我国留守儿童的研究：认知、非认知能力在人力资本积累中的作用机制及补偿方法

The cognitive and non-cognitive skills are two important elements in human capital. The human capital of the left-behind children is negatively affected by their parental absence. The difference in ability between left-behind children and their counterparts can be narrowed if we compensate them in early childhood. The research on how to compensate for the left-behind children has practical significance. In our previous works, we examine the cognitive and non-cognitive skills of the left-behind children and find their academic achievement, their behavior adjustment and their feeling of happiness are lower than the children with parents. We also measure their after school time allocation. The result shows that they spend less time on homework. Based on our previous finding, this project designs two compensate schemes for the left-behind children in a rural county in Hunan province. We will introduce an after school tutoring as well as the video communication facility for the left-behind children in order to promote their cognitive and non-cognitive skills. We aim to analyze the mechanism of the cognitive and non-cognitive skills which construct the human capital, and then evaluate the effect of the scheme. This project will provide the scientific basis for design the help and care method for the left-behind children in rural China.

人力资本由认知能力和非认知能力两个方面构成，留守儿童由于缺乏父母的陪伴影响了其人力资本的正常积累。补偿措施如果是在儿童早期进行，留守儿童与其他儿童能力上的差距是可以被缩小的。因此，研究对留守儿童的补偿措施具有现实意义。我们在前期工作中对留守儿童认知和非认知能力进行了系统的研究，发现他们学习成绩、行为调整能力和幸福感上显著低于其他儿童，我们还对他们的课后时间分配进行了测量，结果显示，留守儿童用于课后自主学习的时间更短。本项目拟在前期工作的基础上，在湖南省农村某县针对留守儿童开展两项补偿计划，对他们进行课后辅导以及设置视频通话工具增加他们与父母的沟通，从而对他们的认知和非认知能力进行补偿，重点分析认知和非认知能力在人力资本积累中的作用机制及规律，并评价补偿计划的效果。本项目为研究和设计我国留守儿童的救助关爱措施提供科学依据。

在本项目的研究中，我们在中国农村进行了一项随机实验，探索如何提高留守儿童的学习成绩和非认知能力。在实验中我们随机选取留守儿童，并进行视频通话和课后辅导干预，并与对照组进行比较。研究结果发现，视频干预可以显着改善留守儿童的开放性和尽责性，但对其它性格特征没有显著的影响。我们的研究结果还显示，参加辅导项目的留守儿童在语文和数学上分数分别提高0.113和0.147个标准差。在同群效应的研究方面，本研究发现一个班级内留守儿童数量的增加会降低他们同班同学的成绩并增加同班同学从事不良行为的可能。这说明对留守儿童的关爱保护工作不仅对于留守儿童自身有正向的效果，而且对于他们的同伴会产生更广泛的积极效果。