CC BY
33
УДК 316+314.335.2
YANG XIONG,
Research Professor, Institute of Sociology, SASS
HE FANG,
Associate research Professor, Institute of Sociology, SASS
GROWTH CONDITIONS, SOCIAL RISKS AND coping STRATEGIES of ' SuB-MONO-CHILDREN"1
"Sub-mono-children" (the second generation of "only children") started coming into view after more than thirty years of the practice of China's family planning policy. A number of favorable conditions, including economic growth, family structure and information development, have contributed to a sound environment for the growth of our sub-mono-children. On the other hand, many problems have emerged for sub-mono-children in the context of social transformation and development. As an outcome of family structure change, sub-mono-children may present social problems for China in respect to family, old-age support, the labor force and national security. Therefore, we should observe sub-mono-children in light of development so as to seek strategies to address possible issues and risks facing them in the future.
Keywords: only child, "sub-mono-children", risks.
УСЛОВИЯ РОСТА, СОЦИАЛЬНЫЕ РИСКИ И СТРАТЕГИИ РАЗРЕШЕНИЯ ПРОБЛЕМ «СУБ-МОНО-ДЕТЕЙ»
«Суб-моно-дети» (второе поколение «единственных детей» в семье) оказывались объектом дискуссий в ходе более чем тридцатилетней практики китайской семейной политики планирования. Ряд благоприятных условий (в том числе экономический рост, семейная структура и информационное развитие) способствовал возникновению здоровой среды для роста наших суб-моно-детей. С другой стороны, для суб-моно-детей возникло много проблем в контексте социальных трансформаций и развития. В результате изменения структуры семьи суб-моно-дети могут создать социальные проблемы для Китая в отношении семьи, поддержки старости, рабочей силы и национальной безопасности. Таким образом, мы должны рассматривать суб-моно-детей для того, чтобы искать стратегии для решения возможных проблем и рисков, с которыми общество столкнется в будущем.
Ключевые слова: «единственный ребенок», «суб-моно-дети», риски.
Since the policy of family planning was carried out in China in 1978, the juvenile population has seen a demographic shift to "only child". The past 30+ years have witnessed the growing up of the first generation of the "only child", among
1 The paper is the interim achievement of the "Study of the Socialization of "Sub-mono-children" and "Its Impact on Chinese Society" jointly prepared by the special subject of "Social Policy for Children" of Shanghai Academy of Social Science and the Children and Family Department of Shanghai Women's Federation.
which some have been married and had their own children while others are still single but have reached the age of childbearing. Nowadays, it is common to see the generation of "only child" brings up their "only child". The upcoming decade will be a baby boom of the second generation of the "only child", which will constitute the majority of the teen-ager population. Unlike the first generation of the "only child" who experienced the dramatic transition of China from the planned economy to the market economy, the "sub-mono-children" (second generation of "only child"), most of them were born after the year of 2000, have grown up in an environment with the steady development of Chinese social formation and enjoyed the favorable conditions thanks to the reform and opening up. As a new generation of the "only child", will the "sub-mono-children" inherit the shortcomings of the first generation of the "only child" that are widely criticized by people? What challenges will they meet with in their growth? How will they impact the social development of China? This paper will try to deliberate the above-mentioned points.
1. Normal Social Environment Endows the Sub-Mono-Children with Distinctive Characteristics
Differences in living environment decide the discrepancy in the attitude to life. If living in an environment short of safety and security, people have to absorb the rigid ideas or thoughts and comply with the restrict rules and disciplines, thus pursuing common ground and paying attention to the general situation under self-discipline and self-depression. In contrast, in a safe and well-off environment, people are not willing to be fettered by outmoded rules and regulations and will not easily believe in and blindly follow all sorts of authorities, thus leading to a trend of seeking differences with individualized personality and independent thinking [1]. The huge success of modernization in the Chinese society has dramatically changed the external conditions and created a sound social system for the growth of the young generation by endowing them with new qualities and characteristics. Thanks to the urban economic development, the social wealth has increased by a large margin and the national formation is stepping into a normalizing state. The "sub-mono-children", as the new generation of the "only child", embrace the overall enhanced quality, diversified demographic structure, sound family-focused education and accelerated information-oriented transformation since they were born in a social environment featuring political stability, economic superiority and cultural openness.
