The changes, formation and public policy measures of mental health in Chinese youth

Confidence is an important indicator of individuals’ mental health. Taking confidence as an indicator, this paper uses CGSS2010-2021 data to analyze the latest situation, changing trend and formation mechanism of mental health in Chinese youth. The results show that firstly, Chinese young people hav...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Yuanchao Wang, Guifeng Tan, Tao Zhu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2025-04-01
Series:Frontiers in Psychology
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1583594/full
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850182508228902912
author Yuanchao Wang
Guifeng Tan
Tao Zhu
author_facet Yuanchao Wang
Guifeng Tan
Tao Zhu
author_sort Yuanchao Wang
collection DOAJ
description Confidence is an important indicator of individuals’ mental health. Taking confidence as an indicator, this paper uses CGSS2010-2021 data to analyze the latest situation, changing trend and formation mechanism of mental health in Chinese youth. The results show that firstly, Chinese young people have strong confidence in their future development in the new era, and their status expectations lean toward the upper and middle classes are dominant. Secondly, under the background of continuous economic growth and continuous improvement of objective status, youth confidence in development has not been significantly improved, but slightly decreased, resulting in a “paradox of confidence in development.” Thirdly, the composition effect (the changes in formation mechanism of status expectations) caused the above paradox. The positive influence of objective social status significantly reduced, and the positive influence of income gap disappears or turns negative. Youth confidence in development no longer depends on “who I am,” but more on the “macro environment.” Such changes offset the gains brought by economic growth and objective status improvement, leading to a fall rather than a rise in youth confidence in development.
format Article
id doaj-art-340fb1f0874a4bf283442edf02da3cdf
institution OA Journals
issn 1664-1078
language English
publishDate 2025-04-01
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format Article
series Frontiers in Psychology
spelling doaj-art-340fb1f0874a4bf283442edf02da3cdf2025-08-20T02:17:37ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782025-04-011610.3389/fpsyg.2025.15835941583594The changes, formation and public policy measures of mental health in Chinese youthYuanchao Wang0Guifeng Tan1Tao Zhu2School of Philosophy and Social Development, Shandong University, Jinan, ChinaSchool of Philosophy and Social Development, Shandong University, Jinan, ChinaNational Academy of Chinese Modernization, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, ChinaConfidence is an important indicator of individuals’ mental health. Taking confidence as an indicator, this paper uses CGSS2010-2021 data to analyze the latest situation, changing trend and formation mechanism of mental health in Chinese youth. The results show that firstly, Chinese young people have strong confidence in their future development in the new era, and their status expectations lean toward the upper and middle classes are dominant. Secondly, under the background of continuous economic growth and continuous improvement of objective status, youth confidence in development has not been significantly improved, but slightly decreased, resulting in a “paradox of confidence in development.” Thirdly, the composition effect (the changes in formation mechanism of status expectations) caused the above paradox. The positive influence of objective social status significantly reduced, and the positive influence of income gap disappears or turns negative. Youth confidence in development no longer depends on “who I am,” but more on the “macro environment.” Such changes offset the gains brought by economic growth and objective status improvement, leading to a fall rather than a rise in youth confidence in development.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1583594/fullyouthmental healthconfidence in developmentchangeformation mechanism
spellingShingle Yuanchao Wang
Guifeng Tan
Tao Zhu
The changes, formation and public policy measures of mental health in Chinese youth
Frontiers in Psychology
youth
mental health
confidence in development
change
formation mechanism
title The changes, formation and public policy measures of mental health in Chinese youth
title_full The changes, formation and public policy measures of mental health in Chinese youth
title_fullStr The changes, formation and public policy measures of mental health in Chinese youth
title_full_unstemmed The changes, formation and public policy measures of mental health in Chinese youth
title_short The changes, formation and public policy measures of mental health in Chinese youth
title_sort changes formation and public policy measures of mental health in chinese youth
topic youth
mental health
confidence in development
change
formation mechanism
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1583594/full
work_keys_str_mv AT yuanchaowang thechangesformationandpublicpolicymeasuresofmentalhealthinchineseyouth
AT guifengtan thechangesformationandpublicpolicymeasuresofmentalhealthinchineseyouth
AT taozhu thechangesformationandpublicpolicymeasuresofmentalhealthinchineseyouth
AT yuanchaowang changesformationandpublicpolicymeasuresofmentalhealthinchineseyouth
AT guifengtan changesformationandpublicpolicymeasuresofmentalhealthinchineseyouth
AT taozhu changesformationandpublicpolicymeasuresofmentalhealthinchineseyouth