Objective To investigate the current situation of child neglect among middle school students at three regions in Yunnan Province, so as to provide evidence for formulating scientific intervention measures.

Methods A total of 1 154 middle school students (962 migrant children and 192 non-migrant children) aged 12 to 17 at three regions in Yunnan Province were recruited as study subjects by multistage, stratified and cluster sampling. The Chinese urban children's neglect evaluation norm table was used to investigate the current situation of child neglect.

Results The overall rate of child neglect among 1 154 middle school students was 40.9%. The rates of migrant children and non-migrant children were 40.8% and 41.3%, and the difference was not statistically significant (P > 0.05). The rate of child neglect among junior high school students (28.8%) was lower than that among senior high school students (55.3%)(χ²=61.332, P < 0.05), while rates among boys (46.7%) and Han students (47.8%) were higher than those among girls (36.6%) (χ²=8.803, P < 0.05) and minority students (33.7%) (χ²=17.503, P < 0.05). Compared with the situation of rural and urban areas in China, the degree of child neglect among migrant children in junior high school (47.64 ± 8.21) and senior high school (50.94 ± 7.77) were in between.

Conclusion The situation of child neglect between migrant and non-migrant children are not different, which suggests that the migrant family education mode is changing. But the issue of social integration and adaptation among migrant children should be concerned continuously. Neglect among high school students and boys should be paid more attention to. The degree of neglect among Han students is higher than that among ethnic minorities, which suggests that national education is worth to be borrowed. School and family education should adapt to local conditions and focus on parent-child participation.