Effect of subjective economic status on psychological distress among farmers and non-farmers of rural China.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to compare the prevalence of psychological distress between farmers and non-farmers of rural China. Further, this examines the effect of subjective economic status on psychological distress and whether this effect varies between farmers and non-farmers.

DESIGN

The study design is a cross-sectional survey.

SETTING

The study was conducted in 27 villages of Dongying City in Shandong Province.

PARTICIPANTS

Rural employed people included 1433 farmers and 584 non-farmers.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Psychological distress was assessed by the Kessler 10 questionnaire, and subjective economic status was assessed by a single question.

RESULTS

Overall, the farmers did not report significantly higher prevalence of psychological distress than non-farmers (31.13% versus 30.01%). However, the farmers aged 51-70 years did report significantly higher psychological distress than their non-farmer counterparts (33.4% versus 24.2%, P = 0.04). Second, subjective economic status had a significant (β = -0.28, P < 0.001) effect on psychological distress. Finally, subjective economic status exerted a stronger effect on psychological distress among farmers (β = 0.30, P < 0.001) than among non-farmers (β = 0.20, P < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

The farmers had a comparable prevalence of psychological distress when compared with non-farmers in rural China. Subjective economic status exerted a significant effect on the psychological distress of rural employed people, and this effect was stronger for the farmers than for the non-farmers.