Objective To examine difference on the prevalence and related factors of anxiety symptoms between migrant preschoolers and local preschoolers. Methods A total of 1 513 preschoolers aged 3—6 years and their parents were recruited from 3 kindergartens for local children in Shanghai and Jiangsu province and 3 kindergartens for migrant children in Shanghai by convenient cluster sampling.Parents were requested to fill out the questionnaire.The anxiety symptoms were assessed by Spence Preschooler Anxiety Scale,and rearing environment was assessed by Index of Child Care Environment scale.Multiple linear regression was applied to analyse the data. Results The migrant children showed higher mean scores for each subscale of generalized anxiety,social anxiety and separation anxiety than local children.There were 2.77%(42/1 513) preschoolers displayed significant anxiety symptoms,and migrant children were found with more anxiety symptoms than local children(χ²=7.95,P<0.01).The rates for general anxiety,social anxiety,and separation anxiety were 3.16%,3.82% and 3.89%,respectively.Migrant children were found with more separation anxiety symptoms than local children(χ²=6.82,P<0.01).Multiple regression analysis showed that parents' daily engagements(β=-0.14) and child rearing support(β=-0.08) were positively associated with preschoolers' anxiety symptoms,while punishment was negatively related to children's anxiety symptoms(β=0.49).The interactive effect of children's type and parenting practices was also significantly associated with anxiety symptoms(β=0.11,-0.12,P<0.05). Conclusion Increasing high quality daily engagement with children and child rearing support,reducing punishment may contribute to less anxiety symptoms in preschoolers.