1.1. Constant economic growth enables sub-mono-children to have access to more quality education
Since the reform and opening up, Chinese economy has developed with leaps and bounds that are not seen in any historical period. The rapid growth of social economy vigorously propels the social vitality and enhances the quality of the new generation of national citizens. According to the education economics, the regional economic development plays an active role in lifting the cultural quality of the population in that region. The more developed the economy is, the higher level of education the population in that region enjoys on per-capita basis. Relevant studies also
reveal that there is a marked correlation1 between the per-capita years of education and GDP in various regions of our country. The accelerated pace of economic development will undoubtedly create a favorable environment of education for the "sub-mono-children". China has built up a modernized national educational system oriented to the modernization, the world and the future, which constitutes sound conditions for the "sub-mono-children" to grow healthily, from an objective perspective.
1.2. Sub-mono-children will be entitled to more care thanks to the only child family structure
The achievements of Chinese social development not only lie in the economic system transformation, restructuring and the expansion of economic aggregate, but also exist in the overall social transition and fundamental changes of social lives that bring remarkable changes in various levels of social lives. In "only child" families, the parents naturally pay more attention to the healthy growth of their children, especially the educational conditions, thanks to the improved standards of material lives. Compared with previous generations, the approaches of education employed by the parents in "only child" families have been more rational, making the parent-children relationship an equal and democratic one 2. There is no reason for the "sub-mono-children" to stand on the opposite side of their parents because of the feeling of satisfaction from the care and attention from their parents. In this sense, they can feel more happiness of the family lives.
1.3. New media creates a more open cultural environment for sub-mono-children
With the economic integration and globalization, the Internet was introduced in China in 1994, thus opening a new era of information development. The new media, represented by the network, mobile phone and MP3, has become daily necessities in urban areas with each passing day. As the favorites of the information era, the "sub-mono-children" are much more familiar with and willing to use the new media than previous generations. Survey shows that the cyber citizens aged between 6 and 18 account for over fifty percent of youth netizens, being the largest group of teenager netizens (China Internet Network Information Center, 2009). It is reasonable to expect that the "sub-mono-children" will use the new media in a more frequent manner with the continuous development of information technology. Thanks to the disappearing of information asymmetry, the "sub-mono-children" will embrace
1 The analysis of the correlation coefficient between the economic development represented by per-capita GDP and the per-capita number of years for education shows that the figure of 1990 is 0.6702 while the one for 2000 is 0.6377. Please refer to SHEN, Baifu and DU, Xiaoli, "Analysis of Correlation between Population Cultural Quality and Economic Development", Peking University Education Review, No. 1, 2004.
2 In the eyes of teen-agers, their parents have become their friends on an equal footing instead of high above "eldership". There are 51,2 % of the children viewing their mothers as the best friends while 46,7 % consider their fathers as the bosom ones. Please refer to Task Group of "Development of Chinese Teen-agers in Modern Times", "Report on the Development of Chinese Teen-agers", in Research of Youth, No. 2, 2006.
broadened horizon and diversified ways to acquire various types of information, which enable them to be more independent and capable in thinking, observation, perception and judgment. They have various criteria for judgment and respect diversified interests and personalities instead of insisting on uniformity. They develop the critical mentality to understand everything through their own ways. They attach importance to the facts and dare raise questions and concerns. They object to accepting what they are forced to listen without thinking and long for equality in conversation.
In a word, Chinese economy has seen a period of steady and fast development when stepping into the 21st century, which provides the "sub-mono-children" an ever-favorable living environment with much opener cultural and social context but without political disturbance and economic fluctuation. The Chinese society is now turning into a society characterized by "normal development" that creates a normal social environment for the healthy growth of teen-agers.
2. Sub-mono-children Will Face Five Challenges in Their Growth
Certainly, when taking about the healthy growth of the "sub-mono-children", we, proceeding from the objective facts, should not neglect that the special social context will generate a number of issues for them. In short, there are following five aspects that we should pay attention to.
