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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Mental Health
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1395996
This article is part of the Research Topic Biosocial Determinants and Solutions of Mental Health Conditions in Low and Middle-Income Countries View all 7 articles

Psychological well-being of rural left-behind women in Northwest China and its associated factors: A regional, population-based study

Provisionally accepted
Fang Niu Fang Niu 1Xiang Wang Xiang Wang 2*
  • 1 Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu Province, China
  • 2 Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, McGill University, Montréal, Quebec, Canada

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Purpose: Growing awareness has highlighted the challenging living condition faced by rural leftbehind women (RLW), yet their psychological well-being has not been fully investigated. This study aims to investigate the psychological well-being of RLW in Northwest China and exploring its associated factors.A total of 697 RLW from five provincial regions were enrolled. Sociodemographic characteristics were collected using a set of researcher-designed questionnaires. Depression, anxiety, and feeling of security were assessed using the Zung's selfrating depression scale (SDS), Zung's self-rating anxiety scale (SAS), and security questionnaire (SQ), respectively.The prevalences of depression and anxiety among RLW were 35.7% and 37.6%, respectively, and feelings of security was relatively low in RLW, with a mean SQ score of 50.16±11.37. Chi-square tests and multiple linear regression analyses indicated that labor intensity, physical health conditions, marital satisfaction and stability, relationships with children, frequency of husband coming home, left-behind duration, domestic violence, and sexual harassment after husbands left were risk factors of psychological well-being of RLW.These findings revealed that the psychological well-being of RLW in Northwest China is not promising, which should therefore, be given special attention. It is essential to prioritize the improvement of the psychological well-being for RLW by providing accessible and targeted supports and interventions tailored to cope with their challenges.

    Keywords: Rural left-behind women, Depression, Anxiety, Feeling of security, Associated factors

    Received: 05 Mar 2024; Accepted: 03 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Niu and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Xiang Wang, Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, McGill University, Montréal, H3A 1A1, Quebec, Canada

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.