Abstract: Objective To examine epidemiological characteristics of the hysteria among primary and middle school students of Suzhou city.Methods A survey was conducted among 23 132 students selected with stratified cluster sampling from 42 primary,junior and senior high schools in the rural and urban of Suzhou municipality with Mental Symptoms Self Diagnosis Scale compiled by Yinada.Results The hysteria tendency scores were 6.29±4.77 and 6.04±4.31 for urban boys and girls and 6.08±4.44 and 5.68±4.03 for rural boys and girls,respectively,with the higher score in the urban students than in the rural students(P<0.05)and the higher score in the boys than in the girls(P<0.05).The scores of the boys with fathers working as administrative personnel or mothers as blue-collar worker were 6.25±4.86 and 6.25±4.34,respectively,which were significantly higher than that of the students with fathers or mothers of other occupation(both P<0.05).The scores of the girls with unemployed fathers or mothers were 6.69±4.70 and 6.16±4.16,respectively,which were significantly higher than the girls with employed parents(both P<0.05).The scores of urban and rural students whose parents were illiteracy or semi-illiteracy were higher than those of the students with literacy parents(both P<0.05).Conclusion The hysteria tendency score is influenced by gender,living area,and parental occupation and education level among primary and middle school students in Suzhou city.