2.1. "Mentally unattended" phenomenon dues to child-raising by grandparents
During the period of social transition, the "left-behind children" can be found not only in rural areas but also in urban metropolis. Due to busy work or lack of child-bearing experience, many young parents will leave their children to their parents. A survey in 2008 showed that as high as 88,9 % of grandparents in Shanghai have to foster and educate their grandchildren, indicating that the era of "child-raising by grandparents" is now coming [2, p. 13]. This phenomenon of expanded child-raising by grandparents is likely to result in that the "sub-mono-children" spend little time with their parents and therefore become new type of "left-behind children" that is mental-unattended. The survey showed that over forty percent of teen-agers said their parents do not have time to be with them due to busy work and nearly ninety percent of the youth thought that the government is required to raise the children together with their families as a complementary1. Psychological studies show that the closer and quality parent-children relationship is of great importance for the children's sense of security, force of action and sense of value. If the children are brought up by their grandparents, there would be limited time for them to stay with their parents. Although the children enjoy rich material lives, they get inadequate care from their parents. There is no one that pays attention to their inner feelings and observes their thoughts. Therefore, they may feel lonely. The children that are frequently separated from their parents may easily suffer anxiety and worries owing to separation and insufficient love and care, which is why they will be lack of sense
1 The figure is from the "Survey of Demand for Shanghai Children's Development" conducted by the Juvenile Research Institute of Shanghai Academy of Social Science in 2009-2010.
of security and do not trust parents. Such mentality will have negative impact on the parent-child relationship. The fact that child-raising by grandparents generates emotional estrangement between the "sub-mono-children" and their parents are becoming one of the obstacles hindering the parent-child relationship in modern China.
2.2. pressures due to ultra-high expectations in education
As the first generation of the "only child" themselves, most of the parents were born between the end of 1970s and 1980s and spent their teenage years during the social transition of reform and opening up. They also experienced the introduction of western culture into China, the prevalence of the concept of market economy and the fast urbanization. Their values focus on self-planning, self-realization and self-responsibility. When coming to children's education, it shifts from unconditional obedience to the one featuring competition and consumption in compliance with market economy. These parents have high expectations for children's education. An investigation of the education expectation of the parents in modern society showed that the parents of those born in 2000 expect too much of their children's education. There are 48,7 % of them expecting their children to have bachelor's degree or above while 40,6 % want their children to obtain bachelor's degree. Based on the figures, approximately ninety percent of the parents of the "sub-mono-children" have the wish that their children could receive college education [3, p. 68]. To ensure the outstanding performance of their children in the fierce competition guided by the rules of market economy, some parents even spare no efforts to take advantage of all related social relations and spend large sum of money to choose a top school for their children. However, the children's interests and potentials may not match their parents' wishes. What is worse is that the development of some children goes against the parents. The excessively high expectation will have negative impacts. On the one hand, the "sub-mono-children" grow in an accumulated way similar to the tools and instruments evolvement instead of a natural way. On the other hand, if the children are not able to reach the goals set by their parents even with great efforts, they will lose confidence in their capability and shoulder heavy psychological burden.
2.3. Sub-mono-children vs. parents and teachers as the first generations of the only child
When the first generation of the "only child" reaches the child-bearing age and starts work, an unprecedented social phenomenon emerges, which is called "three-only-child". It means that the parents, the children and the teachers are the "only child". Some of the "only child" groups born in the 1980s now are working as teachers in primary and middle schools while almost all of their students are the "only child". The "only child" teachers are popular among the students thanks to their closer teacher-student relationship compared to those elder teachers and better understanding of what the "only child" expect. They boast competitive advantages including professional competence, having strong points and full confidence. However, these "only child" teachers also have their shortcomings that we should not neglect, such as vulnerability to setbacks, poor communication skill, heavy dependence and psychological immaturity.
