ABSTRACT
Objective@#To examine the longitudinal relationship between the prosocial behaviors and depressive symptoms in rural adolescents using a cross-lagged model,and to provide a reference for improving mental health of adolescents.@*Methods@#Participants were junior school 372 students in grade seven recruited from a rural school in Anhui province, who filled the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and a short version of Center for Epidemiological Survey Depression Scale (CESD-10) three times (once a year for 2 years),and the cross lag model is established.@*Results@#Depressive symptoms(r=0.39-0.45) and prosocial behavior(r=0.43-0.46) of rural adolescents are relatively stable in junior middle school(P<0.01)；The depression score of adolescents in grade 9 was higher than that in grade 7 and 8(P<0.05) and girls’ depression score was higher than boys’ (F=7.94,P<0.01).The relationships between prosocial behaviors(T1, T2, T3) and depressive symptoms(T1, T2, T3) were all negatively correlated in rural adolescents(r=-0.23~-0.13, P<0.05). Depressive symptoms in T1 and T2 could negatively predict prosocial behaviors in T2 and T3, respectively (β T1-T2=-0.10, β T2-T3=-0.11, P<0.05), while prosocial behaviors in T2 could negatively predicted depressive symptoms in T3 (β=-0.14, P<0.05).@*Conclusion@#During the three years of junior high school, the depressive symptoms of rural adolescents negatively predicted prosocial behavior, and from the second to the third year of junior high school, prosocial behavior negatively predicted depressive symptoms.Community health workers should pay more attention on depressive symptoms of rural adolescents, which could be prevented and improved through prosocial behavioral intervention, including helping and sharing.