Academic Performance and the Link with Depressive Symptoms among Rural Han and Minority Chinese Adolescents

Abstract

The objectives of this paper were to examine the risk of depression and depressive symptoms among Han and minority children and adolescents in rural China, the links between academic performance and depressive symptoms, and the prevalence of these links among specific subgroups. A total of 8392 4th, 5th, and 6th grade students at 105 sample rural schools in eight low-income counties and districts in a prefectural-level city in Southwestern China were randomly selected using a three-step sampling strategy. A total of 51% of the sample were female (SD = 0.50), and the age range was 7 to 19 years (mean = 11.35 years; SD = 1.05). Using the Patient Health Questionnaire 8-item depression scale, the prevalence of depressive symptoms in the sample was assessed, while data on students’ academic performance (standardized math test) and demographic characteristics were also collected. Our results show that the rates of major depression were 19% for Han students, 18% for Tibetan students, and 22% for Yi students; the rates of severe depression were 2% for Han and Tibetan students, and 3% for Yi students. Yi students were at significantly higher risks for major and severe depression than Han students. We conducted multivariate regression and heterogeneous analyses. Academic performance was negatively and significantly correlated to depressive symptoms. Across the whole sample, students with lower math scores, minority students, boys, younger students, and students with migrant parents were most vulnerable to depressive symptoms. The heterogeneous analysis suggests that among poor-performing students, subgroups at higher risk for depression include boys, non-boarding students, and students whose mothers had graduated from high school or above. These findings indicate a need to improve mental health outcomes of rural Han and minority primary school students, targeting academic performance for possible intervention.

Association between meeting 24‐h movement guidelines and academic performance in a sample of 67,281 Chinese children and adolescents

“…Accordingly, Chinese children and adolescents are expected to pursue excellent academic performance for a bright future and positive development (Wu et al, 2019;Zhou et al, 2014) owing to the Chinese traditional academy-oriented culture. Moreover, adolescents' academic performance may predict their subsequent psychosocial functioning (Adelantado-Renau et al, 2022;Sörberg Wallin et al, 2019), with similar findings reported in the Chinese context (Feng et al, 2022;Jieyi et al, 2022).…”

The relationship between psychological resilience, neuroticism, attentional bias, and depressive symptoms in college Chinese students

“…This cultural emphasis on academic achievement drives students to place great importance on learning knowledge at the expense of developing various competencies, resulting in poor coping skills and a tendency to develop mental health problems ( Sun et al, 2013 ; Yoon et al, 2017 ). Additional studies have shown that the depressive symptoms of college students are more likely to be affected by factors such as poverty in graduation year, family poverty, dissatisfaction with their major, poor employment prospects, single-parent families, and national minority ( Wang M. et al, 2020 ; Feng et al, 2022 ). Regarding college students’ personality traits, studies have shown that extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness are negatively correlated with depression, while neuroticism is positively correlated with depression ( Han, 2017 ).…”

“…A previous study has shown an increased risk of depression among Chinese college students during the COVID-19 pandemic ( Zhang et al, 2021 ). At the same time, some scholars believe that the high detection rate of depressive symptoms among Chinese college students is related to professional satisfaction, employment prospects, personality, family, ethnicity, physical, academic performance, and interpersonal relationships ( Yang and Chen, 2015 ; Wang M. et al, 2020 ; Feng et al, 2022 ). These are the important factors that affect emotions; however, why do some people become depressed while others are not affected by the same factors?…”

A latent class analysis of depressive symptoms among rural Chinese adolescents and their association with psychological resilience

“…Previous researches have indicated that rural adolescents, when compared to their urban counterparts, exhibit higher rates of depressive symptomatology ( Liu et al, 2020 , Zhang et al, 2001 ). This disparity can be attributed to the relatively lower economic development in rural areas and the paucity of accessible quality healthcare and psychoeducational resources ( Yan et al, 2021 ), resulting in an augmented risk for depressive symptoms among rural youth ( Feng et al, 2022 ). Past investigations on depressive symptoms in rural adolescent populations have been region-specific (e.g., China, Australia, India) ( Black et al, 2012 , Das et al, 2021 , Li et al, 2019a ), gender-specific ( Lai et al, 2012 , Wang et al, 2011 ), and have explored the relationships between depressive symptoms and various factors such as self-harm ( Lai et al, 2021 ), internet addiction ( Shang et al, 2023 ), and academic performance ( Feng et al, 2022 ).…”