The proportion of the "only child" teachers in schools is increasing, so is the proportion of the "only child" parents of the students. In primary schools, the "only child" parents will sometimes talk to the "only child" teachers. Because they know each other in terms of characteristics and personalities and these parents have higher degree and broader scope of knowledge, they may sometimes have their unique point of views on education and may doubt or do not trust the capabilities of the "only child" teacher to some extent. It will lead to the conflict between the parents and teachers, making the school education and management more difficult to handle.
2.4. Some sub-mono-children suffer from inadequate social experiences and recognition
Growing up in the families featuring "6+1" structure (4 grandparents and 2 parents plus 1 kid), the "sub-mono-children" are the focus of the families. In the meantime, they do not have enough companions around them, which results in that the "sub-mono-children" are not able to behave well in the society for their self-centered manner, intolerance to setbacks and shortage of social communication skills. Through survey, we found that some teen-agers of the "sub-mono-children" did not have sufficient social experiences. First, these children are poor in inter-personal communication and interaction skills and do not understand other people. For example, nearly seventy percent of the students agree, to certain extent, the statement that "I feel some classmates very annoying". Nearly half of the students agree that "I feel embarrassed when talking to someone that I do not know well". Almost thirty percent of the students think that they are often teased by others. Second, these children impose too much emphasis on practical use when pursuing the maximum individual value, resulting in the blurring bottom line of morality. As for the cheating in exams, more than a quarter of the students think that they would do so if they can get higher score in tests or it is a matter of indifference. There were 23,8 % of the interviewees admitting "I will probably follow the trend if others cheat in tests". Third, these children may not be able to effectively manage their moods, which is a potential harm to their psychological and mental development. There were 21,7 % of the students often feeling depressed while 4 % said that they often thought of giving up lives when encountering serious setbacks. Forth, these children are not clearly aware of how to treat issues regarding life and sex. It is imperative that the education on adolescence and life should be intensified1.
2.5. Sub-mono boys may face social crisis
In recent years, the discussion on "saving boys" has received extensive attention of the general public. Some scholars pointed out that the Chinese boys would face crisis in terms of academic achievement, psychological development and physical quality, and it was imperative to help them out2. Due to the fact that the modern
1 The figure is from the "Study of Shanghai Children's Development in 2009", the key subject of Shanghai Research Institute of Family Education, jointly conducted by the Juvenile Institute of Shanghai Academy of Social Science and the Children and Family Department of Shanghai Women's Federation.
2 For detailed description of "boy crisis", please refer to SUN, Xiaoyun, et. al, in Save Boys, Writers Press, 2010.
education system is an industrialized one, it often ignores the gender difference. Therefore, as for the education in the primary and middle schools nowadays, it can be found that people disregard the difference between boys and girls in physical and mental growth as well as the learning methods. By adopting verbal teaching approaches in favor of girls, the schools provide the same courses to all the students and evaluate the students against the same criteria. In such context, the girls certainly outperform the boys, leading to the crisis of academic achievement of boys. Second, many parents are inclined to send their children to school earlier than their school age in an effort to fulfill the "win at the start point". Moreover, some mothers-to-be even choose to give birth by caesarean section so that their children will go to school not later than others. However, the slower physical and mental development of boys than girls is the reason why many boys lag behind in studies. This will cast shadow on boys who gradually lose confidence and self-esteem, thus generating psychological crisis. Third, the natures of boys, such as hyperactivity, competitiveness and rebellion, are regarded as weaknesses. For example, the boys with natural instincts of being eager to run and jump are forced to study by the desk and lack of duly physical exercises. However, the boys may live in the environment filled with feminine elements because of some existing problems. For example, fathers are seldom involved in the family education and mothers always spoil their children. In addition, the schools are often short of male teachers. These factors make the cultivation of male quality a haunting task. Currently, some "sub-mono-boys" that have entered kindergartens and primary schools have encountered these issues. It can be expected that the "boy crisis" would become a common phenomenon in the coming two decades when an increasing number of "sub-mono-children" are born and reach the school age.
3. Sub-mono-children will carry four major social risks
The families are the cells and units constituting the whole society. The change in the family structures will trigger the change in the social structure or even generate social risks. Some scholars have indicated that the "only child" families are the ones that take the most serious risks from the demographic point of view1. In general, the "sub-mono-children" will carry four major social risks.
