Objectives. We examined the effect of age at separation from parents on symptoms of anxiety and depression among children in rural communities in China whose parents migrated to cities in search of employment opportunities during the country's rapid economic development. Methods. Students in 3 rural areas, Anhui, Chongqing, and Guizhou (N = 592; age = 10–17 years), completed questionnaires that asked about symptoms of state and trait anxiety, as well as depression and age at separation from parents. Results. Children who were separated from parents at a younger age had more symptoms of anxiety and depression. This effect was especially pronounced for children who were separated from their mothers or from both parents. Conclusions. China's explosive economic growth appears to exact a significant toll on left-behind children's mental health, particularly on children whose parents left early in their lives. The unintended consequences of the economic boom on child development need to be further examined in prospective studies.

Background: Since December 2019, China has been affected by a severe outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Frontline medical workers experienced difficulty due to the high risk of being infected and long and distressing work shifts. The current study aims to evaluate psychological symptoms in frontline medical workers during the COVID-19 epidemic in China and to perform a comparison with the general population. Methods: An online survey was conducted from 14 February 2020 to 29 March 2020. A total of 899 frontline medical workers and 1104 respondents in the general population participated. Depression, anxiety, insomnia, and resilience were assessed via the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7), Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), and abbreviated Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC-10), respectively. Results: Overall, 30.43%, 20.29%, and 14.49% of frontline medical workers in Hubei Province and 23.13%, 13.14%, and 10.64% of frontline medical workers in other regions reported symptoms of depression, anxiety, and insomnia, respectively. In addition, 23.33%, 16.67%, and 6.67% of the general population in Hubei Province and 18.25%, 9.22%, and 7.17% of the general population in other regions reported symptoms of depression, anxiety, and insomnia, respectively. The resilience of frontline medical staff outside Hubei Province was higher than that of the general population outside Hubei Province. Conclusion: A large proportion of frontline medical workers and the general public experienced psychological symptoms during the COVID-19 outbreak. Psychological services for frontline medical workers and the general public are needed.

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has affected more than 5 million people around the world and killed more than 300,000 people; thus, it has become a global public health emergency. Our objective was to investigate the mental health of hospitalized patients diagnosed with COVID-19. Methods: The PTSD checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5), Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7), Trauma Exposure Scale, abbreviated version of the Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC-10), Perceived Social Support Scale (PSSS) and Demographic Questionnaire were used to examine posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, trauma exposure, resilience and perceived social support among 898 patients who were hospitalized after being diagnosed with COVID-19 in China. The data were analyzed with t tests, one-way ANOVA and multivariable logistic regression analysis. Results: The results showed that the prevalence of PTSD, depression and anxiety was 13.2, 21.0 and 16.4%, respectively. Hospitalized patients who were more impacted by negative news reports, had greater exposure to traumatic experiences, and had lower levels of perceived social support reported higher PTSD, depression and anxiety. Conclusions: Effective professional mental health services should be designed to support the psychological wellbeing of hospitalized patients, especially those who have severe disease, are strongly affected by negative news and have high levels of exposure to trauma.