Objective: To identify trajectory and its correlates of mental health among adolescents in Wenchuan earthquake-hit areas.
Methods: The students of grade seven were selected in two junior high schools from slightly and severely earthquake-hit areas respectively. Longitudinal design was used to address 5-time follow-up surveys among the same participants every 6 months since October, 2010. The main contents of thequestionnaire included demographic information, adolescent mental health, self-esteem, social support, peer relationship and so on. The number of cases in this study sample included 970 students who attended five surveys. 415 students were in the severely earthquake-hit area( boys 48. 2%, girls 51. 8%) and 555 students were in the slightly earthquake-hit area( boys 49. 2%, girls 50. 8%). The average age of the subjects was11. 6 ± 0. 5 years at the first survey. Repeated measure analysis of variance and latent variable growth curve model were used to analyze data.
Results: The mental health of adolescents presented a worse trend in the whole stage of junior high school( F = 9. 1, P <0. 05), and the mental health of the adolescents from slightly earthquake-hit area areas was always better than that from the severely earthquake-hit area( F = 135. 9, P < 0. 05). The self-esteem, peer relation of the slightly earthquake-hit areas were significantly higher than corresponding measurements of the heavily earthquake-hit areas( F = 17. 7 and 3. 8, P <0. 05), but the social support had a reverse result( F = 7. 8, P < 0. 05). Directly positive influencing factors for mental health were self-esteem, peer relation. The better peer relationships and higher self-esteem, the better mental health of adolescent were( β =- 0. 119 and- 0. 526, P < 0. 05). Peer relations could not only directly affect the mental health of adolescents, but also improve the level of self-esteem( β = 0. 334, P < 0. 001)by increasing the level of social support( β = 0. 565, P < 0. 001) to indirectly affect act on mental health.
Conclusion: The status and trajectory of mental health of adolescents from the earthquake-hit areas were influenced by the type of disaster areas, peer relation, self-esteem and social support.
Keywords: adolescent; earthquake-hit area; latent variable growth curve model; mental health; peer relation; social support.