Current Psychotic-Like Experiences Among Chinese College Students: Prevalence, Correlates, and Its Relationship with Suicidal Ideation

Figures & data

Table 1 Social-Demographic Characteristics of the Participants (N =18,578)

Characteristics		N	%
Sex	Female	12,647	68.1
	Male	5931	31.9
Age [year, Mean (SD)]	20.07(1.63)
Grade	Freshman	6448	34.7
	Sophomore	4653	25.0
	Junior	3911	21.1
	Senior	3566	19.2
Ethnicity	Han^a	18,257	98.3
	Others	321	1.7
Parental marital status	Married	16,979	91.4
	Not current married^b	1599	8.6
Residence location	Rural	9332	50.2
	Town	4790	25.8
	Urban	4456	24.0
Left-behind experiences^c	Yes	2664	14.3
Single child status	Yes	4018	21.6
Father’s education	Primary school or below	3427	18.4
	Junior high school	8690	46.8
	Senior high school	4120	22.2
	College or above	2341	12.6
Mother’s education	Primary school or below	4022	21.6
	Junior high school	8904	47.9
	Senior high school	3652	19.7
	College or above	2000	10.8
Family economic status	Good	839	4.5
	Fair	13,605	73.2
	Poor	4134	22.3
Chronic physical illness^d	Yes	488	2.6
Family history of mental disorder	Yes	226	1.2
Body mass index (kg/m^2)^e	<18.5[underweight]	3384	18.2
	18.5~23.9[normal weight]	10,378	55.9
	24~27.9[overweight]	2552	13.7
	≥28[obesity]	2264	12.2

Notes: ^aHan is the major ethnic group in China. ^bNot current married included separated, divorced, and widowed. ^cLive separately from one or both parents for more than 6 months before 16 years old. ^dChronic physical conditions referred to having at least one of arthritis, angina, asthma, diabetes, visual impairment, or hearing problems. ^eBody mass index categories were defined refer to the Chinese criteria for adults.

Table 2 The Prevalence of Current PLEs Among the Current Sample

	Prevalence (%)			≥ Often (%)
	Overall	Male	Female	Overall	Male	Female
DEs
Delusion of reference	31.5	33.2	30.9	4.2	5.7	3.5
Delusion of persecution	10.8	15.0	8.9	2.4	3.6	1.8
Thought withdraw	15.5	19.3	13.7	3.2	4.7	2.4
Thought insertion	14.7	18.7	12.8	2.8	4.2	2.2
Thought broadcasting	21.2	25.9	19.0	3.6	5.5	2.7
Feeling of being control	11.4	15.9	9.3	2.4	3.8	1.7
Any	39.5	41.6	38.5	7.1	9.7	5.9
HEs
Verbal auditory hallucinations	12.1	16.3	10.2	2.4	4.0	1.7
Visual hallucinations	7.0	11.1	5.1	1.8	3.0	1.2
Any	12.6	17.0	10.6	2.8	4.7	1.9
PLEs
Any	40.3	42.4	39.3	7.5	10.3	6.2

Abbreviations: Des, delusional experiences; HEs, hallucinatory experiences; PLEs, psychotic-like experiences.

Table 3 Demographics and Clinical Characteristics Between Participants with and without PLEs [N(%)]

