Okafor Chukwuemeka N, Jean-Berluche Ducel, Paltzer Jason, Kwon Elizabeth, Grigoropoulou Nikolitsa, VanderWeele Tyler J, Johnson Byron R
Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Long School of Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA.
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA.
Commun Med (Lond). 2025 Jul 31;5(1):320. doi: 10.1038/s43856-025-01038-8.
Mental health is a critical aspect of overall well-being, encompassing not only the absence of mental disorders but also positive attributes such as stress management, and healthy relationships. Prior studies suggest that self-rated mental health varies across different cultures and sociodemographic characteristics. However, most studies on demographic variations in self-rated mental health have been conducted within specific countries or regions, leaving a gap in our understanding of how these factors influence mental health across different cultural contexts.
To address this gap, we leveraged a dataset of over 200,000 individuals from 22 countries to examine the distribution of self-rated mental health among key demographic variables such as age, gender, marital status, employment, education, and religious service attendance.
Our findings reveal substantial country variations in self-rated mental health, measured as the mean score on a single-item Likert scale ranging from 0 (Poor) to 10 (Excellent). Participants in Tanzania, Kenya and Nigeria report the highest self-rated mental health scores, while those in Japan, Türkiye, and the United Kingdom report the lowest scores. Some demographic patterns - such as lower self-rated mental health among younger age groups and females, and higher self-rated mental health among those reporting regular religious service attendance - remain consistent across most countries. However, other patterns, such as the distribution of self-rated mental health by marital status, vary by country.
These descriptive findings highlight the need for context-specific mental health strategies and call for future research to identify social and structural factors of self-rated mental health.
心理健康是整体幸福感的一个关键方面，不仅包括没有精神障碍，还包括压力管理和健康人际关系等积极属性。先前的研究表明，自评心理健康在不同文化和社会人口特征中存在差异。然而，大多数关于自评心理健康的人口统计学差异的研究是在特定国家或地区内进行的，这使得我们在理解这些因素如何在不同文化背景下影响心理健康方面存在差距。
为了填补这一差距，我们利用了来自22个国家的20多万人的数据集，来研究自评心理健康在年龄、性别、婚姻状况、就业、教育和宗教服务参与等关键人口变量中的分布情况。
我们的研究结果显示，自评心理健康在不同国家之间存在显著差异，自评心理健康以单项李克特量表的平均得分来衡量，范围从0（差）到10（优）。坦桑尼亚、肯尼亚和尼日利亚的参与者报告的自评心理健康得分最高，而日本、土耳其和英国的参与者报告的得分最低。一些人口统计学模式——比如较年轻年龄组和女性的自评心理健康得分较低，以及报告经常参加宗教服务的人自评心理健康得分较高——在大多数国家中保持一致。然而，其他模式，比如按婚姻状况划分的自评心理健康分布，因国家而异。
这些描述性结果凸显了针对具体情况制定心理健康策略的必要性，并呼吁未来开展研究，以确定自评心理健康的社会和结构因素。
