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Research Article: Changes in vocational college students’ mental health over two academic years: associations with family factors and co-curricular activities

Date Published: 2026-09-16

Abstract:
Vocational college students face elevated risks of psychological distress due to academic, interpersonal and family stressors. However, longitudinal evidence tracking their two-year mental health shifts and relevant ecological correlates remains scarce. This study analyzed two-year mental health changes among vocational college students and examined correlations between family background variables and co-curricular activities (locally named “second classroom”). A two-year longitudinal survey was conducted with 1,277 students recruited from one vocational college in Anhui, China. Mental distress was measured via the Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90). Analyses included independent-samples t-tests, paired-samples t-tests, Pearson correlation, and multiple linear regression adjusted for baseline mental health scores. Students exhibited statistically significant reductions in SCL-90 total scores at the two-year follow-up ( p <?0.001), indicating improved psychological status. Family financial hardship and childhood left-behind experience correlated with higher levels of psychological distress. Co-curricular credit accumulation showed a weak negative correlation with post-test SCL-90 scores ( r =??0.140, p <?0.001). Vocational students presented overall mental health improvements across two academic years. Family disadvantage correlates with higher psychological distress, while co-curricular participation only shows a mild negative correlation with follow-up mental symptoms with low explanatory power; co-curricular participation exhibits a potential supportive association with students’ mental wellbeing, yet it is merely one of numerous relevant factors shaping students’ psychological status. Optimizing structured co-curricular schemes can serve as one auxiliary mental health measure rather than a dominant intervention path.

Introduction:
Vocational college students face elevated risks of psychological distress due to academic, interpersonal and family stressors. However, longitudinal evidence tracking their two-year mental health shifts and relevant ecological correlates remains scarce. This study analyzed two-year mental health changes among vocational college students and examined correlations between family background variables and co-curricular activities (locally named “second classroom”).

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