Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 May 1;25(1):1616.
doi: 10.1186/s12889-025-22861-7.

Examining the relationship between commuting time, academic achievement, and mental health in rural China: a cross-sectional analysis

Hongyu Guan  1 , Jing Xue  1 , Yunyun Zhang  2 , Fang Chang  1 , Wenting Liu  3
Affiliations

Examining the relationship between commuting time, academic achievement, and mental health in rural China: a cross-sectional analysis

Hongyu Guan et al. BMC Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Rearranging school layouts in rural areas has been one of the most important changes to basic education in China since the early 2000s. The layout adjustment has increased the service radius of rural primary schools and increased the distance for students to go to school. While numerous studies have revealed that reducing commuting time would improve positive emotions, limited attention has been given to examining the relationship between commuting time, academic performance, and mental health in China.

Methods: Using survey data from 12,394 students in 249 rural primary schools in 18 counties, this study examines the association of commuting time on academic performance and mental health among rural students in China. Instrumental variable (IV) estimation techniques are utilized to address potential endogeneity issues and provide robust estimates of the relationships under investigation. Academic performance was measured using the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) test, and mental health status was measured using the Mental Health Test (MHT).

Results: .Lengthy commutes are negatively associated with students' academic performance and mental health. Each additional hour of commuting time is associated with a 0.148 SD decrease in academic performance and a 3.039 increase in mental health test scores for students, indicating a higher risk of mental health problems. Heterogeneity analysis revealed that the effect of commuting time is more pronounced for female students, senior students, students with migrant parents, and students whose parents have lower education levels. Mechanism analysis demonstrates that sleep duration and after-school outdoor activities mediate the relationship between commuting time, academic achievement, and mental health.

Conclusion: This study contributes new evidence regarding the association between commuting time, academic performance, and mental health among rural students in China. The findings offer valuable insights for education policymakers in optimizing school location and layout strategies to support students' academic success and mental well-being.

Trial registration: Permission was received from local Boards of Education in each region and the principals of all schools. The principles of the Declaration of Helsinki were followed throughout. Oral informed consent was obtained from at least one parent for all child participants. Ethical committee approval for this study were obtained from Sun Yat-Sen University (Registration number: 2013MEKY018) and Stanford University (Registration number: 24847). The trial registration number is ISRCTN03252665 (registered at 25/09/2012).

Keywords: Academic performance; Commuting time; Mental health; Rural China.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Ethical approval and consent to participate: The data used in this study were drawn from a randomized controlled trial that was approved by the Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) of Sun Yat-sen University (Approval Number: 2013MEKY018) and Stanford University (Approval Number: 24847). The current study is a secondary analysis based on de-identified data from the original trial. No new data were collected and no additional interventions were introduced. The re-analysis was conducted with the full awareness and agreement of the original research team. Since the dataset was fully de-identified and did not involve any new risks to participants, no additional ethical approval or permission was required for this secondary analysis. Oral informed consent was obtained from all participants at the time of the original study, and all data used in this analysis were anonymized prior to use.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The flowchart of the sample selection criteria
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The path diagram of potential mechanisms
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Becker SO, Hornung E, Woessmann L. Education and Catch-up in the industrial revolution. Am Economic Journal: Macroeconomics. 2011;3(3):92–126.
    1. Ciccone A, Papaioannou E. Human capital, the structure of production, and growth. Rev Econ Stat. 2009;91(1):66–82.
    1. Hanushek EA, Woessmann L. The role of cognitive skills in economic development. J Econ Lit. 2008;46(3):607–68.
    1. Banerjee A, Duflo E. Addressing absence. J Economic Perspect. 2006;20(1):117–32. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Edwards F. Early to Rise: The Effect of Daily Start Times on Academic Performance. SSRN Electronic Journal. 2010 [cited 2023 Jun 26]; Available from: http://www.ssrn.com/abstract=1628693

LinkOut - more resources