Association of Child Mental Health with Child and Family Characteristics in Rural China: A Cross-Sectional Analysis

Wang, Huan; Abbey, Cody; She, Xinshu; Rozelle, Scott; Ma, Xiaochen

doi:10.3390/ijerph18105107

Cited by 10 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 81 publications

(85 reference statements)

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“…This may be attributed to the Beirut blast which caused children from the surrounding areas to experience multiple psychological impacts [48-50]. A higher mean of prosocial problems in children was also more commonly reported by participants having intermediate and elementary education levels, similar to the ndings of Wang et al (2021) [16] where higher SDQ total di culties scores were associated with having a parent with a lower education level. Having parents with a higher educational level may be thus a protective factor for children's mental health [51].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 77%

Children’s Well-Being Post the Pandemic and Amid the Economic Crisis in Lebanon

Nasr

Haddad

Raidan

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Background: The outbreak of coronavirus in 2020 prompted schools to shift their classes from a physical learning environment to an online one to implement measures of social distancing to limit the spread of the pandemic. This disruption negatively influenced the social interaction of children and their well-being. In Lebanon, the situation was further exacerbated due to the severe economic crisis that had and still has obvious negative effects on the well-being of children. This study aims to investigate the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and the economic crisis on the mental health of Lebanese children aged 5 to 14 years old and to assess their well-being in a post-pandemic world. Method: A quantitative research design was adopted, and the validated Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) was used to collect data. 966 responses were collected, among which 627 parental reports and 339 teacher reports. Descriptive analysis was conducted for categorical variables and continuous measures. Means were compared using the independent-sample t-test and the analysis of variance (ANOVA) test. Pearson correlation test was used to evaluate the association between continuous variables. And a multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) was conducted to compare the total SDQ difficulties score and sub-scores between the teacher and parents. Results: 34% of the study population are categorized as abnormal and 14.9% as borderline according to the SDQ score, and an expansion of mental health problems among these children is indicated. The study reveals that the most common mental health problems identified among these children are respectively conduct problems, peer, emotional, and hyperactivity problems, and prosocial problems. The main factors impacting the high rates of mental health problems among Lebanese children are gender, parental control, lack of discipline, poor-quality education background, parenting problems, low family income, physical defects among children, and the political situation of the country. Conclusion: This study highlights the necessity of promoting mental health awareness among parents and teachers and adopting intervention and prevention measures to help children in Lebanon deal with mental health challenges caused by the pandemic and the ongoing economic crisis.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 77%

Children’s Well-Being Post the Pandemic and Amid the Economic Crisis in Lebanon

Nasr

Haddad

Raidan

et al. 2022

Preprint

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“…In assessing for abnormal scores, we found that they were higher for conduct problems (8.5%) than in the other domains, and abnormal total difficulties scores reached 5.1% among our in-school participants. In comparison, in a study among adolescents in the Chinese context, Wang et al found that a higher proportion of the participants (17.9%) had a high total difficulties score [28]. Data from the Indian subcontinent showed that more than a tenth of in-school adolescents reported abnormal scores in the SDQ in a study by Harikrishnan, U. and Sailo, G.L.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Predictors of Adolescent Internalizing and Externalizing Mental Health Symptoms: A School-Based Study in Southern India

Sekaran,

Prabhu,

Ashok

et al. 2024

IJERPH

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Introduction: Mental illnesses are one of the major contributors to the overall burden of disease among the young. We investigated the predictors of emotional and behavioral problems among in-school adolescents in the Indian context. Methods: Using stratified sampling, 1441 adolescents were recruited to participate in the study in Udupi taluk. The study instruments included a socio-demographic pro forma and the adolescent self-reporting version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) to assess the emotional and behavioral problems among them. We explored the predictors of total difficulties, as well as externalizing and internalizing problems and gender differences. SPSS version 25 was used to analyze the data. Descriptive statistics, a Chi-square test for associations, an independent t-test to explore the gender differences, correlation analysis, and backward stepwise logistic regression for the predictors were used. Results: The mean age of the participants was 15.31 ± 0.76. An almost equal percentage of male (49.6%) and female (50.4%) participants provided data. Abnormal scores were highest under conduct problems (8.5%), and the total difficulties reached 5.1%. The male participants had higher levels of conduct, hyperactivity, peer relationship, and externalizing problems the while the female participants experienced higher levels of emotional and internalizing problems. It was observed that there was a significant positive relationship between age and emotional problems, conduct problems, hyperactivity, peer problems, and total SDQ score. An older age predicted an abnormal total difficulties score and externalizing and internalizing behaviors, while the type of school predicted the total difficulties and internalizing behaviors. Conclusion: The age of the adolescent, their gender, and the type of school they attended emerged as predictors of the emotional and behavioral problems among them.

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“…36 The mean total difficulties score (12.60) was also higher than that found in a sample including both urban and rural adolescents in the northeastern Chinese province of Liaoning (10.96) and was on par with a rural sample in the southeastern province of Jiangxi (12.93). 37,38 One potential reason for the relatively high share of abnormal behaviors experienced by our sample might be that more than a third of the adolescents were left-behind children (with no parents at home due to migration to cities for work) or partially left-behind children (with one parent not at home). Past literature has demonstrated that left-behind children -with lower levels of social support at home -are significantly more likely to be at risk of mental health problems than their peers.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Association Between Screen Time and Outdoor Time on Adolescent Mental Health and Academic Performance: Evidence from Rural China

Wang¹,

Abbey²,

Kennedy³

et al. 2023

RMHP

Self Cite

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We examine how adolescent free time allocation-namely, screen time and outdoor time-is associated with mental health and academic performance in rural China. Methods: This paper used a large random sample of rural junior high school students in Ningxia (n = 20,375; � X age =13.22), with data collected from self-reported demographic questionnaires (to assess free time allocation), the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (to assess mental health), and a standardized math test (to measure academic performance). We utilized a multivariate OLS regression model to examine associations between free time allocation and adolescent outcomes, controlling for individual and family characteristics. Results: Our sample's screen time and outdoor time both averaged around 1 hour. About 10% of the sample adolescents reported behavioral difficulties, while a similar percentage (11%) reported abnormal prosocial behaviors. Adolescents with higher levels of screen time (>2 hours) were 3 percentage points more likely to have higher levels of behavioral difficulties (p<0.001), indicating that excessive screen time was associated with worse mental health. Meanwhile, outdoor time was associated with better mental health, and positive correlations were observed at all levels of outdoor time (compared to no outdoor time, decreasing the likelihood of higher levels of behavioral difficulties by between 3 and 4 percentage points and of lower prosocial scores by between 6 and 8 percentage points; all p's<0.001). For academic performance, average daily screen times of up to 1 hour and 1-2 hours were both positively associated with standardized math scores (0.08 SD, p<0.001; 0.07 SD, p<0.01, respectively), whereas there were no significant associations between outdoor time and academic performance. Conclusion: Using a large sample size, this study was the first to examine the association between adolescent free time allocation with mental health and academic performance, providing initial insights into how rural Chinese adolescents can optimize their free time.

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Association of Child Mental Health with Child and Family Characteristics in Rural China: A Cross-Sectional Analysis

Cited by 10 publications

References 81 publications

Children’s Well-Being Post the Pandemic and Amid the Economic Crisis in Lebanon

Children’s Well-Being Post the Pandemic and Amid the Economic Crisis in Lebanon

Predictors of Adolescent Internalizing and Externalizing Mental Health Symptoms: A School-Based Study in Southern India

The Association Between Screen Time and Outdoor Time on Adolescent Mental Health and Academic Performance: Evidence from Rural China

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