Abstract

     Adolescent mental health is an important public health issue that cannot be ignored, and mental health issues are a major cause of physical illness in adolescents and children worldwide. In order to supplement relevant research and provide insightful policy suggestions to government, schools and families, this study investigated the nexus between family socioeconomic status and mental health for adolescents in China. Based on 7234 observations from the China Education Panel Survey, the paper estimated the effects of family socioeconomic status on adolescents’ mental health using ordinary least squares. The effects of family income, parental education level, and parental occupation on adolescent mental health were estimated separately by the same method. Our findings suggest that family socioeconomic status has a significant positive effect on mental health of adolescents in China. This effect is heterogeneous depending on individuals’ registered residence types and their participation in health courses. Finally, frequency of parent-child interaction and classmate interaction are shown to be potential mechanisms for the effect of family socioeconomic status on the mental health of Chinese adolescents.

Introduction

     With the development of society, the mental health of adolescents is becoming more and more important. Research has shown that 10–۲۰% of children and adolescents suffer from mental health problems, which are a major cause of physical health problems in the group, around the world [1]. However, in low and middle income countries, the mental health of children and adolescents is often overlooked. In recent years, the proportion of adolescents suffering from mental health problems and depression has been increasing. According to the “Report on the Development of Chinese National Mental Health (2019–۲۰۲۰)” released by the Institute of Psychology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in March 2021, the rates of depression in primary school, junior high school, and high school are 10%, 30%, and 40%, respectively. Among them, the rates of major depression were 1.9–۳٫۳%, ۷٫۶–۸٫۶%, and 10.9–۱۲٫۶%, respectively. That is, depression levels increased with grades [2]. Therefore, the mental health of adolescents is so important that we cannot ignore it. In order to protect the mental health of adolescents, it is necessary to pay attention to the important role of the family.

     Family socioeconomic status which reflects an individual’s family background and social capital, mainly including family income, parents’ education level, etc., is crucial to adolescents’ mental health [3]. To explore the influence of family socioeconomic status on adolescents’ mental health, this paper established an ordinary least squares regression model based on the CEPS from 2014 to 2015. The effects of family income, parental education level, and parental occupation on adolescent mental health were estimated separately by the same method.

Conclusions

     Based on the CEPS data from 2014 to 2015, this paper studies the effect of family socioeconomic status on the mental health of adolescents by using the ordinary least square method, and makes a robustness test and heterogeneity analysis. We found that family socioeconomic status, family income and parents’ education level have significant positive effects on teenagers’ mental health, and the heterogeneity of these effects depends on whether individuals have studied health courses and on individual types of household registration. Specifically, the mental health of individuals who have not studied health courses and who have agricultural registered residence are more affected by the socioeconomic status of the family. In addition, we point out two mechanisms of the effect of family socioeconomic status on teenagers’ mental health: the frequency of parent-child interaction and the frequency of classmate interaction. On the one hand, improving the socioeconomic status of the family can improve the frequency of parent-child interaction and then improve the mental health level of adolescents; on the other hand, the socioeconomic status of the family can affect the frequency of interaction between individuals and classmates, affect peer relationships and then affect the mental health of adolescents.