Mental Health Issues among Caregivers of Young Children in Rural China: Prevalence, Risk Factors, and Links to Child Developmental Outcomes

Previous research has found that there are high rates of mental health problems among caregivers in rural China and that caregiver mental health may be a significant predictor of developmental delays among infants and toddlers in these rural areas. In this paper, we use data from a survey of 986 caregiver-child pairs in rural China to examine the risk factors of caregiver mental health and measure the association between caregiver mental health and child development outcomes. To conduct the empirical analysis, we assess caregiver mental health using the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 (DASS-21) questionnaire and measure child developmental outcomes using the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Developmental Third Edition (Bayley-III). The results show that 32% of caregivers have depressive symptoms, 42% have anxiety symptoms, and 30% have symptoms of stress. The data also demonstrate that caregiver identity and age as well as different measures of socioeconomic status (SES) (characterized by caregiver education, father’s education, and household wealth) are all significantly linked to symptoms of caregiver mental health problems. The analysis shows that caregiver depression, anxiety, and/or stress are significantly associated with lower early childhood development (ECD) outcomes in all areas measured (cognition, language, social-emotion, and motor skills). The heterogeneous analysis demonstrates that there are differences in the effects of caregiver mental health problems on ECD among households are from families that are endowed with different levels of SES. On the basis of the findings the study concludes that policymakers should pay more attention to caregiver mental health problems in order to improve child developmental outcomes in rural China. The study cannot, however, draw casual conclusions and cannot rule out the possibility of recall bias when measuring caregiver mental health, which may limit the external validity of the findings.

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Effect of Caregiver’s Mental Health on Early Childhood Development across Different Rural Communities in China

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph15112341 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 15 (11) ◽

pp. 2341 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Siqi Zhang ◽

Ruirui Dang ◽

Ning Yang ◽

Yu Bai ◽

Lei Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Parenting Practices ◽

Developmental Delays ◽

Early Childhood Development ◽

Mental Health Problems ◽

Developmental Outcomes ◽

Health Problems ◽

Childhood Development ◽

Infants And Toddlers ◽

Caregiver Mental Health

Previous research has found that there are high rates of developmental delays among infants and toddlers in rural areas of China. Caregiver mental health problems might be one significant predictor of developmental delays among infants and toddlers, as has been found in other areas of the world. One way that the mental health of caregivers could affect early childhood development is through its effect on parenting practices. In this study, we used data from four major subpopulations of rural China to measure the correlation of caregiver mental health problems with the developmental outcomes of infants and toddlers. To do so, the study used the Bayley Scales of Infant Development III (BSID III) to examine the rates of developmental delays among 2514 rural infants/toddlers aged 6–30 months old. The results of the testing demonstrate that 48% of the sample’s infants/toddlers have cognitive delays; 52% have language delays; 53% have social-emotional delays; and 30% have motor delays. The data collection team also assessed caregiver mental health by using the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-21) questionnaire. According to the findings, 39% of caregivers in the sample have symptoms of at least one kind of mental health problem (depression, anxiety, or stress). We also found that most caregivers do not engage in positive parenting practices, while a significant share of caregivers engage in negative parenting practices. The statistical analysis found that showing signs of mental health problems is significantly and negatively associated with infant/toddler developmental outcomes. The study also found that caregivers who show signs of mental health problems are significantly less likely to engage in interactive parenting practices. The study confirms that society needs to pay more attention to caregiver mental health problems in order to improve infant/toddler developmental outcomes in rural China and increase human capital accumulation in China as a whole.

