IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i23p12742-d694074.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Mental Health Outcomes among Chinese College Students over a Decade

Author

Listed:
  • Sibo Zhao

    (Department of Sociology, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing 100081, China)

  • Jie Zhang

    (Department of Sociology, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing 100081, China
    Department of Sociology, State University of New York at Buffalo State, 1300 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14222, USA)

  • Lisu Peng

    (Department of Sociology, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing 100081, China)

  • Wenhui Yang

    (Department of Sociology, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing 100081, China)

Abstract

Background: Economic growth in China has brought about significant social and psychological changes in society. Objective: This study aims to explore how the mental and psychological health of college students has changed over the past decade. Methods: We observed several cohort samples in a Chinese university over a decade and looked at five mental health outcomes, including suicidal ideation, depression, optimism, self-esteem, and perceived social support, throughout each year of testing. Results: Our study highlights the declining rates of suicidal ideation and depression, combined with relative stability and even small increases in optimism, self-esteem, and perceived social support across a range of demographic variables. Conclusions: The findings of this study imply that in the context of economic growth, stabilizing and improving positive mental health states can help prevent and reduce the risk of depression and suicidal ideation among college students. The study also highlighted the need for more public health campaigns and interventions in universities to help students cope with mental health problems.

Suggested Citation

  • Sibo Zhao & Jie Zhang & Lisu Peng & Wenhui Yang, 2021. "Mental Health Outcomes among Chinese College Students over a Decade," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(23), pages 1-14, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:23:p:12742-:d:694074
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/23/12742/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/23/12742/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jie Zhang & Zheng Zhao, 2017. "Psychological Strain and Suicidal Ideation among Chinese Young People," International Journal of Asian Social Science, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 7(6), pages 497-504, June.
    2. Appleton, Simon & Knight, John & Song, Lina & Xia, Qingjie, 2002. "Labor retrenchment in China: Determinants and consequences," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 13(2-3), pages 252-275.
    3. Wang, Qing & Tapia Granados, José A., 2019. "Economic growth and mental health in 21st century China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 220(C), pages 387-395.
    4. Graham, Carol & Zhou, Shaojie & Zhang, Junyi, 2017. "Happiness and Health in China: The Paradox of Progress," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 231-244.
    5. Xiaoyu Wu & Lixing Li, 2012. "Family size and maternal health: evidence from the One-Child policy in China," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 25(4), pages 1341-1364, October.
    6. Jie Zhang & Zheng Zhao, 2017. "Psychological Strain and Suicidal Ideation among Chinese Young People," International Journal of Asian Social Science, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 7(6), pages 497-504.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Shengpeng Li & Cong Liu & Yongjing Song & Nan Ma & Jinkui Lu, 2023. "Association of Soyfoods or Soybean Products Consumption with Psychological Symptoms: Evidence from a Cross-Sectional Study of Chinese University Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-13, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yishu Zhou & Jingyi Liu, 2020. "Air Pollution and Mental Health of Older Adults in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-13, January.
    2. Lina Ha & Qingning Chang & ZhiZhong Wang, 2020. "The Mediating Effect of Psychache on the Relationship Between Psychological Strains and Suicidal Behaviors Among Chinese Hui and Han Medical Students," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(3), pages 21582440209, July.
    3. Appleton, Simon & Song, Lina & Xia, Qingjie, 2005. "Has China crossed the river? The evolution of wage structure in urban China during reform and retrenchment," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 644-663, December.
    4. Simon Appleton & John Knight & Lina Song & Qingjie Xia, 2009. "The Economics of Communist Party Membership: The Curious Case of Rising Numbers and Wage Premium during China's Transition," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(2), pages 256-275.
    5. Fleisher, Belton M. & Sabirianova, Klara & Wang, Xiaojun, 2005. "Returns to skills and the speed of reforms: Evidence from Central and Eastern Europe, China, and Russia," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 351-370, June.
    6. Xiao Tang & Weiwei Chen & Tian Wu, 2018. "Do Authoritarian Governments Respond to Public Opinion on the Environment? Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-15, February.
    7. Chi, Wei & Li, Bo, 2014. "Trends in China’s gender employment and pay gap: Estimating gender pay gaps with employment selection," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 708-725.
    8. Pieter Serneels, 2004. "The Nature of Unemployment in Urban Ethiopia," CSAE Working Paper Series 2004-01, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    9. Haiyan Ding & Hui He, 2018. "A Tale of Transition: An Empirical Analysis of Economic Inequality in Urban China, 1986-2009," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 29, pages 106-137, July.
    10. Haoming Liu, 2014. "The quality–quantity trade-off: evidence from the relaxation of China’s one-child policy," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 27(2), pages 565-602, April.
    11. Qian Sun, 2023. "SOE wage premium in China: new evidence," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 64(3), pages 1121-1147, March.
    12. Margaret Maurer-Fazio & Sili Wang, 2018. "Does marital status affect how firms interpret job applicants’ un/employment histories?," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 39(4), pages 567-580, July.
    13. Zang, Emma, 2020. "Spillover effects of a husband's retirement on a woman's health: Evidence from urban China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 245(C).
    14. Giles, John & Lei, Xiaoyan & Wang, Gewei & Wang, Yafeng & Zhao, Yaohui, 2023. "One country, two systems: evidence on retirement patterns in China," Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Cambridge University Press, vol. 22(2), pages 188-210, April.
    15. El-hadj Bah & Josef C. Brada, 2014. "Labor Markets in the Transition Economies: An Overview," European Journal of Comparative Economics, Cattaneo University (LIUC), vol. 11(1), pages 3-53, June.
    16. Fleischer, Belton M. & Yang, Dennis T., 2003. "Labor laws and regulations in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 14(4), pages 426-433.
    17. Appleton, Simon & Song, Lina, 2008. "Life Satisfaction in Urban China: Components and Determinants," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(11), pages 2325-2340, November.
    18. John Knight & Linda Yueh, 2004. "Urban Insiders versus Rural Outsiders: Complementarity or Competition in China`s Urban Labour Market?," Economics Series Working Papers 217, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    19. Glauben, Thomas & Herzfeld, Thomas & Wang, Xiaobing, 2005. "Labor Market Participation of Chinese Agricultural Households," 2005 International Congress, August 23-27, 2005, Copenhagen, Denmark 24516, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    20. Zhang, Linxiu & Huang, Jikun & Rozelle, Scott, 2002. "Employment, emerging labor markets, and the role of education in rural China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 13(2-3), pages 313-328.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:23:p:12742-:d:694074. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.