Internal migration, mental health, and suicidal behaviors in young rural Chinese

Abstract

Purpose There is a dearth of data on the association of internal migration with mental health in young rural Chinese. This study aims to explore the associations between migrant status, mental health, and suicidal behaviors in young rural Chinese. Methods We recruited 1,646 rural subjects aged 16–34 years, of whom 756 were migrant workers and 890 non-migrants, from ten representative villages in rural Sichuan Province, the southwestern part of China. To assess subject's depressive symptoms and general psychological quality of life (psycho-QOL), the study protocol included the Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale, and psycho-QOL subscale of the World Health Organization's QOL Questionnaire-Brief Version, in addition to structured questions regarding one-year suicidal thoughts and behaviors (serious ideation, plan, and attempt), socio-demographic, social support, and physical health information. Results After adjustment for confounders, migrant workers had relative to non-migrant rural residents a decreased risk for depression (OR = 0.69, P = 0.026), but comparable risk for poor psycho-QOL (OR = 0.91, P = 0.557) and one-year suicidal behaviors (OR = 0.59–1.10, P = 0.19–0.90). Migrant status only accounted for 0.5, 2.8, 4.7, 9.8, and 12.6 % of the total explainable variance for suicide attempt, poor psycho-QOL, suicide plan, depression and serious suicide ideation, respectively. Conclusion Our findings suggested that among young rural Chinese there were no significant associations involving migrant status and poor psycho-QOL or one-year suicidal behaviors, while migrant status significantly correlated with a decreased risk of depression. The unique contribution of migrant status to mental health among young rural Chinese participants in this study was very small.

Depressive symptoms in Chinese assembly‐line migrant workers: A case study in the shoe‐making industry

“…This prevalence is higher than that found in other cohorts of Chinese general population, including urban and rural community‐residing residents (19.9% and 16%; Xiao, Ji, & Zhang, ), university students (23.8%; Lei, Xiao, Liu, & Li, ), and community older adults (23.6%; Li, Zhang, Shao, Qi, & Tian, ). Compared with the prevalence rates reported in earlier studies with samples of general migrant workers (8%‐23.7%) (Qiu et al, ; Dai et al, ; Lam & Johnston, ), this study also revealed a higher prevalence of depression in AMWs. Although it is potentially problematic to directly compare the depression prevalence of our study with that of previous studies due to various measures and definitions of depression adopted (ie, Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale vs BDI‐SF) and different methods of data collection (ie, telephone interview vs self‐administered questionnaire), this finding, nearly one third of the AMWs had clinically significant depressive symptoms, indicates that depression is very common among AMWs.…”

“…Coupled with the above‐mentioned psychosocial factors associated with assembly‐line work and rural‐to‐urban migration, Chinese assembly‐line migrant workers (AMWs) would be at a particular high risk of developing depression. However, to the best of our knowledge, no research has been specifically designed to address the depression issue of Chinese AMWs in spite of many studies were conducted among general migrant workers (Dai et al, ; Zhong et al, ). Furthermore, previous studies focused on the most basic socio‐demographic correlates of depression among migrant workers (Mou et al, ; Qiu et al, ; Zhong et al, ; Lam & Johnston, ; Zhong, Xu, et al, ), whereas the relationships of depression with work‐ and migration‐related factors are rarely examined.…”

Development and validation of brief scales to measure emotional and behavioural problems among Chinese adolescents

“…In China, academic pressure under the examination-oriented education system, cultural differences between China and Western societies with respect to the view of social and sexual relationships, as well as limited mental health literacy and social inequity experienced by massive younger generations of internal migrants resulted in increased prevalence of anxiety, depression and other mental disorders 10–12. The examination-oriented education system of China results in a score-based friend-making criterion: adolescents prefer to make friends with those who perform better in examinations, and ignore those with poor performance.…”

The Association Between Social Resources and Depressive Symptoms Among Chinese Migrants and Non-Migrants Living in Guangzhou, China

“…Evidence supporting the Healthy Migrant hypothesis demonstrated that migrants are not more vulnerable compared with nonmigrants (Dai et al, 2015;Leong, Park, & Kalibatseva, 2013;Lu & Qin, 2014;Wu & Schimmele, 2005). One study showed that individuals could choose to migrate or not according to their own will, and showed that migrant status had a positive effect on health (Lu & Qin, 2014); also, migrants demonstrated a lower risk of developing depression and suicidal thoughts within a year of their migration (Dai et al, 2015).The current study aimed to establish the relationships between social level risks (social network supports, social capital, and social cohesion) on depressive symptoms (Cheung, 2013;Jin, Wen, Fan, & Wang, 2012;Li et al, 2007;Wen et al, 2010), at least in the early phase of migration. This study, therefore, is proposed to evaluate the application of the COR theory and the Healthy Migrant hypothesis in Chinese migration.…”

“…Evidence supporting the Healthy Migrant hypothesis demonstrated that migrants are not more vulnerable compared with nonmigrants (Dai et al, 2015;Leong, Park, & Kalibatseva, 2013;Lu & Qin, 2014;Wu & Schimmele, 2005). One study showed that individuals could choose to migrate or not according to their own will, and showed that migrant status had a positive effect on health (Lu & Qin, 2014); also, migrants demonstrated a lower risk of developing depression and suicidal thoughts within a year of their migration (Dai et al, 2015).…”