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.