Childhood Socioeconomic Status and Mental Health of Rural Adult Residents: The Roles of Hope and Subjective Well-Being

doi:10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20230515

Abstract

Abstract: According to the latest China Mental Health Survey (CMHS), the weighted 12-month prevalence of any mental disorder (excluding dementia) among adults in rural China was much higher than that in urban areas (13.4% vs. 5.5%). To solve this situation, it is important to pay attention to the mental health of rural adult residents and to investigate its potential causes. Prior studies on the impact of childhood socioeconomic status on adult mental health have shown that low childhood socioeconomic status had far-reaching negative effects on adult mental health. However, the existing studies were based on Western samples. The cultural background and social system of rural China are different from Western countries, so the cross-cultural validity of the existing studies need to be verified among Chinese rural residents. Meanwhile, the mechanism underlying the relation between childhood socioeconomic status and adult mental health is unknown. To address this research gap, the current study examined the relationship between childhood socioeconomic status and the mental health of rural adult residents. Drawing from the reserve capacity theory, the life history theory, and the “scarring effect” theory of poverty, this study constructed a chain mediation model that childhood socioeconomic status was related to the mental health of rural adult residents via hope and subjective well-being (SWB).
By convenience sampling, 568 rural adult residents (297 men, mean age = 48.00 years, SD = 11.78 years) from 19 villages in a county of Hubei Province were selected. With informed consent, all of them completed a pencil and paper questionnaire (including the revised Childhood Socioeconomic Status Scale, the Chinese version of 12-item General Health Questionnaire, Adult State Hope Scale, Cantril Self-Anchoring Striving Scale) in privacy, and all information collected was self-reported. The measurement tools in this study had sound reliability. Before testing hypotheses, all variables were standardized. SPSS 23.0 was used to test the correlations among variables. The chain mediation model was tested by the PROCESS macro for SPSS.
After controlling for demographic variables, the results indicated that: (1) There were significant positive correlations among childhood socioeconomic status, hope, SWB, and mental health. The lower the childhood socioeconomic status, the more likely the rural adult residents would exhibit poor mental health. (2) Hope mediated the relation between childhood socioeconomic status and the mental health of rural adult residents (95% CI = [.016, .039]). (3) SWB mediated the relation between childhood socioeconomic status and the mental health of rural adult residents (95% CI = [.003, .026]). (4) Childhood socioeconomic status affected the mental health of rural adult residents through a chain mechanism of hope and SWB (95% CI = [.003, .011]).
This study confirmed the negative impact of low childhood socioeconomic on adult mental health in rural China, by realizing "diluting hope", "reducing SWB", and the combination of the two. These results may inform practice. The promotion of Chinese rural residents' mental health cannot ignore the "upstream" and "remote" factors that affect adult mental health and should focus on early intervention and prevention. The alleviation of rural poverty should pay special attention to the minor children of relatively poor families, and take psychological intervention, particularly to increase their hope and SWB.

Key words: childhood socioeconomic status, mental health, hope, subjective well-being, rural residents

摘要： 研究采用问卷法对568名农村成年居民进行调查,以探讨童年社会经济地位与农村成年居民心理健康的关系及其内在作用机制。结果表明：（1）童年社会经济地位与农村成年居民希望感、主观幸福感、心理健康水平两两显著正相关;（2）童年社会经济地位通过希望感和主观幸福感的单独中介作用以及两者的链式中介作用正向预测农村成年居民心理健康水平。这些研究结果可以为农村心理健康促进工作与帮扶工作提供参考价值。

关键词: 童年社会经济地位, 心理健康, 希望感, 主观幸福感, 农村居民

Meng Keqiang, Li Fenglan, Wang Li, Chen Min. Childhood Socioeconomic Status and Mental Health of Rural Adult Residents: The Roles of Hope and Subjective Well-Being[J]. Journal of Psychological Science, 2023, 46(5): 1148-1155.

孟可强, 李凤兰, 王丽, 陈敏. 童年社会经济地位与农村成年居民心理健康：希望感和主观幸福感的作用 ^*[J]. 心理科学, 2023, 46(5): 1148-1155.

