Mental health problems and coping styles of urban and rural high school students in China

Hongjing Zhang,Chuansheng Chen,Ellen Greenberger,Kyle Chang,Fan Zhang

doi:10.1002/jcop.20492

Abstract

AbstractFew studies have compared urban and rural adolescents' mental health problems, especially in developing countries. The purpose of this study was to investigate the mental health problems and coping styles of adolescents in urban and rural areas in China. A total of 927 urban and rural high school students in Shandong Province of China were recruited for the study. The results of the study are as follows: (a) students in rural low‐socioeconomic status (SES) areas, especially females, had more mental health problems than did those in rural high‐SES and urban areas; (b) rural low‐SES students were more likely to cope by venting and fantasizing than did the other two groups; (c) regardless of residence and SES, mental health problems were inversely related to the use of problem solving as a coping strategy, but positively related to fantasizing; and (d) urban‐rural differences in mental health problems were not entirely accounted for by group differences in coping strategies. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Highlights

Title Mental health problems and coping styles of urban and rural high school students in China
To examine whether mental health problems varied by gender in the three areas, independent samples t tests were conducted on the total mental health problem scale and its subscales
Results showed that low-students in rural lowsocioeconomic status (SES) rural students, especially females, had more mental health problems than high-SES rural students, who in turn had more mental health problems than students in urban schools

Summary

Introduction

Title Mental health problems and coping styles of urban and rural high school students in China. The purpose of this study was to investigate the mental health problems and coping styles of adolescents in urban and rural areas in China. Only a few researchers have studied rural adolescents’ mental health problems They have focused on issues such as barriers toward seeking mental health help, psychiatric disorder prevalence, and mental health service use in rural communities (Farmer, Burns, Angold, & Costello, 1997; Hoyt, Conger, Valde, & Weihs, 1997; McCabe & Macnee, 2002; Rueter, Holm, Burzette, Kim, & Conger, 2007). The rates, are comparable to those found in urban areas This lack of urban-rural differences in prevalence of mental health problems may have contributed to a lack of research on rural adolescents. Nor is it known whether urban-rural differences are nonsignificant in other countries

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Results

Conclusion