〔Abstract〕 Objective To investigate the mental health status of junior middle school students in Qinzhou, and to provide a scientific basis for the education department to carry out mental health intervention for junior middle school students. Methods The selected time period was from January 2022 to December 2022. The objects of research were all the second year and third year students of Qinzhou No.5 Middle School. A total of 1523 questionnaires were distributed and 1523 questionnaires were returned for an overall response rate of 100.00 %. 1505 valid questionnaires were got, with an effective rate of 98.82 %. Among them, there are 662 students in the second year of middle school and 843 students in the third year of middle school. Results The prevalence of emotional distress in the study with the valid 1505 questionnaires was obtained as 17.94 %. The prevalence of anxiety was the highest (17.01 %), compared to that of physical symptoms (16.48 %) and that of allergic tendencies (15.95 %). The prevalence of emotional distress of the second year and the third year students were 19.49 % and 16.73 %, respectively, with no statistically significant difference (P > 0.05). The prevalence of emotional distress of the girls (23.03 %) was higher than that of the boys (13.37 %) respectively, and the difference between girls and boys was statistically significant (P < 0.001). Conclusion The overall mental health status of the second and third grade students in Qinzhou No.5 Middle School is optimistic, but there are still a certain proportion of emotional distress, which should be which should be given sufficient attention by society, schools, and families.