A CiteSpace-based Analysis of Hotspots and Cutting-edge Trends in Mental Health among Middle School Students Research

Background In recent years, mental health problems among middle school students in China have become increasingly prominent. Objective To explore the research hotspots, frontiers of research related to the mental health among middle school students, and provide reference for scholars involved in the research of middle school students' mental health in the future. Methods Papers related to the mental health of middle school students both at home and abroad from 2000 to September 30, 2022, by using Web of Science and CNKI as data sources. CiteSpace 6.1.R3 was applied to visualize and analyze the publication volume, countries, institutions, authors, literature co-citation, and keywords of the included literature. Results A total of 1 963 articles were eligible, including 653 articles in English and 1 310 in Chinese. The publication volume in the field of mental health among middle school students showed an increasing trend from 2000 to 2022. The research hotspots and frontiers of mental health among middle school students were mainly focused on suicidal ideation, mobile phone and internet addiction, academic achievement, psychological resilience, psychological intervention and COVID-19 epidemic. The future research trends may focus on the relationships of traditional bullying and cyberbullying with middle school students' mental health, health risk behaviors with mental health among middle school students. Conclusion Research hotspots about mental health among middle school students encompass suicidal ideation, mobile phone and internet addiction, academic achievement, psychological resilience, psychological interventions, as well as the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic. Future research trends will concentrate on exploring the relationships between bullying, health risk behaviors and mental health.