Sociodemographic Determinants of Mental Health Literacy Among Portuguese Adolescents

Abstract

Several studies worldwide have shown that adolescents have low levels of mental health literacy (MHL). This is a worrying situation, given the significant prevalence of mental health disorders among adolescents and the role of MHL in identifying these problems early and seeking help. This study aims to characterize MHL in Portuguese adolescents according to sociodemographic variables. The participants were 608 adolescents from the 7th to 12th grade, who filled in questionnaires on sociodemographics, MHL, and positive MHL. Bivariate analysis and hierarchical logistic regression models were conducted. A high level of adequate beliefs was found to be more likely in girls and in those whose mothers had higher levels of education. High rates of knowledge about self-help strategies were related to older age, having a mother who had a high level of education, greater subjective socioeconomic status (SSES), and better self-perception of mental health (SPMH). Help-seeking/first-aid skills were predicted by higher SSES, and lower SPMH predicted high levels of knowledge about mental health problems. Different MHL dimensions were related to diverse sociodemographic variables, and SPMH played a key role in enhancing the models’ ability to explain variation in MHL - particularly in knowledge on self-help strategies. Those topics require further research. These results can be useful in the development of MHL programs tailored to the specific knowledge needs of different adolescent groups.