References

[1] 陈祉妍, 郭菲. (2021). 中国国民心理健康发展报告(2019~2020) (pp. 1-33). 社会科学文献出版社..
[2] 冯贺霞. (2014). 从发展的角度看幸福——对幸福收入悖论的一种解释 (博士学位论文). 武汉大学.
[3] 管健, 周一骑. (2016). 生命史的快策略与慢策略: 理解心理与行为差异的新路径. 西北师大学报(社会科学版), 53(6), 115-121.
[4] 贾晓珊, 朱海东. (2021). 社会经济地位与儿童青少年心理健康关系的元分析. 心理与行为研究, 19(5), 671-678.
[5] 李忠臣, 王康, 刘晓敏, 李贵成, 翟渊涛, 张茜, 潘芳. (2018). 青少年人际宽恕与心理健康: 愤怒和主观幸福感的多重中介作用. 中国临床心理学杂志, 26(5), 987-991.
[6] 刘芳, 李维青, 买跃霞. (2010). 主观幸福感与心理健康关系的内隐社会认知研究. 中国健康心理学杂志, 18(4), 470-473.
[7] 孟可强, 王丽, 李旺, 李凤兰, 张正, 陈敏. (2023). 构建乡村社会心理服务体系助力乡村振兴战略. 中国科学院院刊, 38(3), 444-454.
[8] 孙时进, 齐巍. (2017). 儿童期社会经济地位对成年健康影响的研究进展. 中国特殊教育, 11, 81-85.
[9] 王馨蕊, 邢艳艳, 许燕. (2017). 希望的代际传递效应: 教养方式的中介作用. 心理学探新, 37(2), 161-165.
[10] 王燕, 林镇超, 侯博文, 孙时进. (2017). 生命史权衡的内在机制: 动机控制策略的中介作用. 心理学报, 49(6), 783-793.
[11] 银小兰, 黎志华. (2021). 贫困及其代际传递的心理学研究. 华南农业大学学报(社会科学版), 20(2), 1-13.
[12] 俞国良. (2022). 心理健康的新诠释: 幸福感视角. 北京师范大学学报(社会科学版), 1, 72-81.
[13] 张羽, 李玮玮, 罗玉晗, 华销嫣, 王耘. (2017). 家庭社会经济地位与父母教养方式对儿童青少年公正世界信念的影响. 心理发展与教育, 33(5), 513-523.
[14] 周悦, 王利刚, 陶婷, 张静怡, 崔雪英, 高文斌. (2019). 农民社会支持和希望与主观幸福感的关系. 中国心理卫生杂志, 33(4), 307-311.
[15] Bareis, N., & Mezuk, B. (2016). The relationship between childhood poverty, military service, and later life depression among men: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study. Journal of Affective Disorders, 206, 1-7.
[16] Bradley, R. H., & Corwyn, R. F. (2002). Socioeconomic status and child development. Annual Review of Psychology, 53, 371-399.
[17] Cheng T. A., Wu J. T., Chong M. Y., & Williams P. (1990). Internal consistency and factor structure of the Chinese Health Questionnaire. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 82(4), 304-308.
[18] Clark A. E.,D'Ambrosio, C., & Ghislandi, S. (2015). Poverty profiles and well-being: Panel evidence from Germany. In T. I. Garner & K. S. Short (Eds.), Measurement of poverty, deprivation, and economic mobility (pp. 1-22). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
[19] Conger, R. D., & Donnellan, M. B. (2007). An interactionist perspective on the socioeconomic context of human development. Annual Review of Psychology, 58(1), 175-199.
[20] Diener, E., & Ryan, K. (2009). Subjective well-being: A general overview. South African Journal of Psychology, 39(4), 391-406.
[21] Dixson D. D., Keltner D., Worrell F. C., & Mello Z. (2018). The magic of hope: Hope mediates the relationship between socioeconomic status and academic achievement. The Journal of Educational Research, 111(4), 507-515.
[22] Easterlin R. A.(1974). Does economic growth improve the human lot? Some empirical evidence. In P. A. David & M. W. Reder (Eds.), Nations and households in economic growth (pp. 89-125). Academic Press.
[23] Evans, G. W. (2016). Childhood poverty and adult psychological well-being. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(52), 14949-14952.
[24] Evans, G. W., & Cassells, R. C. (2014). Childhood poverty, cumulative risk exposure, and mental health in emerging adults. Clinical Psychological Science, 2(3), 287-296.
[25] Figueredo A. J., Vásquez G., Brumbach B. H., & Schneider, S. M. R. (2007). The K-factor, covitality, and personality: A psychometric test of life history theory. Human Nature, 18(1), 47-73.
[26] Gallo L. C., Bogart L. M., Vranceanu A. M., & Matthews K. A. (2005). Socioeconomic status, resources, psychological experiences, and emotional responses: A test of the reserve capacity model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88(2), 386-399.
[27] George, L. K. (2014). Taking time seriously: A call to action in mental health research. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 55(3), 251-264.
[28] Glatzer, W., & Gulyas, J. (2014). Cantril self-anchoring striving scale. In A. C. Michalos (Ed.), Encyclopedia of quality of life and well-being research (pp. 509-511). Springer.
[29] Glewwe P., Ross P. H., & Wydick B. (2018). Developing hope among impoverished children: Using child self-portraits to measure poverty program impacts. Journal of Human Resources, 53(2), 330-355.
