Increasing Trends in Mental Health Problems Among Urban Chinese Adolescents: Results From Repeated Cross-Sectional Data in Changsha 2016-2020.

Zhipeng Wu,Zhulin Zou,Yicheng Long,Xudong Chen,Zhibiao Xiang,Biao Wang,Zhening Liu

doi:10.3389/fpubh.2022.829674

Abstract

This study performed a repeated cross-sectional analysis to explore possible trends in mental health problems among Chinese adolescents over the years of 2016–2020. A total of 2,837 different seventh-grade students were surveyed in three waves from a junior high school in Changsha city, Hunan province in China (978 in 2016, 949 in 2019, and 910 in 2020) using the Mental Health Inventory of Middle School Students (MMHI-60). The results showed that obsessive-compulsive tendencies, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, academic stress, and emotional disturbance problems were significantly increased in surveyed adolescents from 2016 to 2020. Moreover, positive rates of most of these problems were significantly higher in females than males, and were significantly increased in only females. These results highlight the importance of focusing on mental health problems among urban Chinese adolescents, especially among girls.

Highlights

Childhood and early adolescence are crucial periods for mental health development with a high risk for mental health problems [1, 2]
Cochran-Armitage trend tests showed that positive rates of the obsessive-compulsive tendencies (p < 0.001), interpersonal sensitivity (p = 0.015), depression (p < 0.001), anxiety (p = 0.001), academic stress (p < 0.001) and emotional disturbance (p = 0.006) problems were significantly increased during the period of 2016 to 2020, while no significant increasing or decreasing trends were found in positive rates of the paranoid ideation, hostility, maladaptation and psychological imbalance problems
From 2016 to 2020, the positive rate of obsessive-compulsive tendencies was significantly increased in both males and females, while positive rates of interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, academic stress, maladaptation, emotional disturbance, and psychological imbalance were significantly increased in only females (Figure 3; Supplementary Tables 2–3)

Summary

Introduction

Childhood and early adolescence are crucial periods for mental health development with a high risk for mental health problems [1, 2]. These problems can persist into adulthood and even lead to serious mental diseases if they are undetected or not treated appropriately [3,4,5]. In contrast to the increase in economy, multiple studies have reported a dramatic decrease in mental health in China, especially in Chinese adolescents during the same period [6,7,8,9]. To improve public mental health, it is important to assess the prevalence and changes over time in the prevalence of mental health problems in Chinese adolescents [7]

Methods

Results

Conclusion