MENTAL-HEALTH IN RURAL AND URBAN CHINESE FAMILIES - THE ROLE OF INTERGENERATIONAL PERSONALITY DISCREPANCY AND FAMILY SOLIDARITY

This study empirically examines the mental health in rural and urban C hinese families. Parents' and adult children's depression levels were postulated to be mediated by increasing intergenerational personality discrepancy (as measured by level of internality and norm-abiding tend ency), decreasing family solidarity (as measured by consensus, affect, and support), urban residence, and decreasing social desirability. We found the parents' depression level to be negatively mediated by perc eived consensus and urban residence. The children's depression level w as negatively mediated by perceived consensus and affect. For children , increasing intergenerational personality discrepancy negatively affe cted consensus, through which it indirectly mediated negative mental h ealth.