Survey on mental health status and suicidal ideation among rural children left-behind

Objective To investigate mental health status and the suicide intention and attempt among rural children with their parents working outside hometown.Methods Eight hundred and fifty-two rural children aged 14-16 years were selected from three technical colleges in Liuan city,Anhui province.The Self-rating Depression Scale,Self-rating Anxiety Scale,Trait Style Questionnare and self-designed suicidal behavior questionnare refered to that used in Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance of USA were adopted.Results Among 840 children with qualified information,there were 146 children reporting their parents working outside the hometown and 149 reporting their father,39 reporting their mother working outside the home town.No significant difference in rates of depression and anxiety between the children with and without parents working outside.There were significant differences in socres of positive coping between children with parents working outside and children without parents working outside(30.5274?5.8865 vs 28.9150?5.85761,P<0.01).There were 311 children (37.0%)with self-reported suicidal ideation,105(12.5%)with suicidal plan and 53(6.3%)with suicidal attempt,respectively.Compared with the children without parents working outside,the children with their father and the children with their mother working outside had significant higher prevalence of suicidal ideation(63.8%vs 29.8%,P<0.01;64.1%vs 29.8%,P<0.01).There sults of multiple non-conditional regression indicated that the grade(OR=0.714,95%CI=0.517-0.986),nationality(OR=2.441,95%CI=1.087-5.480)had significant effect on suicidal ideation of the children.Conclusion Parentsps working outside can influence the psychological development of their children aged 14-16 years old.There is no significant diffence in suicidal behavior between children with their parents working outside and children without parents working outside.