Mental health in China: exploring the impacts of built environment, work environment, and subjective perception

Front Psychol. 2024 Feb 22:15:1352609. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1352609. eCollection 2024.

Abstract

Introduction: The shifting living and working conditions have profound impacts on the residents' mental health. However, current research in this field has not remarkable investigated.

Methods: This study used the China Labor-force Dynamic Survey (CLDS) dataset from 2018 and relied on a regression model to examine the effects of the built environment, work environment, and subjective perception on the mental health of Chinese citizens. It also considers the circumstances of both migrants and local residents.

Results: This study revealed significant correlations between mental health and greening space rate, road network density, commuting time, work feelings, community trust, economic satisfaction, and other factors. Additionally, the mental health of local residents was shown to be significantly affected by community security, while it shows no significance in migrants. Furthermore, a significant spatial autocorrelation was found in terms of mental health within the central and eastern regions of China.

Discussion: The findings of this study offer valuable insights that can be used to facilitate measures aimed at improving the mental health of residents and promoting the development of healthy cities.

Keywords: built environment; mental health; migrants; subjective perception; work environment.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant no. 42001147), Guangdong Province Natural Science Fund (Grant no. 2022A1515011728), Special Funds for the Cultivation of Guangdong College Students’ Scientific and Technological Innovation (‘Climbing Program’ Special Funds, Grant no. pdjh2022a0153).