[30] Hengartner, M. P. (2017). The evolutionary life history model of externalizing personality: Bridging human and animal personality science to connect ultimate and proximate mechanisms underlying aggressive dominance, hostility, and impulsive sensation seeking. Review of General Psychology, 21(4), 330-353.
[31] Hoffman, L. W. (2003). Methodological issues in the studies of SES, parenting, and child development. In M. H. Bornstein & R. H. Bradley (Eds.), Socioeconomic status, parenting, and child development (pp. 125-143). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.
[32] Huang Y. Q., Wang Y., Wang H., Liu Z. R., Yu X., Yan J., & Wu Y. (2019). Prevalence of mental disorders in China: A cross-sectional epidemiological study. The Lancet Psychiatry, 6(3), 211-224.
[33] Kan C., Kawakami N., & Umeda M. (2015). Mediating role of psychological resources on the association between childhood socioeconomic status and current health in the community adult population of Japan. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 22(6), 764-774.
[34] Ling Y., Huebner E. S., Liu J., Liu W. L., Zhang J., & Xiao J. (2015). The origins of hope in adolescence: A test of a social-cognitive model. Personality and Individual Differences, 87, 307-311.
[35] Lund C., Breen A., Flisher A. J., Kakuma R., Corrigall J., Joska J. A., & Patel V. (2010). Poverty and common mental disorders in low and middle income countries: A systematic review. Social Science and Medicine, 71(3), 517-528.
[36] Matthews K. A., Gallo L. C., & Taylor S. E. (2010). Are psychosocial factors mediators of socioeconomic status and health connections? A progress report and blueprint for the future. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1186(1), 146-173.
[37] Oshio T., Sano S., & Kobayashi M. (2010). Child poverty as a determinant of life outcomes: Evidence from nationwide surveys in Japan. Social Indicators Research, 99(1), 81-99.
[38] Pleeging E., Burger M., & van Exel J. (2021). The relations between hope and subjective well-being: A literature overview and empirical analysis. Applied Research in Quality of Life, 16(3), 1019-1041.
[39] Ridley M., Rao G., Schilbach F., & Patel V. (2020). Poverty, depression, and anxiety: Causal evidence and mechanisms. Science, 370(6522), Article eaay0214.
[40] Shorey H. S., Snyder C. R., Yang X. D., & Lewin M. R. (2003). The role of hope as a mediator in recollected parenting, adult attachment, and mental health. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 22(6), 685-715.
[41] Simpson J. A., Griskevicius V., Kuo S. I. C., Sung S., & Collins W. A. (2012). Evolution, stress, and sensitive periods: The influence of unpredictability in early versus late childhood on sex and risky behavior. Developmental Psychology, 48(3), 674-686.
[42] Snyder, C. R. (2002). Hope theory: Rainbows in the mind. Psychological Inquiry, 13(4), 249-275.
[43] Snyder C. R., Hoza B., Pelham W. E., Rapoff M., Ware L., Danovsky M., & Stahl K. J. (1997). The development and validation of the Children's Hope Scale. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 22(3), 399-421.
[44] Surachman A., Wardecker B., Chow S. M., & Almeida D. (2019). Life course socioeconomic status, daily stressors, and daily well-being: Examining chain of risk models. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 74(1), 126-135.
[45] Taylor S. E.,& Broffman, J. I. (2011). Psychosocial resources: Functions, origins, and links to mental and physical health In J M Olson & M P Zanna (Eds), Advances in experimental social psychology (pp 1-57) Academic Press Functions, origins, and links to mental and physical health. In J. M. Olson & M. P. Zanna (Eds.), Advances in experimental social psychology (pp. 1-57). Academic Press.
[46] Zhang Q. P., Xu H. N., & Fu Y. (2021). How to get happiness within work-family conflict? An integrative model of subjective well-being among young faculty members in universities of mainland China. Illness, Crisis, and Loss, 29(2), 112-130.