Mental health status compared among rural-to-urban migrant, urban and rural school-age children in Guangdong Province, China

The Urban-Rural Difference in Child Mental Health in Vietnam: The Continuing Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Health

OBJECTIVES

We aimed to explore the difference between rural and urban children's mental health and quality of life after the pandemic.

METHODS

A total of 200 parents and their 11- to 15-year-old children were interviewed face to face in October 2022. This study measures child mental health and quality of life using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and Child Health Utility 9 Dimensions tools. The unadjusted effect sizes on health outcomes among demographic groups are calculated using Cohen's d. The school-specific fixed effects linear regression model with bootstrapped standard errors is applied.

RESULTS

Rural children have significantly higher mean internalizing behavior scores than urban children (emotional problems, Cohen's d score = 0.38; peer difficulties, Cohen's d score = 0.39; P < .05). Although children living in urban areas who had COVID-19 had significantly higher peer problem scores (Cohen's d score = 0.82, P < .05), the result was not found in those residing in rural areas. After controlling all variables, the econometrics method confirms that infection status significantly affects children's peer problems, obviously in the urban sample.

CONCLUSIONS

Children may experience the consequences of the pandemic on their mental health related to peer difficulties, differently between urban and rural areas. Further research is required to investigate the different impacts of COVID-19 on health in urban and rural areas.

Influence of home chaos on preschool migrant children's resilience: A moderated mediation model

Increasing attention has been drawn to the development of preschool migrant children's resilience recently. Resilience refers to the positive internal strengths and qualities of individuals in adverse situations, and is an essential psychological quality for preschool migrant children to cope with adversity. Home chaos as a risk factor, has an important impact on the development of individual's resilience, but the specific mechanisms under which home chaos works have yet to be explored, especially for preschool migrant children. Based on resilience model theory, 3,135 preschool migrant children and their families were surveyed and a moderated mediating effect mode was constructed to test the effect of home chaos on preschool migrant children's resilience. The results showed that after controlling for gender and age, home chaos significantly and negatively predicted preschool migrant children's resilience. Family resilience played a mediating role in the relationship between home chaos and preschool migrant children's resilience. Meanwhile, social support positively moderated the mediating effects of family resilience. The findings of this study suggested that low home chaos was conducive to promoting family resilience, which in turn fostered children's resilience, and that social support could play its protective role in weakening the negative effects of home chaos and this had certain guiding implications for the development of resilience in preschool migrant children.

Correlations between muscle strength and psychological health in Chinese adolescents: a cross-sectional analysis

Background

Studies indicate that muscle strength is associated with good mental health. However, it remains unclear whether muscle strength is directly correlated with psychological symptoms in Chinese adolescents. Given the declining muscle strength and worrying mental health status of Chinese adolescents, the present study aimed to estimate the correlation between muscle strength and psychological symptoms as well as explore the gender differences in those correlations in Chinese adolescents.

Method

From April to July 2018, a total of 14,344 Chinese adolescents from eight provinces were selected using a stratified clustered sampling method. Psychological symptoms were evaluated using the Multidimensional Sub-health Questionnaire of Adolescents (MSQA), a verified and validated questionnaire that assesses three psychological areas: emotional symptoms, behavioral symptoms, and social adaptation difficulties. Muscle strength was assessed using grip strength, sit-ups, and standing long jump. The Chi-square test was used to compare the detection rates of the different categories of psychological symptoms. A logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the correlations between muscle strength and psychological symptoms and explore the gender differences in those correlations in Chinese adolescents.

Results

In general, the detection rate of psychological symptoms for Chinese adolescents was 21.39%. Males had a higher detection rate of psychological symptoms (22.12%) than females (20.66%, p < 0.05). Psychological symptoms were present in significantly fewer Chinese adolescents with a muscle strength index >P75 (19.26%) than among Chinese adolescents with a muscle strength index ≤P25 (23.00%) (χ² = 23.417, p < 0.01). Compared with females, the OR values for males in most groups were over one (OR = 1.04-1.43), indicating that males have a higher risk of psychological symptoms than females.

Conclusions

The psychological symptom detection rate of Chinese adolescents is correlated with muscle strength. Psychological symptoms were more correlated to muscle strength in males than in females. The significance of the present study lies in the important insights for integrated mental and physical fitness intervention strategies that promote muscle strength and psychological symptoms simultaneously.

Association between mental health and executive dysfunction and the moderating effect of urban-rural subpopulation in general adolescents from Shangrao, China: a population-based cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVES

To examine the association between mental health and executive dysfunction in general adolescents, and to identify whether home residence and school location would moderate that association.

DESIGN

A population-based cross-sectional study.

SETTING

A subsample of the Shanghai Children's Health, Education, and Lifestyle Evaluation-Adolescents project. 16 sampled schools in Shangrao city located in downstream Yangtze River in southeast China (December 2018).