Characteristics		Frequent PLEs (N=1398, 7.5%)	Control (N=17180, 92.5%)	P value	Cramer’s V/ Cohen’s d
Sex	Females	786(56.2)	11,861(69.0)	<0.001	0.073
	Males	612(43.8)	5319(31.0)
Age [year, Mean (SD)]		19.70(1.67)	20.10(1.62)	<0.001	0.243
Grade	Freshman	578(41.3)	5870(34.2)	<0.001	0.056
	Sophomore	391(28.0)	4262(24.8)
	Junior	231(16.5)	3680(21.4)
	Senior	198(14.2)	3368(19.6)
Ethnicity	Han ^a	1353(96.8)	16,904(98.4)	<0.001	0.033
	Others	45(3.2)	276(1.6)
Parental marital status	Married	1232(88.1)	15,747(91.7)	<0.001	0.033
	Not current married	166(11.9)	1433(8.3)
Residence location	Rural	722(51.6)	8610(50.1)	0.002	0.026
	Town	307(22.0)	4483(26.1)
	Urban	369(26.4)	4087(23.8)
Left-behind experiences	Yes	357(25.5)	2307(13.4)	<0.001	0.091
Single child status	Yes	353(25.3)	3665(21.3)	0.001	0.025
Father’s education	Primary school or below	275(19.7)	3152(18.3)	<0.001	0.036
	Junior high school	574(41.1)	8116(47.2)
	Senior high school	332(23.7)	3788(22.0)
	College or above	217(15.5)	2124(12.4)
Mother’s education	Primary school or below	330(23.6)	3692(21.5)	<0.001	0.038
	Junior high school	592(42.3)	8312(48.4)
	Senior high school	282(20.2)	3370(19.6)
	College or above	194(13.9)	1806(10.5)
Family economic status	Good	67(4.8)	772(4.5)	<0.001	0.088
	Fair	842(60.2)	12,763(74.3)
	Poor	489(35.0)	3645(21.2)
Chronic physical illness	Yes	82(5.9)	406(2.4)	<0.001	0.058
Family history of mental disorder	Yes	46(3.3)	180(1.0)	<0.001	0.054
Body mass index (kg/m^2)	<18.5[underweight]	237(17.0)	3147(18.3)	0.003	0.027
	18.5~23.9[normal weight]	748(53.5)	9630(56.1)
	24~27.9[overweight]	202(14.4)	2350(13.7)
	≥28[obesity]	211(15.1)	2053(11.9)
Sleep disturbance	Yes	445(31.8)	1547(9.0)	<0.001	0.195
Depression	Yes	703(50.3)	1581(9.2)	<0.001	0.330
Anxiety	Yes	668(49.2)	1207(7.0)	<0.001	0.368
Suicidal ideation	Yes	449(32.1)	1324(7.7)	<0.001	0.219

Table 4 Multivariate Analysis for Variables Associated with Frequent PLEs

Characteristics		OR	95% CI	P value
Sex	Female	1.00
	Male	1.44	1.27~1.64	<0.001
Age [year, Mean (SD)]		0.88	0.84~0.93	<0.001
Grade	Freshman	1.00
	Sophomore	1.09	0.93~1.28	0.294
	Junior	0.92	0.75~1.12	0.411
	Senior	0.97	0.77~1.22	0.791
Ethnicity	Han	1.00
	Others	1.45	1.00~2.11	0.050
Parental marital status	Married	1.00
	Not current married	1.00	0.82~1.23	0.990
Residence location	Rural	1.00
	Town	0.83	0.71~0.98	0.025
	Urban	1.07	0.90~1.27	0.433
Left-behind experiences	Yes	1.37	1.17~1.60	<0.001
Single child status	Yes	1.02	0.87~1.19	0.756
Father’s education	Primary school or less	1.00
	Junior high school	0.89	0.74~1.06	0.192
	Senior high school	1.13	0.91~1.39	0.268
	College or more	1.14	0.88~1.48	0.316
Mother’s education	Primary school or less	1.00
	Junior high school	0.95	0.80~1.12	0.535
	Senior high school	1.03	0.83~1.27	0.792
	College or more	1.14	0.86~1.47	0.381
Family economic status	Good	1.00
	Fair	1.01	0.75~1.37	0.951
	Poor	1.42	1.03~1.94	0.034
Chronic physical illness	Yes	1.41	1.06~1.88	0.020
Family history of mental disorder	Yes	1.53	1.03~2.27	0.034
Body mass index (kg/m^2)	18.5~23.9[normal weight]	1.00
	<18.5[underweight]	1.05	0.88~1.24	0.610
	24~27.9[overweight]	1.02	0.85~1.22	0.850
	≥28[obesity]	1.25	1.04~1.49	0.018
Sleep disturbance	Yes	1.90	1.64~2.21	<0.001
Depression	Yes	2.48	2.09~2.94	<0.001
Anxiety	Yes	4.28	3.59~5.09	<0.001
Suicidal ideation	Yes	2.05	1.76~2.39	<0.001

Note: Bold type indicates a significant odds ratio.

