Abstract: Objective To investigate the incidence of unintentional injuries and its correlation with mental health symptoms among middle school students in Yunnan Province, so as to provide a scientific basis for the formulation of targeted health education measures for injury prevention and for the promotion of child and adolescent health. Methods A multi-stage stratified random cluster sampling method was employed from October to November 2023 to select 4 172 middle school students aged 12-18 from eight counties (districts) in four prefectures (cities) of Yunnan Province as research subjects. A self-compiled questionnaire was used to collect data on students' general demographic characteristics and injury-related information. The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) was utilized to assess mental health symptoms. Spearman correlation and multivariate logistic regression were used to analyze the correlation between mental health symptoms and the occurrence of unintentional injuries. Results Scores on the dimensions of depressive affect (r_s=0.112), somatic symptoms (r_s=0.119), and interpersonal relations (r_s=0.088) were positively correlated with the occurrence of unintentional injuries, whereas the positive affect dimension score (r_s=-0.043) was negatively correlated (all P<0.01). After controlling for gender and academic stage, multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that the somatic symptom dimension score was associated with the occurrence of unintentional injuries (OR=1.060). After further controlling for factors such as region and family, and categorizing psychological symptoms by their mean levels, it was found that high levels of depressive affect (OR=1.394) and somatic symptoms (OR=1.701) were correlated with the occurrence of unintentional injuries among middle school students. Conclusion The occurrence of unintentional injuries in middle school students is closely associated with specific mental health symptoms. The risk of unintentional injury increases significantly when students' depressive affect and somatic symptoms reach high levels. Comprehensive intervention measures should be implemented targeting the risk factors for injuries, a multi-tiered support system should be constructed, and adolescents' self-regulation abilities should be enhanced to reduce the risk of unintentional injury.

Key words: Middle school students, Unintentional injuries, Depressive symptoms, Correlation