Mental health,life events and coping styles of middle school students in Three-Gorges areas in Chongqing

Abstract

Objective To investigate the mental health status of middle school students in Three-Gorge area in Chongqing, and to explore the relationship with their life events and coping styles. Methods The Compi-ling of mental health scales for middle school students(MSSMHS),adolescent self-rating Life events checklist and trait coping style questionnaire(TCSQ) were adopted in the study to test the randomly sampled 1 632 middle school students in Three-Gorges area in Chongqing. Results The rate of mental disorder in the samples was 27.5%. The total average scores and each factor of the mental health were positively correlated with the factors of life events(r=0. 29～0.55). Negative coping styles were positively correlated with the total average scores and each factor of the mental health (r=0.38～0.56). Positive coping styles was negatively correlated with anxiety, depression, study pressure(r=-0.07～-0.05). The factors of life events and coping styles explained 27%～49% variation of scores of the mental health total average scores and each factor of the mental health. Conclusion Both life events and the coping styles are the important factors for the mental health of middle school students in Three-Gorge area in Chongqing. Reducing negative life events and coping styles benefits the mental health of middle school students. Key words: Three-Gorge area; Middle school students; Psychological health; Life events