Background:
The community's understanding of mental health problems, their risk factors, treatments and sources of help may vary as a function of age.
Methods:
Data are taken from an epidemiological survey conducted with a national clustered sample of 3998 Australian adults. Following the presentation of a vignette describing depression or schizophrenia, respondents were asked a series of questions relating to their knowledge and recognition of the disorder, beliefs about the helpfulness and harmfulness of helping professionals and treatments, likely outcomes and causes, and personal and perceived stigma.
Results:
Participant age was coded into five categories and cross-tabulated with mental health literacy variables. Multiple comparisons between the youngest age group (18–24) and all other groups showed that although young adults were better than those aged 70+ at correctly recognizing depression and schizophrenia, they were more likely to misidentify schizophrenia as depression. For those who received the depression vignette, younger adults differed from older age groups in terms of their beliefs about the helpfulness and harmfulness of certain treatments, and personal stigma. Differences were also observed between younger and older adults who received the schizophrenia vignette, specifically for helpfulness and harmfulness ratings, and beliefs about causes.
Conclusions:
Differences in mental health literacy across the adult life span suggest that more specific, age-appropriate messages about mental health are required to inform different age groups. The tendency for young adults to ‘overidentify’ depression perhaps signals the need for awareness campaigns to focus on differentiation between mental disorders.
