Comparison and Influencing Factors of Nutritional Status in Rural Left-Behind and Urban Migrant Middle School Students

With the development of social economy, people’s living standard has been improved. Malnutrition among Chinese adolescents is gradually decreasing, but is still widespread in some rural areas, especially among left-behind adolescents. We compared the nutritional status of rural left-behind and urban migrant middle school students and analysed its influencing factors to provide a scientific basis for the formulation of government policies for health promotion. Stratified cluster random sampling was employed. Participants were 513 urban migrants and 440 rural left-behind middle school students aged 12-15 years. The underweight detection rates of the rural left-behind group (boys: 18.6%, girls: 15.4%) were substantially higher than that of the urban migrant group (boys: 9.2%, girls: 3.7%), and the overweight/obesity detection rates of the urban migrant group (boys: 40.1%, girls: 21.2%) were substantially higher than that of the rural left-behind group (boys: 10.2%, girls: 6.6%). The prevalence of underweight among rural left-behind middle school students in Shangrao was correlated with parents’ education level and monthly household income, and the prevalence of overweight/obesity among urban migrant middle school students in Shanghai was correlated with physical activity.