A growing body of research on large language models (LLMs) has identified various biases, primarily in contexts where biases reflect societal patterns. This article focuses on a different source of bias in LLMs—government censorship. By comparing foundation models developed in China and those from outside China, we find substantially higher rates of refusal to respond, shorter responses, and inaccurate responses to a battery of 145 political questions in China-originating models. These disparities diminish for less-sensitive prompts, showing that technological and market differences cannot fully explain this divergence. While all models exhibit higher refusal to respond rates with Chinese-language prompts than English ones, language differences are less pronounced than disparities between China-originating and non-China-originating models. We caution that our study is observational and cross-sectional and does not establish a causal linkage between regulatory pressures and censorship behaviors of China-originating LLMs, but these results suggest that censorship through government regulation requiring companies to restrict political content may be an important factor contributing to political bias in LLMs.
Language development and the home language environment during early childhood are critical for long-term child outcomes. Caregiver mental health may influence early language outcomes directly, but it can also introduce perception bias, which refers to the discrepancies between caregiver self-assessments and the actual status of child language outcomes. This study examines the associations between caregiver mental health symptoms and (1) child language development and home language environment, and (2) caregiver perception bias in self-report assessments of child language development and home language environment. The study recruited 137 rural Chinese households with children aged 16–24 months. Objective measures of child language development and the home language environment were collected using Language Environment Analysis (LENA) technology. Caregiver perception biases were measured by the discrepancies between the objective and caregiver self-report measurements. Results show that caregiver anxiety and stress symptoms were linked to poor child language development, while symptoms of depression and anxiety were associated with less stimulating home language environment. Caregivers with depressive and anxiety symptoms tended to overestimate their children’s language development, and those with depressive symptoms also overestimated their own verbal inputs. These findings call for caution when implementing self-report assessments of early childhood development.
Children deprived of their liberty in the US juvenile justice, criminal justice, and immigration detention systems face profound and evolving health risks that demand a creative, sustained, and urgent pediatric response. These risks unfold within distinct but overlapping systems that share structural gaps in oversight, inconsistent standards of care, and a legacy of harm to children’s health and development. A promising opportunity lies in linking expertise across these systems to strengthen care, safeguard rights, and address the vulnerabilities of this often-overlooked population, which is disproportionately composed of racially and ethnically minoritized children.
Background: High rates of iron-deficiency anemia among school-age children have been a common issue in developing countries. In 2012, China rolled out a school feeding program (SFP) to address this issue. This study assesses changes in anemia rates, as well as potential factors driving these changes, both 3 and 10 years after the SFP was implemented.
Methods: Data were from two cross-sectional surveys (n = 1510) in northwestern China. T-tests were used to compare the differences in health outcomes of students and their dietary diversity across the different sample years. Regressions were used to examine the associations between health outcomes and dietary diversity.
Results: After the SFP was launched, hemoglobin levels of students improved from 126 to 131 g/L between 2015 and 2022/2023; the rates of anemia and stunting decreased from 17% to 6% and 9% to 1%, respectively. A rise in student dietary diversity and an increase in the share of students that consumed iron-rich foods are two main contributing factors.
Implications for School Health Policy, Practice, and Equity: Increase in funding allotted to the SFP over time appears to be a key element in improving the health and nutrition of rural students.
Conclusions: SFP in rural China exemplifies the concrete advantages in improving the health and potential educational outcomes of students.
Why do authoritarian regimes charge political opponents with nonpolitical crimes when they can levy charges directly related to opponents’ political activism? We argue that doing so disguises political repression and undermines the moral authority of opponents, minimizing backlash and mobilization. To test this argument, we conduct a survey experiment, which shows that disguised repression decreases perceptions of dissidents’ morality, decreases people’s willingness to engage in dissent on behalf of the dissident, and increases support for repression of the dissident. We then assess the external validity of the argument by analyzing millions of Chinese social media posts made before and after a large crackdown of vocal government critics in China in 2013. We find that individuals with larger online followings are more likely to be charged with nonpolitical crimes, and those charged with nonpolitical crimes are less likely to receive public sympathy and support.
Child: care, health and development,
December 29, 2025
Background: Poor mental health affects caregivers' parenting practices and threatens the early development of children under 2 years old. This study examined the correlations between caregivers' mental health and parenting practices among 5- to 24-month-old children in rural China.
Methods: Data were collected in two cohorts (October 2022 and March 2023) from 948 households randomly sampled from 120 villages. Dependent variable: parenting practices measured by the Family Care Indicators (FCI). Independent variables: caregiver mental health (DASS-21), perceived social support (MSPSS) and socioeconomic status (SES; household asset index, caregiver education). Models adjusted for child age, child sex, caregiver age and household size, with standard errors clustered at the village level.
Results: Although caregivers provided more play materials for their children compared to previous research, the variety of play materials did not improve. Depressive symptoms among caregivers were associated with inadequate parenting practices, particularly with providing a lower variety of play materials. Both lower SES and more severe caregiver depressive symptoms were linked to less stimulating parenting, whereas higher perceived social support was associated with more stimulating practices and partially attenuated these SES- and mental health–related disparities.
Conclusion: Although rural Chinese caregivers now supply more play materials, limited diversity and widespread caregiver mental health risks persist. Strengthening caregiver mental health and social support could enrich home stimulation and improve early childhood development.
China Agricultural Economic Review,
December 24, 2025
Purpose: Previous research has found an association between with early childhood development (ECD) and paternal beliefs and evidence suggests that paternal beliefs about their own role in child rearing might affect parental involvement. However, there has been no such empirical study in rural China. This study examines the interrelationships among paternal beliefs, parental involvement and ECD among rural Chinese children.
Design/methodology/approach: Data used for this study were collected from 6-to-42-month-old children and their primary caregivers in southwestern China in 2020. ECD was assessed by the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development-III. Paternal beliefs were assessed with the Role of the Father Questionnaire. The non-parametric regression methods were used to construct the factor scores of ECD. The ordinary least squares models, the mediation models and the bootstrapping approach were employed to investigate the interrelationships of paternal beliefs, parental involvement and ECD.
Findings: A large share of the sample children displayed delays in cognitive, language and social-emotional development. Paternal involvement significantly mediated the link between paternal beliefs and child cognitive and social-emotional development, while maternal involvement mediated the associations between paternal beliefs and child language and social-emotional development.
Originality/value: This study provides a unique contribution by utilizing unique data fathers' beliefs and their involvement in parenting to investigate the underlying mechanisms of how the role of fathers in parenting can lead to the improvement of early child developmental outcomes. This study also provides the first empirical evidence on the role of paternal beliefs in fostering human capital formation during the early stages of life in rural China. This study suggests that shifting paternal beliefs and improving parental involvement are effective pathways to benefit rural children in their early development.
SHP's Maya Rossin-Slater, PhD, an assistant professor of health policy, writes in this Boston Globe editorial that the Brown University mass shooting renewed headlines about the debate over gun laws and blame. But after the headlines fade, the students who lived through it will be left to cope with the aftermath.
