World health & populationDec 31, 2009

Mental health symptoms in people moving from rural to urban areas in China compared to local city and countryside residents

Longevity & Aging Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗

Updated Mar 29, 2026

Abstract

Rural-to-urban migrants in China (n=1006) scored higher than urban residents (n=1000) on all mental health indices measured.

Both rural-to-urban migrants and rural residents scored higher than urban residents on the Symptom Checklist-90 global indices and subscales.
Rural-to-urban migrants reported higher levels of distress, particularly on the Positive Symptom Distress Index and in areas of depression and psychoticism.
Significant differences in mental health symptoms persisted even after adjusting for factors like age, gender, and income.
The findings indicate that the migratory experience may be associated with deteriorating mental health status among this population.

Simplified

OBJECTIVE: To examine the mental health symptoms among rural-to-urban migrants in China, in comparison with representative samples of their counterparts in the rural areas from where they emigrated and urban communities to which they immigrated.

METHODS: A cross-sectional survey conducted in 2004-2005 in China. Both rural-to-urban migrants (n=1006) and urban residents (n=1000) were recruited in Beijing; the rural resident sample (n=1020) was recruited from the eight provinces of origin for 75% of the migrant sample. Mental health symptoms were measured using the Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90).

RESULTS: Both rural-to-urban migrants and rural residents scored higher than urban residents in all the SCL-90 global indices and subscales. The rural-to-urban migrants scored higher than rural residents on the SCL-90 Positive Symptom Distress Index and two subscales (depression and psychoticism). The difference remained significant after controlling for a number of key individual characteristics (age, gender, marital status, education, income and perceived general health) in the multivariate model.

CONCLUSIONS: The data in the current study demonstrate that rural-to-urban migrants suffer from lower mental health status than both urban residents in the immigrating communities and their rural counterparts in the emigrating communities. The data suggest a possible deteriorative effect of migratory experience on mental health status among rural-to-urban migrants in China and suggest an urgent need for etiological studies and for mental health promotion and prevention efforts among this growing population.

Mental health symptoms in people moving from rural to urban areas in China compared to local city and countryside residents

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