Mechanisms linking household income trajectories to adolescent mental well-being: A longitudinal study

IF 1.8 3区社会学 Q2 FAMILY STUDIES

Family Relations Pub Date : 2026-03-11 Epub Date: 2026-02-02 DOI:10.1111/fare.70068

Qian-Wen Xie, Shuang Lu, Xiangyan Luo, Jiaqi Deng

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Objectives

Using four waves of data from the China Family Panel Study, this study examined the impact of household income trajectories on two key dimensions of adolescent mental well-being (i.e., depressive symptoms and happiness) and explored the mediating mechanisms.

Background

Substantial evidence links socioeconomic status (SES) to adolescent mental health, yet few studies have examined how longitudinal SES trajectories shape mental well-being and the mechanisms underlying these relationships.

Method

Using group-based trajectory modeling, we analyzed a nationally representative sample of 3,491 Chinese families with adolescents aged 10 to 19, identifying five distinct income trajectories.

Results

Adolescents from stable lower middle-income and decreasing-income groups demonstrated more depressive symptoms compared with their counterparts in the stable high-income group. These associations were primarily mediated by maternal mental well-being and family material investment pathways. Additionally, adolescents in the stable low-income group exhibited lower happiness levels than the stable high-income group, with maternal mental well-being partly mediating this association.

Conclusion

Both stable lower income and downward income mobility are significant predictors of poorer adolescent mental health outcomes, mediated through distinct pathways such as family stress and family material investment.

Implications

Our results underscore the critical role of SES trajectories in shaping developmental contexts that influence adolescent mental well-being.

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家庭收入轨迹与青少年心理健康的联系机制：一项纵向研究

目的利用中国家庭面板研究的四波数据，研究家庭收入轨迹对青少年心理健康的两个关键维度（即抑郁症状和幸福感）的影响，并探讨其中介机制。背景大量证据表明社会经济地位（SES）与青少年心理健康有关，但很少有研究调查纵向社会经济地位轨迹如何塑造心理健康以及这些关系背后的机制。方法采用基于群体的轨迹模型，分析了3491个中国10 - 19岁青少年家庭的全国代表性样本，确定了五种不同的收入轨迹。结果稳定的中低收入和低收入群体的青少年比稳定的高收入群体的青少年表现出更多的抑郁症状。这些关联主要由母亲心理健康和家庭物质投资途径介导。此外，稳定低收入群体的青少年比稳定高收入群体的青少年表现出更低的幸福水平，母亲的心理健康在一定程度上起到了中介作用。结论稳定的低收入和向下流动的收入都是青少年心理健康状况较差的显著预测因子，并通过家庭压力和家庭物质投资等不同途径介导。我们的研究结果强调了社会经济地位轨迹在塑造影响青少年心理健康的发展环境中的关键作用。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Family Relations Multiple-

CiteScore

3.40

自引率

13.60%

发文量

164

期刊介绍： A premier, applied journal of family studies, Family Relations is mandatory reading for family scholars and all professionals who work with families, including: family practitioners, educators, marriage and family therapists, researchers, and social policy specialists. The journal"s content emphasizes family research with implications for intervention, education, and public policy, always publishing original, innovative and interdisciplinary works with specific recommendations for practice.