Mental health literacy in a diverse sample of undergraduate students: demographic, psychological, and academic correlates

Abstract

Background Investigating variables associated with mental health literacy in the college-age population takes us one step closer to providing intervention for this vulnerable group, where growing rates of psychological disorders are a serious public concern. This study adds to the existing literature by incorporating, within a single model, multi-faceted variables (demographic, psychological, and academic) that contribute to mental health literacy in demographically and ethnically diverse college students. Methods Participants were undergraduate students enrolled at nine different colleges that are part of a large, urban, public university system. A total of 1213 respondents (62.0% female, 73.3% non-white) completed an in-person assessment of mental health literacy and answered questions about demographics, college experience, and mental health experience. Data were analyzed to identify which variables best discriminated between high, mid-level, and low performers on this assessment. Results Discriminant correspondence analysis revealed that the difference between high and low performers (accounting for 90.27% of the total variance) was driven by participants who had taken at least one course related to clinical psychology and who typically majored in psychology and applied health science fields. These participants were more likely to report being white, female, between the ages of 28–32, and in the fourth year or later of their undergraduate program. In addition, high performers were more likely to have been diagnosed and/or treated for a psychological disorder, have more experience with psychological disorders through personal, family, or peer history, and have families who are open to discussing mental health issues. Conclusion The main contributor to variation in mental health literacy scores was having taken a clinical psychology course, followed by majoring in psychology. Importantly, our findings identified not only the high performers, but also the low performers, for whom an increase in knowledge and awareness of mental health is crucial to overall psychological well-being. These results have important implications for the design of educational interventions aimed at improving mental health literacy at the college level, especially for students who otherwise would not have been exposed to this information from coursework or their major.

The Determinants of Mental Health Literacy among Young Adolescents in Malaysia

“…Females demonstrated a higher ability to correctly recognize mental health disorders alongside having higher intentions to seek help and overall adequate MHL levels compared to their male counterparts. Similar findings have been observed among adolescents in the USA, Europe, Australia, and Hong Kong [ 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 ]. The effect of gender on MHL can be attributed to the manner in which symptoms of mental health disorders are identified and perceived across both genders.…”

Factors Influencing Retention of Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Students in Undergraduate STEM Majors

“…However, feeling depressed, a more direct indicator of mental health, did not significantly predict retention in STEM for TGNC students. Further, previous research supports the idea that STEM fields may disproportionately stigmatize help-seeking behaviors and conversations surrounding mental health issues (Lauber et al, 2005;Miles et al, 2020). Therefore, seeking counseling can also be viewed as a proactive step toward tending to one's mental health, a form of agency students can maintain that can potentially impact their retention.…”

A review of mental health literacy strategy for adolescence

“…The community-based strategy could be done by i) involving adolescents as the agents of change [25], ii) using technology such as the Internet to do campaign (by using the web, playing a game such as moving stories, peer support establishment) [26]; and iii) using the Internet to provide prevention and intervention [27], [28]. School-based strategy The importance of a strategy to improve mental health literacy by targeting students [29], [30]. It is since education is important to improve mental health science, such as depression [31], reduce stigma, and improve access to the care [32].…”