Association Between Mental Health Teacher Allocation and Adolescent Mental Health Outcomes in China (2020–2023)

Yiqing Miao

doi:10.54254/2753-8818/2025.AU28353

Theoretical and Natural ScienceOpen access

Association Between Mental Health Teacher Allocation and Adolescent Mental Health Outcomes in China (2020–2023)

Research Article

Open Access

Association Between Mental Health Teacher Allocation and Adolescent Mental Health Outcomes in China (2020–2023)

Yiqing Miao ^1*

¹ University of Southern California

^*Corresponding author: yiqingmi@usc.edu

Published on 23 October 2025

TNS Vol.144

ISSN (Print): 2753-8826

ISSN (Online): 2753-8818

ISBN (Print): 978-1-80590-441-0

ISBN (Online): 978-1-80590-442-7

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Abstract

With millions of young people affected by depression and related conditions, adolescent mental health has become a growing concern in China. In response, national policies have emphasized strengthening school-based mental health education and expanding the allocation of dedicated teachers. This study uses macro-level data from the China Statistical Yearbook and the annual reports of the Ministry of Education (2020–2023) to analyze trends in mental health teacher allocation and its potential association with student well-being. Descriptive statistics and linear regression show a steady increase in teacher allocation, with an estimated annual rise of approximately 10 percentage points, though statistical significance was limited by small sample size. Exploratory regression using available outcome data from 2020 and 2022 suggests a positive relationship between teacher allocation and the proportion of students reporting good mental health. To further illustrate methodological approaches, a logistic regression model incorporating education expenditure, GDP, student–teacher ratio, and urbanization rate was applied to simulated data, yielding moderate discriminatory capacity (AUC = 0.798). While these findings are preliminary due to restricted data availability and reliance on macro-level statistics, they provide initial evidence that the expansion of mental health teacher resources may support improvements in adolescent mental health outcomes. Future research should incorporate larger, multi-year, and individual-level datasets to more rigorously evaluate the policy’s impact.

Keywords:

Adolescent mental health, Mental health, Teacher allocation, Regression analysis

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References

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Cite this article

Miao,Y. (2025). Association Between Mental Health Teacher Allocation and Adolescent Mental Health Outcomes in China (2020–2023). Theoretical and Natural Science,144,56-61.

Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study will be available from the authors upon reasonable request.

About volume

Volume title: Proceedings of ICBioMed 2025 Symposium: AI for Healthcare: Advanced Medical Data Analytics and Smart Rehabilitation

ISBN: 978-1-80590-441-0(Print) / 978-1-80590-442-7(Online)

Editor: Alan Wang

Conference website: https://2025.icbiomed.org/auckland.html

Conference date: 17 October 2025

Series: Theoretical and Natural Science

Volume number: Vol.144

ISSN: 2753-8818(Print) / 2753-8826(Online)

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