Mental Health Literacy and Positive Mental Health in Adolescents: A Correlational Study

Abstract

This study aimed to assess adolescents′ Mental Health Literacy (MHL) level, Positive Mental Health (PMH) level, the association between sociodemographic variables and the MHL and PMH levels, and the relationship between adolescent′s MHL and PMH levels. A quantitative, cross-sectional, correlational study was conducted with a convenience sample of 260 adolescents studying in the 5th to 12th years of school. The Mental Health Knowledge Questionnaire, the Mental Health-Promoting Knowledge, and the Positive Mental Health Questionnaire were used for data collection. Most of the adolescents were female (55.8%) with a mean age of 14.07 years. The participants showed good levels of MHL (MHKQ). The participants showed good levels of MHL (MHKQ 𝘹¯ = 60.03; MHPK-10 𝘹¯ = 4.49) and high levels of PMH (𝘹¯ = 128.25). The adolescents with higher levels of MHL were the oldest, in a higher year of school, female, those whose mothers are employed, those who have healthy eating habits, and those who have a better body image self-perception. Adolescents in a lower year of school, with adequate sleep habits, who spend fewer hours a day in front of a screen or online, and who have a better self-perception of mental and physical health and body image were the ones with higher PMH levels. These findings suggest the need to implement experimental or quasi-experimental studies to ascertain the effectiveness of interventions that promote adolescents′ positive mental health literacy.

Nursing Intervention to Improve Positive Mental Health and Self-Care Skills in People with Chronic Physical Health Conditions

“…Four instruments were used to collect data: (1) a sociodemographic data form with 8 variables (sex, age, marital status, number of children, education level, profession, work situation, and nationality); (2) the Appraisal of Self-care Agency Scale (ASA) Spanish validation [26], structured unidimensional into 24 items (16 positive and 8 negative) with questions 2, 6, 11, 13, 14, 15, 20, and 23 in reverse order to calculate the score, with four possible responses on a Likert-type scale with a cutoff of < 48 indicating low self-care (the lower the score, the less the capacity for self-care); (3) the PMHQ Positive Mental Health Questionnaire [19] based on the multifactorial model described above. The PMHQ has been validated in the Spanish population [27].…”

“…The questionnaire yields a global PMH score ranging from 39 to 156, with a higher score indicating greater positive mental health, as well as specific scores for each factor which vary according to the number of items per factor. The inverted negative items are 4,23,25,37,5,21,22,26,15,16,17,27,28,29,32,35,36,11,18, and 20 (ordered by factor); and 4) an ad hoc form made up of 10 questions to assess variables relating to the participants' perception of the usefulness of the program, personal satisfaction with it, and overall assessment of the intervention. The instruments were administered at the outset and the conclusion of the program.…”

Promoting Mental Health Literacy at Schools in South Korea

“…Positive mental health status in adolescence is proportional to the level of MHL [ 20 ]. Recent worldwide MHL programs and effectiveness studies have reported an increase in youth MHL.…”

The Mediating Effect of Mental Health Literacy on Psychological Resilience and Psychological Distress of Medical College Students

“…On the other hand, MHL has three dimensions including recognition, knowledge, and attitude. Individuals with high MHL have the ability to know more about mental health and have positive attitude to cope with the psychological problems [13]. Tere may exist some potential mechanisms about the efect of psychological resilience and MHL on psychological distress.…”