Changes in Chinese College Students' Mental Health (1991-2010)

To analyse the trendency of Chinese college students' mental health in the recent 20 years.Using cross-temporalmeta-analysis,514 previous studies which investigated college students' mental health(N = 564,127) with SCL-90 between 1991 and 2010 were included in the data.Results showed:(1) Significant negative correlations were found between seven of nine SCL-90 dimensions and year of data collection(r = 0.45～0.82),suggesting that the mental health of Chinese college students has been increasing over time.(2) Correlations between seven social indices and SCL-90 scores were negative,suggesting that changes on the seven social factors included social connectedness,educational conditions and economic states may be responsible for the increase in college students' mental health.In short,college students' mental health increased with time in the recent 20 years.