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Ample evidence has recognized the importance of teacher support for children’s mental health. However, less is known about the factors that may play a role in the association between teacher support and children’s mental health. In the present study, we examined the mediating role of self-concept and the moderating role of area (i.e., rural vs. urban area) in the relationship between teacher support and children’s mental health (i.e., depression and anxiety). We used a sample of Chinese elementary students who enrolled in grades 3 to 6 (N = 525, aged 8–13, 44.54% girls). Results showed that children who perceived more teacher support tended to report better mental health. Moreover, the relationship between perceived teacher support and mental health was mediated by each domain of self-concept. Lastly, the association between teacher support and mental health was moderated by area, with a stronger effect found for urban children compared with rural children. These findings highlight the importance of considering both individual and contextual factors in the association between teacher support and children’s mental health. Practical strategies are proposed for school teachers, professionals, and policymakers to foster children’s psychological well-being.

Background The effects of psychological factors on suboptimal health status (SHS) have been widely described; however, mechanisms behind the complex relationships among the Big Five personality traits and SHS are unclear. Identifying people with specific traits who are susceptible to SHS will help improve life quality and reduce the chronic disease burden under the framework of predictive, preventive, and personalized medicine (PPPM / 3PM). This study investigated the relationships among personality traits and SHS. It also explored whether perceived stress plays a mediating role in SHS development. Method A nationwide cross-sectional survey based on multistage random sampling was conducted in 148 cities in China between June 20 and August 31, 2022. Personality traits, perceived stress, and SHS were evaluated using the Big Five Inventory-10 (BFI-10), the 4-item Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-4), and the Short-Form Suboptimal Health Status Questionnaire (SHSQ-SF), respectively. Pearson’s correlation analysis was employed to examine the associations between personality traits, perceived stress, and SHS. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to discern the mediating role of perceived stress in the relationships among personality traits and SHS. Result A total of 22,897 participants were enrolled in this study, among whom the prevalence of SHS was 52.9%. SHS was negatively correlated with three trait dimensions (i.e., extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness) but positively correlated with neuroticism. Meanwhile, stress was negatively correlated with extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness, whereas it was positively correlated with neuroticism. The SEM results showed that, when adjusting for covariates (i.e., gender, age, BMI, educational level, current residence, marital status, and occupational status), higher agreeableness ( β  =  − 0.049, P  < 0.001) and conscientiousness ( β  =  − 0.103, P  < 0.001) led to lower SHS prevalence, higher neuroticism ( β  = 0.130, P  < 0.001), and openness ( β  = 0.026, P  < 0.001) caused SHS to be more prevalent. Perceived stress played a partial mediating role in the relationships among personality traits and SHS, respectively, contributing 41.3%, 35.9%, and 32.5% to the total effects of agreeableness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism on SHS. Additionally, the mediating impact of stress was significant even though extraversion had no direct effect on SHS. Conclusion This study revealed a high prevalence of SHS in Chinese residents. Personality traits significantly influenced SHS rates, which perceived stress tended to mediate. From a PPPM perspective, early screening and targeted intervention for people with neuroticism (as well as stress alleviation) might contribute to health enhancement and chronic disease prevention.

Background: Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a prevalent genetic disorder in India and the rural and urban areas experience distinctly different healthcare facilities. In view of this, a comparative study of SCD-SS pattern children of age 8-15 years from rural and urban areas of Wardha district of Central India was carried out using anthropometric and hematological parameters. Materials and Methods: The data were collected using standard methods and the results showed a significant (P < 0.05) difference in the mean values for body weight, body mass index (BMI), hemoglobin, hematocrit, and white blood corpuscles (WBC). Statistical analysis of the data was done using SPSS 18.0 software. Individuals were screened by solubility test method. Sickle cell patterns (AS and SS) were determined by using electrophoresis technique. Result : The SCD-SS children from rural were significantly underweight than those from the urban area of Wardha district. BMI is a good indicator of nutritional status and BMI values of SCD children have less than desired. Conclusion : The study highlights an urgent need to conduct integrated investigations for SCD population of rural areas covering clinical, nutritional, and social aspects.

