Unraveling the Relationship Between Teachers’ and Students’ Mental Health: A One-to-One Matched Analysis

Abstract

This study aims to identify the associations between teacher mental health and student mental health. Cross-sectional data were collected from 127,877 students aged 9–20 years and 2,759 teachers across 31 provinces in China. The mental health of students and teachers were assessed by well-being (life satisfaction and positive mental health), and psychological distress (depression and anxiety). Controlling for demographic variables, multilevel regression analyses suggest that higher teacher positive mental health was linked to higher student positive mental health and lower student depression; higher teacher depression were correlated with higher student depression; and teacher life satisfaction and anxiety were not correlated with any indicators of student mental health. The study highlights the significant association between teacher mental health and student mental health.