Effect of Poverty on Mental Health of Children in Rural China: The Mediating Role of Social Capital

Chunkai Li (), Qiaobing Wu and Zurong Liang
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Chunkai Li: Nanjing University
Qiaobing Wu: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Zurong Liang: Nanjing University

Applied Research in Quality of Life, 2019, vol. 14, issue 1, No 7, 153 pages

Abstract: Abstract Underprivileged children are a relatively special vulnerable group in rural China, but the relationship between poverty and children’s mental health has been rarely examined. This study aimed to investigate the effect of poverty on children’s mental health and the mediating role of social capital in their family, peer, school, and community level. Data used in this study were collected in 2015 from a school-based survey of 1314 children in grades 4–9 through a multi-stage cluster random sampling method in Xiushui, a poverty-stricken city in Mainland China. The result of structural equation modeling indicated that poverty elicited a significant predictive effect on children’s negative and positive mental health. Family social capital and peer social capital played intermediary effects between poverty and children’s mental health. However, the mediating effects of school and community social capital are not significant. The implications of these findings on theory, social policy, and social work services were also discussed.

Keywords: Children; Poverty; Mental health; Social capital (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

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DOI: 10.1007/s11482-017-9584-x

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