LE3 .A278 2019

2019

Symons, Doug

Acadia University

Master of Science

Masters

Psychology

Psychology

Knowledge about mental health problems, stigma towards those problems, and help-seeking behavior have been proposed to be three components of mental health literacy. The current study examined the interrelations of these three components in a sample of 60 adolescents (31 females, 28 males, 1 gender fluid) recruited from two schools in Nova Scotia. The overall age of participants was 13.8 years; the mean age within the younger group was 12.87 years, ranging from 12 to 14 years, and within the older group was 17.15 years, ranging from 16 to 18 years. As hypothesized, both mental health knowledge and help-seeking behavior were inversely related to mental health stigma, but knowledge and help-seeking were unrelated. However, an exploratory mediation analysis revealed that stigma was a mediator of the relationship between knowledge and help-seeking. Hypotheses that girls would score higher than boys on mental health literacy components were not supported. There were also no age group differences. Comparisons between rural areas and population centres could not be made. Post-hoc analyses suggested that family socioeconomic status was not related to help-seeking, but school support was related to intentions to seek counselling. The present study thus expands on the current interest in the mental health literacy of adolescents.

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https://scholar.acadiau.ca/islandora/object/theses:3212