Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Social Work

Document Type

Dissertation

Abstract

Mental health disorders are prevalent in children and adolescents, and they are accompanied by challenges throughout the lifespan. Mental health literacy (MHL) provides a flexible framework to address child and adolescent mental health. Identifying significant relationships between MHL and mental health outcomes has the potential to inform successful interventions. This study uses a secondary analysis of data gathered for the Study on Attitudes of Adolescents and Young Adults Toward Relevant Health Issues to isolate MHL belief domains that significantly effect psychological distress levels in adolescents.

The Swiss Youth Mental Health Literacy and Stigma Survey was used to assess the MHL, mental health, and substance use of 4, 983 Swiss students (M = 17.8 years, SD = 1.93) enrolled in upper secondary education. Principal component analyses were used on each belief domain to reduce the dimensionality of the dataset. To isolate specific belief predictors, the extracted principal components from each belief domain were incorporated into a belief domain-specific multiple linear regression model to estimate psychological distress levels.

Analyses demonstrated that while MHL predictors do not explain a large amount of variance in psychological distress levels, they are significantly related to it. Findings suggest that help-seeking intentions and stigmatizing attitudes have significant effects on psychological distress levels. Moreover, results indicated that overall beliefs in substance use and informal support, rather than specific MHL belief categories, are associated with psychological distress levels. This study’s findings have important practice implications for informing school-based interventions that effectively support adolescents’ mental health.  They indicate that establishing informal support systems and educating about substance use are critical for the prevention and management of adolescent mental health.

Date

3-27-2026

Committee Chair

Scott Wilks

LSU Acknowledgement

1

LSU Accessibility Acknowledgment

1

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