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

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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.

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Abbreviations

MW:

Migrant worker

SCL-90-R:

Symptom Checklist-90-R

CES-D:

Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale

WHOQOL-BREF:

World Health Organization’s Quality of Life Questionnaire-Brief Version

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported in part by an unrestricted educational grant from Lundbeck Export A/S (H. Chiu, PI); by Direct Grant 2041160 (S. Chan, PI), 2041727 (S. Chan, PI) and 2041728 (H. Chiu, PI) from The Chinese University of Hong Kong; by grant D43 TW05814 from the Fogarty International Center of NIH (E.D. Caine, PI); by grant R49 CE002093 (E.D. Caine, PI) from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and by JCYJ20130401155103435 (TB. Liu, PI) and JCYJ20130401155103442 (J. Dai, PI) from Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Committee. All the funding sources listed had no role in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the paper for publication.

Conflict of interest

None.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Ground Floor, Multicentre, Tai Po Hospital, Tai Po, N.T., Hong Kong SAR, People’s Republic of China

    Jing Dai, Bao-Liang Zhong, Yu-Tao Xiang, Helen F. K. Chiu & Sandra S. M. Chan

  2. Shenzhen Key Laboratory for Psychological Healthcare, Shenzhen Institute of Mental Health, Shenzhen Kangning Hospital, Shenzhen Mental Health Center, Shenzhen, People’s Republic of China

    Jing Dai

  3. Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Macau, Macao SAR, People’s Republic of China

    Yu-Tao Xiang

  4. Institute of Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

    Xin Yu

  5. Injury Control Research Center for Suicide Prevention and Department of Psychiatry, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY, USA

    Eric D. Caine

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  1. Jing Dai
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  2. Bao-Liang Zhong
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  3. Yu-Tao Xiang
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  4. Helen F. K. Chiu
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  5. Sandra S. M. Chan
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  6. Xin Yu
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  7. Eric D. Caine
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Helen F. K. Chiu.

Additional information

J. Dai and B.-L. Zhong contributed equally to this work.

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Dai, J., Zhong, BL., Xiang, YT. et al. Internal migration, mental health, and suicidal behaviors in young rural Chinese. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 50, 621–631 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-014-0985-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-014-0985-y

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