Abbreviations: OR, odds ratio; CI, confidence interval.

Table 5 Demographics and Clinical Characteristics Between Frequent PLEs Participants with and without Suicidal Ideation

Characteristics		With SI (N=449, 32.1%)	Without SI (N=949, 67.9%)	P value	Cramer’s V/ Cohen’s d
Sex	Female	264(58.8)	522(55.0)	0.185	–
	Male	185(41.2)	427(45.0)
Age [year, Mean (SD)]		19.52(1.65)	19.79(1.68)	0.005	0.162
Grade	Freshman	217(48.3)	361(38.0)	0.001	0.109
	Sophomore	119(26.5)	272(28.7)
	Junior	67(14.9)	164(17.3)
	Senior	46(10.2)	152(16.0)
Ethnicity	Han	434(96.7)	919(96.8)	0.872	–
	Others	15(3.3)	30(3.2)
Parental marital status	Married	389(86.6)	843(88.8)	0.250	–
	Not current married	60(13.4)	106(11.2)
Residence location	Rural	233(51.9)	489(51.5)	0.992	–
	Town	98(21.8)	209(22.0)
	Urban	118(26.3)	251(26.4)
Left-behind experiences	Yes	139(31.0)	218(23.0)	0.002	0.086
Single child status	Yes	113(25.2)	240(25.3)	1.000	–
Father’s education	Primary school or below	99(22.0)	176(18.5)	0.210	–
	Junior high school	186(41.4)	388(40.9)
	Senior high school	93(20.7)	239(25.2)
	College or above	71(15.8)	146(15.4)
Mother’s education	Primary school or below	105(23.4)	225(23.7)	0.999	–
	Junior high school	190(42.3)	402(42.4)
	Senior high school	91(20.3)	191(20.1)
	College or above	63(14.0)	131(13.8)
Family economic status	Good	22(4.9)	45(4.7)	0.396	–
	Fair	259(57.7)	583(61.4)
	Poor	168(37.4)	321(33.8)
Chronic physical illness	Yes	39(8.7)	43(4.5)	0.003	0.083
Family history of mental disorder	Yes	20(4.5)	26(2.7)	0.108	–
Body mass index (kg/m^2)	<18.5[underweight]	74(16.5)	163(17.2)	0.585	–
	18.5~23.9[normal weight]	251(55.9)	497(52.4)
	24~27.9[overweight]	58(12.9)	144(15.2)
	≥28[obesity]	66(14.7)	145(15.3)
Sleep disturbance	Yes	203(45.2)	242(25.5)	<0.001	0.198
Depression	Yes	302(67.3)	401(42.3)	<0.001	0.234
Anxiety	Yes	307(68.4)	381(40.1)	<0.001	0.264

Table 6 Multivariate Analysis for Variables Associated with Suicidal Ideation Among Participants with Frequent PLEs

Characteristics		OR	95% CI	P value
Age		0.99	0.90~1.08	0.751
Grade	Freshman	1.00
	Sophomore	0.65	0.48~0.89	0.007
	Junior	0.61	0.41~0.91	0.015
	Senior	0.43	0.27~0.70	0.001
Left-behind experiences	Yes	1.28	0.98~1.68	0.074
Chronic physical illness	Yes	1.59	0.99~2.58	0.057
Sleep disturbance	Yes	1.80	1.40~2.32	<0.001
Depression	Yes	1.63	1.21~2.21	0.001
Anxiety	Yes	2.26	1.67~3.07	<0.001

Note: Bold type indicates a significant odds ratio.

Abbreviations: OR, odds ratio; CI, confidence interval.