in 100 villages located in an undeveloped rural area of western China. The results find that, first, caregivers' parenting knowledge is positively and significantly associated with children's development outcomes, including cognitive, language, motor, and social-emotional developme…
Does gender matter for the intergenerational transmission of education? Evidence from rural China
Interrelationships of parental belief, parental investments, and child development
Intergenerational transmission of parenting style in rural China and the mediation effect of Caregiver’s mental health
The quality of parenting is associated with both early childhood development and lifelong negative adult outcomes, and there is evidence to suggest that some aspects of parenting show patterns of intergenerational transmission. However, the mediating mechanisms of the intergenerational transmission of parenting style are not fully understood. This study aims to examine whether intergenerational transmission of parenting style occurs among caregiv…
The association between prenatal micronutrient supplementation and early development of children under age two
Maternal nutrition has been shown to positively impact the pregnancy outcomes of women, as demonstrated by a decreased rate of infants born with below-average weight and size for gestational age. However, current evidences supporting the association between prenatal micronutrient supplementation and the early development of children is limited and mixed. This study investigates the association between prenatal micronutrient supplementation and th…
Parental Migration and Early Childhood Development in Rural China
Nearly one-quarter of all children under age 2 in China are left behind in the countryside as parents migrate to urban areas for work. We use a four-wave longitudinal survey following young children from 6 to 30 months of age to provide first evidence on the effects of parental migration on development, health, and nutritional outcomes in the critical first stages of life. We find that maternal migration has a negative effect on cognitive develop…
From Quantity to Quality
A key challenge in developing countries interested in providing early childhood development (ECD) programmes at scale is whether these programmes can be effectively delivered through existing public service infrastructures. We present the results of a randomised experiment evaluating the effects of a home-based parenting programme delivered by cadres in China’s Family Planning Commission (FPC)—the former enforcers of the one-child policy. We find…
Early childhood development and parental training interventions in rural China
China (22 works) · Medicine (18 works) · Psychology (17 works) · Political science (13 works) · Economics (12 works) · Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare (12 works) · Geography (11 works) · Child Nutrition and Water Access (10 works) · Developmental psychology (10 works) · Economic growth (10 works)