3.1. Risk of family structure damage
The subsistence risks of the "sub-mono-children" have direct impact on those of the "only child" families. If the risks emerge in the early stage of the lives, they may be removed by way of compensatory childbirth. However, it is impossible to have children again because the parents become elder if the risks happen in the later stage of the children's lives. If the "sub-mono-children" unfortunately die or are physically injured or handicapped or ill while they are older, it is almost a devastating blow to these families. According the statistics provided by the circle of demographical study, about 5,4 % of the children die before the age of 25 in every
1 For the detailed description of the risks facing the "only child" families, please refer to MU Guangzong, Only Child Families Are Families of Risks in Nature, Study of Demography, No. 1, 2004. Some ideas in this paper are enlightened by this article.
1000 infants while 12,1 % die before 55. Due to the slow change in the probability of death, around 5,4 % and 12,1 % of the families will have the unfortunate experience of children's death. Moreover, it is hardly to avoid [4]. Tens of thousands of children died in the earthquake hitting Wenchuan of Sichuan Province in 2008, among whom more than 8,000 kids were from the "only child" families1. The death of the older children makes the originally complete family an incomplete one. This risk is indeed potential for the "only child" families. It is estimated that the probability for a family with only one child to take the risk is twenty times as high as that for a family with two or more children if the probability for a child to die before growing up is 5 % [4, p. 31]. Furthermore, in case of any miserable event resulting in the death, injury, illness or disability of children, the families with risks will turn into "broken families" and "families in difficulty". It is not easy for these families to get out of difficult situations without external support and assistance.
3.2. Risk of old-age support
With the reform and opening up and the rapid social and economic development, the birth rate of our country has dropped by a large margin in short period of time. The total fertility rate has maintained below 1.8 since the beginning of the 21st century, enabling China to be listed among the low-birth-rate economies. Based on the status quo that the birth-rate drops quickly and maintains at a low level, we can see that the age structure of the population has changed significantly from macro perspective, especially the aging of the population that is expected to be one of the important demographic events in the coming decades. Meanwhile, the trend of old age is also unavoidable. From the micro perspective, the size of a family is shrinking with the "only child" families standing the major type of families in urban areas.
The typical characteristic of the "only child" families is the uniqueness and single inheritance of the kids. The "only child" is not only the one to carry on the family line but also the one to support the older parents. The family structure, family relationship and family members have been simplified to the extreme extent. When coming the old-age support for the "only child" family, there is not any other option to choose. If the "only child" relocates, moves out or encounters unexpected accident, their parents do not have alternative way to support when they get older. In the meantime, the aging of the parents of the "only child" have raised new demands for old-aging support featuring heavy dependence, including the care and comfort service when being ill or lonely. Therefore, the older the parents, the higher the risk of family old-age support and the more the difficulty are.
Given the social and economic development of China and the security, service and benefits of old-age support, the old-age support by the children of the families are still the most important way for the Chinese old in current stage and longer period of time ahead. For the "sub-mono-children", they should support and take care of at least six old people. From 2006 to 2040, about 2.3 million "only child" will be
1 For information on the death of the "only child" in the earthquake in Wenchuan, please refer to related news releases on Xinhua Net.
born and the number of the "only child" will exceed 5 million in 65 years on an accumulative basis. So the number of the "only child" parents will be over 10 million, with more grandparents. It is expected that the number of the "only child" parents will increase at an accelerating pace with booming demands for care services, which would impose challenges for social security and health-care industry [5, p. 7]. At that moment, due to the acute shortage of labors within family to support the old, the "sub-mono-children" will shoulder heavy burdens of supporting old-aged and raising the young. It is thus clear that the old-age support for the "sub-mono-children" families will be a heavy task and become one of the challenges for the family and the society in the future.
