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

Joana Nobre, António Calha, Henrique Luis, Ana Paula Oliveira, Francisco Monteiro, Carme Ferré-Grau and Carlos Sequeira
Additional contact information
Joana Nobre: Health School, Polytechnic Institute of Portalegre, 7300-555 Portalegre, Portugal
António Calha: VALORIZA—Research Centre for Endogenous Resource Valorization, Polytechnic Institute of Portalegre, 7300-555 Portalegre, Portugal
Henrique Luis: Health School, Polytechnic Institute of Portalegre, 7300-555 Portalegre, Portugal
Ana Paula Oliveira: Health School, Polytechnic Institute of Portalegre, 7300-555 Portalegre, Portugal
Francisco Monteiro: Health School, Polytechnic Institute of Portalegre, 7300-555 Portalegre, Portugal
Carme Ferré-Grau: Faculty of Nursing, University of Rovira i Virgili, 43003 Tarragona, Spain
Carlos Sequeira: Group Inovation and Development in Nursing (NursID), Centro de Investigação em Tecnologias e Serviços de Saúde (CINTESIS), 4200-450 Porto, Portugal

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 13, 1-16

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.

Keywords: adolescents; mental health; mental health literacy; positive mental health; schools (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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