A cross-temporal meta-analysis of changes in medical college students’ mental health: 1993-2016

Abstract

To investigate the changes of mental health status of medical college students in China, data from 181 papers were analyzed using the cross-temporal meta-analysis. The reporting data were collected from 1993 to 2016 ( N = 129613), applying the Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL-90). Results showed that: 1) With only one exception (the phobic anxiety dimension), scores of all other 8 symptom dimensions of SCL-90 were negatively correlated with year, which indicated that the mental health level of medical college students in China has been improved over the past 24 years; 2) Scores of these 8 symptom dimensions were negatively correlated with the level of two social indicators (total expenditure for health and number of registered physicians), which suggested that these two social indicators may be key predicting factors for the increase of mental health status of Chinese medical college students; 3) The increasing trend was slightly more salient with male students than with their female counterparts, however, the gender difference was not significant; 4) The increasing trend of mental health status was more salient and comprehensive with freshmen than with non-freshmen of medical college students in China.