3.3. risk to the labor force
The first generation of the "only child" has reached the age of marriage and child-bearing. But their perception of childbearing is different from that of their parents. Late marriage and late childbirth, as well as fewer children and eugenics, have become the common trend. The desires of the couples to have a child, as the first generation of the "only child", have declined due to the ever increasing of the childbirth cost (including home-care, housing, medical-care and education) and opportunity cost (the time spent in breeding children and the loss because of giving up job). On the other hand, the family planning policy also helps to decrease the birth-rate since some couples is not allowed to have their second children. In addition, the high working pressure and unhealthy life style of modern people result in the growing of infertility ratio, thus pulling down the birth rate. Research shows that the total birth rate of Chinese women has dropped from 5.79 in 1970 to 1.78 in 2006. Since 1990, the intrinsic growth rate of Chinese population has shown negative growth [6, p. 10-14]1. Based on the international standard of birth-rate on replacement level, our country has turned into one with low birth-rate. The birth-rate in some cities has been extremely low2.
The declining birth rate contributes to quick shrinking of "sub-mono-children", thus leading to the shortage of labor force. According to statistics, the growth rate of the supply of the job-age population (between 15 and 59 years old) saw decline for the first time in 2004. It is estimated that the working-age population will not increase by 2011 and will decrease on an absolute basis [7, p. 2]. At present, the im-
1 In the analysis method of demography, the intrinsic growth rate of population is different from that we usually calculate. Generally, the growth rate of population is calculated by subtracting mortality rate from birth rate (not taking the population movement into account). The birth rate and mortality rate are also called crude birth rate and crude mortality rate because these two figures not only indicate the birth and death conditions but also contain the impact of population age structure. The intrinsic growth rate means the population growth rate in the context of stable population if the birth rate and death rate are fixed with stable age structure in a longer period of time. The figure is measured by excluding the impact of actual population age structure (assuming a relatively stable age structure), thus being more authentic.
2 Internationally, the birth rate of 2.1 is called the "birth rate on replacement level", which can maintain balance between the old and the young. The birth rate is called "very low birth rate" if the figure is or lower than 1.5 while it is called "ultra-low birth rate" if the figure is or lower than 1.3.
pact of declining birth-rate on the supply-demand of labor force has emerged, which can be reflected by the fact that the wage of labor force in China has increased rapidly. Meanwhile, the middle-level education of our country has seen fast development in recent years, including general high school, vocational high school, technical secondary school and technical school. The ratio of enrollment into high school is also significantly growing. These factors are behind the delayed supply of new labor force to the labor market by two or three years. The popularization of high school education during the twelfth "Five-Year Plan", plus the growth of the people receiving higher education, will generate the risk of labor force drainage. It can be expected that the shrinking of the "sub-mono-children" and slow entrance into the labor market make the shortage of labor force a normal situation in the developed regions in the future and furthermore, the condition will deteriorate.
3.4. Risk to national security
Stepping into the new century, our country has seen fundamental changes in the population reproduction from the traditional high birth-rate, high mortality-rate and low growth-rate to low birth-rate, low death-rate and low growth rate since the 1990s. The declining of birth rate is basically irreversible. It can be foreseen that the "sub-mono-children" will certainly become the backbone of our society. However, whether they are able to take on the great mission of national construction still faces severe challenges and issues to resolve. First, the general decrease of the number of "sub-mono-children" will lead to the declining population of military service age. Moreover, their parents are not inclined to send the children to join the army, thus making the conscription initiative more difficult. Second, the physical and psychological quality of the "sub-mono-children" is not so optimistic. According to the clinical medicine, the emergence of any kind of disease is closely related to the macro background of economy and society. For instance, malnutrition may stand the main influencing factor of the children's health when the per-capita GDP is below the range of US$ 300 to US$ 500 while obesity is the main reason to impact the children's health if the per-capita GDP has increased to US$ 3000 to US$ 5000. If the per-capita GDP continues to grow, other so-called illnesses of affluence will appear. In recent years, the rate of obesity and myopia among the primary and middle students in China has been on the rise. And the physical skills of the student are not so satisfactory [8, p. 3]. According to the files of check-up for military enrolment, it has been an indisputable fact that the qualification rate of physical examination for the youth of right age is declining. In particular, a considerable number of the "only children" are eliminated due to poor sight and physique. Without good appetite and vitality, the "sub-mono-children" widely suffer from such metabolic diseases as recurrent cold and fever, diarrhea, constipation and dental ulcer [9, p. 7]. In the meantime, indulged by their parents and grandparents, the "sub-mono-children" may develop defects in character, such as willfulness and sloppiness, and are easily hurt by emotional setbacks. If the group lives in the environment with strict discipline, such as in army, they will be challenged both in the physical and mental aspects.
