| Summary: | Objective To explore the relationship between health literacy and depressive symptoms in junior high school students in Chongqing, and to provide suggestions for improving adolescent mental health. Methods A total of 1 703 students were subjected by stratified cluster sampling from 4 junior high schools (2 in urban and 2 in rural areas) in a main district of Chongqing. Chi-square test and logistic regression analysis were used to study the data. Results Among 1 703 participants, the incidence of depressive symptoms was 26.8%. The overall health literacy, functional health literacy, interactive health literacy and critical health literacy were 41.8%, 44.8%, 38.4% and 60.1%, respectively. Univariate analysis showed that the overall health literacy rate of individuals without depressive symptoms was significantly higher than that of individuals with depressive symptoms (46.9% vs 27.9%, Chi-square=49.867, P < 0.001). The health literacy rates of the individuals without depressive symptoms in the 3 dimensions were also significantly higher than those of the individuals with depressive symptoms (P < 0.001). After the adjustment for gender, age, grade, school type and whether they were only children in family, logistic regression analysis indicated that scientific health concept, reasonable nutrition, problem-solving ability and health decision-making ability were protective factors for depressive symptoms (P < 0.05). Conclusion The incidence of depressive symptoms in the students with health literacy is quite low. The factors of scientific health concept, reasonable diet, problem-solving ability and health decision-making ability of health literacy are negatively correlated with the incidence of depression symptoms.
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