Mental Health and Coping Mechanisms Among Smallholder Farmers in Central India: A Cross-Sectional Survey

Farmers in India encounter numerous stressors in their daily lives, which may contribute to heightened psychological distress and mental health problems, including depression, anxiety, and stress. The coping strategies they employ play an important role in influencing these mental health outcomes. This study aimed to assess the relationship between coping strategies and mental health among farmers in Central India. A cross-sectional survey was conducted between January and March 2025 among 176 farmers from four districts of Madhya Pradesh. Participants completed a survey in the local language that included a demographic sheet, the Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21), and the Coping Strategies Inventory-Short Form (CSI-SF). The findings showed that 23.3% of participants experienced some level of depression, 23.3% reported anxiety, and 20.5% reported stress. Significant positive correlations were observed between disengagement coping strategies and depression (r = .205, p = .006), anxiety (r = .305, p < .001), and stress (r = .200, p = .008). Regression analysis further demonstrated that disengagement coping was a significant predictor of depression, anxiety, and stress, although it explained only a small proportion of the variance in these outcomes (R² = 0.059, 0.053, and 0.049, respectively). Overall, the findings suggest that many farmers in this sample demonstrated adaptive coping patterns and low levels of severe psychological distress. However, disengagement coping behaviors were consistently associated with poorer mental health outcomes, highlighting the importance of integrating mental health promotion and adaptive coping interventions into existing agricultural and social welfare programs.