The national strength in the warring state will be challenged by the severe social conditions that the "only child" constitutes the majority of the labor force and the
aging trend is developing. The growing expanses for medical care and old-age support will increase the consumption part of national income while cutting the amount of investment and weakening the fiscal ability that supports the sustainable development of the country. In addition, an aging society will be more mentally defensive and conservative. The pressure from the expectation of the general public for a sound social security makes it impossible for a country to invest more in the national defense. With the ever increase of national interests, insufficient budget for military capability building will have a negative impact on both military and national security. The challenge of national security facing the "sub-mono-children" is not so serious at present but will exert significant impact on the long-term development of China.
4. Strategies and Suggestions
How to address and overcome the issues and risks that the "sub-mono-children" are likely to face is not only a mandatory task to improve the public policy for the youth but also a necessary requirement for the safe operation of the family structure and social structure and the sustainable development of the society. To promote the development of the youth is systematic work that requires the involvement of all walks of life. Based on the development status of the "sub-mono-children", the paper proposes the following strategies and suggestions:
4.1. observe the sub-mono-children from a development perspective
Proceeding from the theories of youngster sociology, there exist two different perspectives regarding the growth of the young, "problem" and "development". The former one considers the stage of youth as a period full of unstable elements, thus paying more attention to the abnormal psychology and behavior of the youth. The latter one views the youth as active individuals to be cultivated so that the whole society should vigorously support the healthy growth of the teen-agers. The study on the teen-agers is not only to correct their problems, but also give an eye to the relation between the social environment and the healthy development of the youth. From this point of view, it is required that we shall handle the problems in their growth from the point of development. First, the "sub-mono-children" are now experiencing a special period of life in terms of physiology and psychology. Their immaturity is normal at this special period. As long as we provide proper guidance, the immaturity will gradually be out of picture when they grow up. Second, the risks brought by the "sub-mono-children" are actually results from certain policies in the context of specific social background or some social problems emerging during the transition period of the society. Therefore, we should start with social transformation and policy adjustment. Third, some imperfect aspects in the growth of the "sub-mono-children", as the educated, are closely related to the education system, family education and social cultural environment so that it is of great importance for the schools, the families and the society to have synergy for education resource. The "sub-mono-children" boast so many new characteristics that, in the final analysis, are determined by the environment reflecting the social advancement. In the meantime, we should be aware of the objective necessity of the problems brought by the
"sub-mono-children" and that it is possible to solve these problems. In addition, the problems of teen-agers and the social problem share some common features in nature. The challenges of the youngster's growth should be solved from the point of social development.
4.2. Explore various ways to secure the raising of sub-mono-children
First, the assistance services for "sub-mono-children" families should be advanced to improve the child-rearing capability. For those families which are not able to take good care of the children temporarily or in longer period due to some reasons, the child-rearing allowance, care and nursery services are to be offered. The parent schools are set up in the communities to equip the grandparents with modern child-rearing know-how and skills through training to ensure a sound environment for the growth of the "sub-mono-children". Second, the employment support plan is implemented for the "sub-mono-children" families to provide employment support services for those families with minors and basic living allowance in urban and rural areas, in an effort to enhance the parents' ability of child-rearing and finding jobs. Third, the services of children nursery should be provided. Full-day, half-day or hour-based nursery services are provided for those families that are not able to take care of the children under the age of 10 during daytime or other periods. In doing so, the children from the families in need can be taken better care of. Forth, the team of social workers for teen-agers should be built up. A certain number of social workers for the youth must be assigned for each community (town), and a team of professional social workers shall be built up. Through the system of social workers, the child-rearing conditions can be improved to enhance the teen-ager welfare service quality.