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Perinatal Mental Health Problems in Rural China: The Role of Social Factors

Frontiers in Psychiatry ◽

10.3389/fpsyt.2021.636875 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Qi Jiang ◽

Yian Guo ◽

Evelyn Zhang ◽

Nourya Cohen ◽

Mika Ohtori ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Risk Factors ◽

Social Factors ◽

Rural Women ◽

Mental Health Problems ◽

Rural China ◽

Health Problems ◽

Perinatal Mental Health ◽

Social Risk ◽

Social Risk Factors

Background: Perinatal mental health is important for the well-being of the mother and child, so the relatively high prevalence of perinatal mental health problems in developing settings poses a pressing concern. However, most studies in these settings focus on the demographic factors associated with mental health problems, with very few examing social factors. Hence, this study examines the prevalence of the depressive, anxiety and stress symptoms among pregnant women and new mothers in rural China, and the associations between these mental health problems and social factors, including decision-making power, family conflicts, and social support.Methods: Cross-sectional data were collected from 1,027 women in their second trimester of pregnancy to 6 months postpartum in four low-income rural counties in Sichuan Province, China. Women were surveyed on symptoms of mental health problems using the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21) and social risk factors. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine social risk factors associated with maternal mental health problems, with results reported as odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI).Results: Among all respondents, 13% showed symptoms of depression, 18% showed symptoms of anxiety, 9% showed symptoms of stress, and 23% showed symptoms of any mental health problem. Decision-making power was negatively associated with showing symptoms of depression (OR = 0.71, CI: 0.60–0.83, p < 0.001) and stress (OR = 0.76, CI: 0.63–0.90, p = 0.002). Family conflict was positively associated with depression (OR = 1.53, CI: 1.30–1.81, p < 0.001), anxiety (OR = 1.34, CI: 1.15–1.56, p < 0.001), and stress (OR = 1.68, CI: 1.41–2.00, p < 0.001). In addition, social support was negatively associated with depression (OR = 0.56, CI: 0.46–0.69, p < 0.001), anxiety (OR = 0.76, CI: 0.63–0.91, p = 0.002), and stress (OR = 0.66, CI: 0.53–0.84, p < 0.001). Subgroup analyses revealed that more social risk factors were associated with symptoms of anxiety and stress among new mothers compared to pregnant women.Conclusion: Perinatal mental health problems are relatively prevalent among rural women in China and are strongly associated with social risk factors. Policies and programs should therefore promote individual coping methods, as well as target family and community members to improve the social conditions contributing to mental health problems among rural women.

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Association between Criminological Risk Factors and Mental Health Problems among Urban Jail Inmates

PsycEXTRA Dataset ◽

10.1037/e571212013-429 ◽

2013 ◽

Author(s):

Ernie Gonzalez ◽

Jorge G. Varela ◽

Erika J. Canales ◽

Alexandra Tellez ◽

Amy B. Percosky

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Risk Factors ◽

Mental Health Problems ◽

Health Problems ◽

Jail Inmates

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Association of Child Mental Health with Child and Family Characteristics in Rural China: A Cross-Sectional Analysis

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18105107 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (10) ◽

pp. 5107

Author(s):

Huan Wang ◽

Cody Abbey ◽

Xinshu She ◽

Scott Rozelle ◽

Xiaochen Ma

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Child Mental Health ◽

Primary Schools ◽

Mental Health Problems ◽

Rural China ◽

Health Problems ◽

Social Contexts ◽

Family Characteristics ◽

Contributing Factors ◽

Cross Sectional

Assessing the mental health problems encountered by school children and understanding the contributing factors are crucial to inform strategies aimed at improving mental health in low-resource contexts. However, few studies have investigated the mental health problems among disadvantaged children in poorer countries. This study examines the prevalence of mental health problems in rural China and their association with child and family characteristics. The study uses survey data from 9696 children in 120 rural primary schools and measures child mental health using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Overall, 17.9% of the sample children were found to be in the abnormal range of the SDQ total difficulties scores. The mean score was 12.93 (SD = 4.94). Abnormal scores were associated with child and family characteristics, including older child age (Odds Ratio, OR = 0.704, 95% CI: 0.611, 0.810; p < 0.001), gender (OR = 1.235, 95% CI: 1.112, 1.371; p < 0.001), and academic performance (OR = 0.421, 95% CI: 0.369, 0.480; p < 0.001). Reading time was found to be protective for mental health. Risk factors include excessive screen time (OR = 1.685, 95% CI: 1.409, 2.016; p < 0.001) and being bullied (OR = 3.695, 95% CI: 3.301, 4.136; p < 0.001). Our study suggests that future mental health illness prevention programs in rural China should consider targeting different aspects of children’s social contexts.

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