BackgroundThe levels of frailty are anticipated to increase as a result of population aging. A valid instrument is required to detect individuals at high risk of frailty. The present research aimed to assess feasibility, reliability, and construct validity of the Arabic version of Groningen Frailty Indicator (GFI) in urban and rural populations in South Lebanon.MethodsDuring 2015, a cross-sectional study, which enrolled 390 community-dwelling individuals aged 65 years and above, was conducted in urban and rural areas in Nabatieh in South Lebanon. The survey included questions on sociodemographic and health-related characteristics, GFI, and Vulnerable Elders Survey-13 (VES-13). The translation and cultural adaptation of the GFI followed a standardized protocol. After that, the psychometric properties of the scale (i.e., feasibility, reliability, and validity) were evaluated.ResultsA total of 390 elderly filled out the questionnaire, of whom 51% were women and 70% lived in rural areas. 81.3% of elderly were identified as frail. The internal consistency of the GFI scale was high for all subscales (Cronbach’s alpha > 0.70), except the social scale (0.56). The GFI yielded statistically significant scores for subgroup analysis (known-groups validity) as higher levels of frailty were seen in older people, women, those with morbidities, and those reported poor financial status. The construct validity of the scale was supported by the significant correlation with the VES-13 (r = 0.73; p = 0.001), quality of life (r = − 0.22; p = 0.001), and self-reported health status (r = − 0.66; p = 0.001).ConclusionThis study supports the feasibility, reliability, and validity of the GFI Arabic version as a screening tool for frailty among community-dwelling elderly in South Lebanon.

Ozone is one of the most significant secondary pollutants with numerous negative effects on human health and environment including plants and vegetation. Therefore, more effort is made recently by governments and associations to predict ozone concentrations which could help in establishing better plans and regulation for environment protection. In this study, we use two Artificial Neural Network based approaches (MPL and RBF) to develop, for the first time, accurate ozone prediction models, one for urban and another one for rural area in the eastern part of Croatia. The evaluation of actual against the predicted ozone concentrations revealed that MLP and RBF models are very competitive for the training and testing data in the case of Kopački Rit area whereas in the case of Osijek city, MLP shows better evaluation results with 9% improvement in the correlation coefficient. Furthermore, subsequent feature selection process has improved the prediction power of RBF network.

BACKGROUND: Differences between urban and rural settings can be seen as a very important example of gaps between groups in a population. The aim of this paper is to compare an urban and a rural area regarding child growth during the first two years of life as related to mother's use of antenatal care (ANC), breastfeeding and reported symptoms of illness. METHODS: The studies were conducted in two Health and Demographic Surveillance Sites, one rural and one urban in Hanoi, Vietnam. RESULTS: We found that children in the urban area grow faster than those in the rural area. There were statistical associations between growth and the education of the mother as well as household resources. There were positive correlations between the number of ANC visits and child growth. We also saw a positive association between growth and early initiation (first hour of life) of breastfeeding but the reported duration of exclusive breastfeeding was not statistically significantly related to growth. Reporting symptoms of illness was negatively correlated to growth, i.e. morbidity is hampering growth. CONCLUSIONS: All predictors of growth discussed in this article, ANC, breastfeeding and illness, are associated with social and economic conditions. To improve and maintain good conditions for child growth it is important to strengthen education of mothers and household resources particularly in the rural areas. Globalization and urbanization means obvious risks for increasing gaps not least between urban and rural areas. Improvement of the quality of programs for antenatal care, breastfeeding and integrated management of childhood illness are also needed in Vietnam.

This study aimed to analyze the leisure activities of people, to analyze the place and role offamilies' cooking activity in the urban and rural areas of Romania according to the specificity of families in the urban and rural area of Romania. The research, based on the goal setting theory, was conducted on a sample of 1,067 respondents aged at least 14. The sample was stratified on all sizes characteristic to the area of residence. An important factor which shapes the respondents' options is the residence area that generates some specific patterns.

Understanding the regional pattern of population aging in China enables rational policy making to address the challenges of inequity in social welfare and care resources among the east-central-west regions and rural-urban areas of China. This study uses census data in 2000 and 2010, and aging population ratios, annual increase rates, and spatial autocorrelation analysis to examine spatial disparities in population aging in China. The results show that the population is more aged and aging more rapidly in rural areas than in urban areas. Spatial clusters of population aging expanded from the east coastal region in 2000, to inland provinces such as Sichuan and Chongqing in 2010. The vulnerable regions in terms of population aging, health status of the elderly population, and economic level at the prefectural level were also identified.

The classification of rural and urban areas presents an important topic both in scientific research and in the practice of spatial planning, regional policy making, and territorial governance. Taking into account the multidimensionality of these areas, this paper aims to provide a classification framework design for rural areas in Serbia. After selecting the relevant indicators, which were included to reflect the main demographic, economic, and physio-geographical characteristics of the Serbian rural areas, multivariate analysis (principal component method and factor analysis) was used to determine the main factors in the delimitation and classification of rural and urban areas. The last step of the conducted methodology used cluster analysis (CA) that identified six types of areas with similar characteristics. The results of this study and applied methodology can improve the existing rural–urban classifications and help planners and policy makers in the adaptation of strategic development documents.