4.3. Create a "three-combination"family education guidance network
In order to improve the quality of education for "sub-mono-children" families, a long-term mechanism to guide family education should be refined in an effort to drive construction of family education guidance network with the involvement of school, family and society, which is called "three-combination". We should encourage various social organizations and private investment to create a rich variety of family education guidance and service organizations and ensure they are effectively regulated. Efforts should also be intensified to build a team of specialized social workers for family education. We should pay special attention to the management of access mechanism for family education institutions. Strict rules should be specified for the business license, teaching material, faculty quality and academic achievement of family education institutions to promote the development of family education market in an orderly manner. The authority of family education guidance institutions in each region should clearly specify duties and responsibilities of family education guidance and ensure the spending in the family education guidance work, while attaching importance to the appraisal of family education guidance. In addition, we should make significant efforts to build the communication force for family education guidance. Attentions should be paid to the family education theory, application study and teaching material. The family education guidance work should be youngster-oriented, respect the physical and mental development of teen-agers,
and comply with the personality and natural instinct of teen-agers. The essential conditions and life scenarios should be created for the youngsters. The legal rights and benefits of the youth should be protected, thus promoting the natural, comprehensive, and sound development of teen-agers. Moreover, the concept of serving parents with them at the core should be established with understanding their demands, adapting to their characteristics and respecting their wishes. The parents should be encouraged to participate in and play a proactive and leading role in the guidance. Third, the principle of "multi-party interaction" should be followed to create the environment and conditions for the dual-way communication between the instructors and parents, between parents and parents, and between parents and children.
4.4. Take into account both family age-old support and social endowment system construction
While addressing the challenge the "sub-mono-children" will face in old-age support, we should also lay stress on the construction of family and social old-age support system to guarantee that family old-age support and social security can develop on an equal footing and complement each other. For family old-age support, the first is to constantly strengthen the education of respecting the old, taking care of the old and supporting the old to carry forward the Chinese ethic advantage in family old-age support and promote the culture of old-age support focusing on "family virtue". Second, we should be committed to improving the social security system in an effort to solve the problem of economic security for the old. The "sub-mono-children" family shall be encouraged to give full play of its health-care function in old-age support. This is the fundamental method to enhance the quality of family old-age support. Third, efforts should be made to enable the parents and grandparents of the "sub-mono-children" to be fully aware of the aging trend in our country and make early preparation for their later life, including purchasing pension insurance and saving money. Forth, various levels of welfare facilities should meet the needs of the old and care-takers. The functions of these facilities should be enriched to improve the quality of care services, reduce the service cost and lower the service fee. In addition, the society should have defined systems and laws to enable the "sub-mono-children" families to enjoy a sound family old-age support mechanism backed by laws and governed by ethics.
4.5. provide educational support for the socialization of sub-mono-children
First, we should guide the "sub-mono-children" in core values while respecting
the spirit of freedom. For the core values, efforts should be made to emphasize honesty, friendship, reverence, cooperation and respect. For the method to create the core values, the adults should behave as examples for the youngsters to follow the core values. The guiding approaches should adapt to the social life whose function of guidance should be considered. Second, the "sub-mono-children" should be provided with the opportunities of social practice that helps them contact the society, broaden the vision and knowledge, develop the ability of dealing with the world and social life, and build up good social relations. The psychological competence of the teen-agers should be developed in terms of facing setbacks, getting out of difficulties
and overcoming obstacles. The spirit of dedication should be advocated. The consciousness of citizenship and sense of social responsibility of the youngsters should be enhanced. Therefore, we should encourage the young students to take part in the social practices and make related public resources open to the teen-agers. Third, efforts should be made to carry out psychological and life education for "sub-mono-children". In order to handle the psychological health issue of some "sub-mono-children", we should pay attention to the overall quality and sound emotion and try best to free them from psychological burdens and create a healthy and active environment for development. The school, family and society should cooperate to build the psychological support system based on the needs of the youth through "three combination" of family, community, school and society. In doing so, the teen-agers may develop their concept of happy attitude towards life.
References
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Date accepted 18.10.2015.
