Research on children's depression and the influence of left-behind status in rural area

Objective To investigate the status of depressive symptom and its influential factors among left-behind children in rural area of Anhui province,so as to provide the basic information for the development of depression intervention program.Methods A total of 3 169 students were recruited as the subjects from rural area of a county in Anhui province with random cluster sampling method.Of them,2 917 questionnaires were valid.Data were collected with questionnaires including the Children's Depression Inventory(CDI)and the Family APGAR Index.Results The prevalence of depressive was 10.4% and that among left-behind children was 12.1%,which was significantly higher than that among other children.The scores of APGAR and CDI were significantly negatively correlated.Left-behind status,lower grade,boarding,lower educational level of the father,less family income and poorer academic performance of children were more likely to be depressive symptoms.Family function was a protective factor.Conclusion Establishing a good family environment and improving the left-behind status would be expected to reduce the incidence of depressive symptoms in children.