Research On Relationship Of Social Support, Loneliness And Mental Health Of Middle School Students Of Tibetan Classes

Tibetan Class is a kind of teaching model, which allows Tibetan students to receive education in economically developed inland cities, initiated by the government, in order to support Tibet's talents development strategy. Since Tibetan Class was started in inland cities in 1985, this special model of inter-city ethnic education has made major contributions to the economic development of Tibetan Region. As a special population, the Tibetan students in inland cities, who are far away from home for study during puberty, are very easy to feel lonely and have various psychological problems, since they cannot go home for years, far away from parents, and have to face such problems as language barrier, ethnic and cultural differences, etc. (Brage, Meredith and Woodward, 1993; Li Chuanyin & Xu Yan,1999). The mental health status of middle school students of Tibetan classes not only has to do with the talents cultivation for the construction of Tibet, but is in relation to the economic and cultural development of Tibet, social stability, as well as long-term stability of the country.Research objects of the present study are Tibetan classes of 4 representative schools in China. Han classes of 3 regular middle schools in Zhengzhou City were chosen as the control group. A total of 2,224 students from grade 1 & 2 of junior high school, and grade 1 & 2 of senior high school were selected by means of cluster random sampling. Social Support Scale, Loneliness of Teenagers Scale, and Mental Health of Chinese Middle School Students Scale were adopted for testing, investigation and analysis of current conditions of Tibetan middle school students' loneliness, social support, and mental health level. Thereby, suggestions on education and teaching management, mental health education and intervention for students of Tibetan classes were put forward. Finally,2,089 effective questionnaires were collected, including 1,317 from middle school students of Tibetan classes. This research reveals that:(1) Utilization of social support is different between the sexes among middle school students of Tibetan classes, with girls' utilization significantly higher than that of boys. With regard to objective support, subjective support, and social support, total points got by students of Tibetan classes from rural areas are remarkably higher than those by students from urban areas. Utilization of objective support, subjective support, and social support of Tibetan middle school students varies between the grades, showing a decline trend with the rise of grade. Moreover, objective support received by middle school students of Tibetan classes and their utilization of objective support are less or lower than those of Han middle school students in Zhengzhou City, but the subjective support they received and their utilization of subjective support are more or higher than those of Han students.(2) Among middle school students of Tibetan classes, pure loneliness and consciousness on the level of dissatisfaction with important relationships are different between the sexes and grades. Girls feel lonelier than boys, and boys feel important relationships more dissatisfied than girls. Loneliness of Tibetan middle school students from different grades varies. Students from grade 1 of junior high school and grade 2 of senior high school are easier to feel lonely. In respect of self-evaluation on social competence, middle school students of Tibetan classes are obviously lower, compared to middle school students of Han classes in Zhengzhou City.(3) On the whole, middle school students of Tibetan classes are in good mental health. Except adaption, their scores on all subscales are significantly higher than those of Han middle school students in Zhengzhou. Regarding interpersonal sensitivity and tension, depression, anxiety, and study stress, girls get remarkably higher scores than boys; while, concerning psychological unbalance, boys obtain obviously higher scores than girls.In terms of crankiness, hostility, interpersonal sensitivity and tension, malajustment, and psychological unbalance, students from urban areas get higher scores than those from rural areas. On part of hostility and psychological unbalance, students from higher grades are healthier than lower grade students, but higher grade students are easier to feel unbalanced psychologically.(4) Among middle school students of Tibetan classes, there is a notable negative correlation between social support and mental health, a marked positive correlation between loneliness and mental health, and a remarkable negative correlation between social support and loneliness. Social support and loneliness play important roles in predicting mental health of middle school students of Tibetan classes.(5) Loneliness acts as a medium between social support and mental health for middle school students of Tibetan classes.