PARTICIPANTS

1895 adolescents (48.8% male) which were divided into three subpopulations: (A) adolescents who have urban hukou (ie, household registration in China) and attend urban schools (UU, n=292); (B) adolescents who have rural hukou and attend urban schools (RU, n=819) and (C) adolescents who have rural hukou and attend rural schools (RR, n=784).

MEASURES

The Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale-21 was used to assess adolescent mental health symptoms, and the Behaviour Rating Inventory of Executive Function (parent form) was applied to measure adolescent executive dysfunction in nature setting.

RESULTS

Mental health symptoms were common (depression: 25.2%, anxiety: 53.0%, stress: 19.7%) in our sample, and the prevalence rates were lower among UU adolescents than those among the RR and RU, with intersubgroup differences in screen exposure time explaining most of the variance. We found the three types of symptoms were strongly associated with executive dysfunction in general adolescents. We also observed a marginal moderating effect of urban-rural subgroup on the associations: UU adolescents with depression (OR 6.74, 95% CI 3.75 to 12.12) and anxiety (OR 5.56, 95% CI 1.86 to 16.66) had a higher executive dysfunction risk when compared with RR youths with depression (OR 1.93, 95% CI 0.91 to 4.12) and anxiety (OR 1.80, 95% CI 1.39 to 2.33), respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

Rural adolescents experienced more mental health symptoms, whereas urban individuals with mental health problems had a higher executive dysfunction risk.

The Effect of Urbanization on Health Care Expenditure: Evidence From China

This paper investigates the impact and non-linear effects of urbanization on health care expenditure in China. The results indicate that urbanization in both Eastern and Central regions can significantly increase health care expenditure. But the impact of urbanization is not significant, which is related to the backward economic development level and low urbanization rate in the Western region. Taking population aging into consideration, the results of the panel threshold regression model imply that the positive relationship between urbanization and health care expenditure becomes greater when the level of population aging exceeds 10.72% in the Eastern region and 7.00% in the Western region. Therefore, in the urbanization process, the government should pay attention to the positive effect of urbanization on health care expenditure, provide more financial support for the construction of medical facilities, and expand the coverage of medical services and security for residents, especially for elderly people.

The mental health status of children who have been evacuated or migrated from rural areas in Fukushima prefecture after the Fukushima daiichi nuclear power station accident:results from the Fukushima health management survey

INTRODUCTION

We evaluated the mental health status of children residing in Kawauchi village (Kawauchi), Fukushima Prefecture, after the 2011 accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, based on the children's experience of the nuclear disaster.

METHODS

We conducted this cross-sectional study within the framework of the Fukushima Health Management Survey (FHMS);FHMS data on age, sex, exercise habits, sleeping times, experience of the nuclear disaster, and the "Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ)" scores for 156 children from Kawauchi in 2012 were collected. Groups with and without experience of the nuclear disaster - "nuclear disaster (+)" and "nuclear disaster (-)" - were also compared.

RESULTS

Our effective response was 93 (59.6%);the mean SDQ score was 11.4±6.8 among elementary school-aged participants and 12.4±6.8 among junior high school-aged ones. We statistically compared the Total Difficulties Scores (TDS) and sub-item scores of the SDQ between "elementary school" and "junior high school" or "nuclear disaster" (+) and (-). There was no significant difference between these items.

CONCLUSIONS

We found indications of poor mental health among elementary and junior high school-aged children in the disaster area immediately following the accident, but no differences based on their experience of the nuclear disaster. These results indicate the possibility of triggering stress, separate to that from experiences related to the nuclear disaster, in children who lived in affected rural areas and were evacuated just after the nuclear disaster.

Mental Health Problems and Associated Factors in Chinese High School Students in Henan Province: A Cross-Sectional Study

Approximately one in five adolescents experience mental health problems globally. However, studies on mental health problems in Chinese high school students are few. Therefore, this study examined the status and associated factors of mental health problems in high school students in China. A stratified two-stage cluster sampling procedure was adopted, leading to a final sample of 15,055 participants from 46 high schools in all 17 provincial cities of Henan province, China. Self-reported questionnaires were used to collect the data. A mental health problems variable was assessed using the Mental Health Inventory of Middle School Students. The positive rate of mental health problems among high school students was 41.8%, with a male predominance (43.3% versus 40.2% in females; p < 0.01). The most frequent mental health problem was academic stress (58.9%). Higher grades, physical disease, chronic constipation, alcohol consumption, engagement in sexual behavior, residence on campus, and living in nonurban areas and with single-parent families were significantly associated with higher odds of having mental health problems (p < 0.05). We suggest that the prevention of mental health problems in high school students be strengthened, especially in students with physical illnesses, unhealthy behaviors, and single-parent families.