Objective: To verify the reciprocity between mental health status and academic achievement and the protection of psychological resilience.
Methods: An approximate sampling method was adopted in October, 2010. Two junior high schools were selected from the severely earthquake-hit area( Mianzhu City, Sichuan Province) andthe slight earthquake-hit area( a suburban county of Chengdu City, Sichuan Province), respectively, and conducted the survey by using a self-report questionnaire( including general demographic characteristics, middle school students ' mental health scale and resilience scale). Then, the follow-up surveys were conducted every half year. The data were analyzed by repeated measurement variance analysis, Pearson product moment correlation analysis and non-recursive structural equation model.
Results: 1015 participants were included in this study who participated 5 surveys, of whom 49. 3% were male and 57. 9% in the slight disaster areas. The average age in the baseline survey was( 12. 72 ± 0. 50) years old, with a range of 11-15 years old. In the non-recursive structural equation model, the better the mental health status was, the higher academic achievement was( β =-0. 037, P < 0. 001), vice versa( β =-0. 199, P < 0. 001). The psychological resilience was protective factor for academic achievement( β = 0. 199, P <0. 001) and mental health( β =-0. 282, P < 0. 001). The 95% CI of the two intermediate effects( " psychological resilience→ mental health→academic achievement" and " psychological resilience→ academic achievement→mental health") were( 0. 008-0. 017) and(-0. 062--0. 025), with 5. 7% and 13. 0% of total effect, respectively.
Conclusion: Mental health status and academic achievement are mutual influence. The effect of academic performance on mental health status is greater than that of mental health status on academic performance. Psychological resilience is an important protective factor of mental health and academic performance.
Keywords: academic achievement; mental health status; non-recursive structural equation model; psychological resilience.