Prevalence of mental health issues among teachers in China: the role of cultural values and psychological resilience

Teachers worldwide experience occupational stress that threatens psychological wellbeing and educational effectiveness. Chinese teachers face substantial demands requiring culturally grounded approaches to psychological distress. Indigenous cultural resources may potentially buffer teachers against occupational adversity effectively. A cross-sectional survey recruited 750 teachers from three Chinese cities. Participants represented primary, secondary, and tertiary educational institutions across Jiangsu. Validated measures assessed workload, conflict, support, cultural values, coping, resilience, Mianzi. Psychological distress was measured using DASS-21 and K10 validated instruments. Reliability, descriptive, correlation, mediation, moderation, bootstrapping, and structural equation analyses followed. Sequential mediation and moderated mediation were examined using PROCESS Model 7. Psychological distress prevalence was substantially high among participating Chinese teachers overall. Moderate-to-extremely severe depression affected 73.4% of teachers in this study. Moderate-to-extremely severe anxiety affected 80.5% of teachers in this study. Very high psychological distress affected 52.5% of teachers on K10. Workload and work-family conflict significantly increased psychological distress among teachers. Organizational support, collectivistic values, Zhongyong coping, and resilience provided protection. Collectivistic values indirectly reduced distress through sequential coping and resilience. Mianzi significantly strengthened this protective indirect pathway among affected teachers. Findings demonstrate important protective roles for indigenous Chinese cultural resources. Zhongyong coping and resilience can strengthen psychological adaptation among teachers. Higher Mianzi amplified protective effects within the sequential mediation pathway. Culturally congruent interventions should combine institutional support with traditional psychological strengths. Such interventions may enhance teacher wellbeing within non-Western educational contexts.