Maia de Carvalho, M., da Luz Vale-Dias, M., & Carvalho, S. A.
Adolescents´ mental health literacy: Positive Mental Health Literacy questionnaire, gender and mental health
In this study, the validity of a new measure of positive mental health literacy (MHL) is explored in a sample of adolescents: the Positive Mental Health Literacy questionnaire (PosMHLit). The instrument development combined three stages: literature review; conceptual validation by a panel of experts (focus-group and single analysis); a psychometric study. A sample of 539 adolescents was collected and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with parallel analysis (PA) were conducted. A one-dimensional solution with 23 items emerged from EFA. A confirmatory factor analysis corroborated the 1-factor solution, with 19 items. PosMHLit has good internal consistency and construct validity, because it was correlated in the expected directions with MHL, mental well-being, and psychopathology. Girls reported higher PosMHLit than boys. Flourishers and nonflourishers did not differ in terms of PosMHLit. The PosMHLit appears valid and reliable and can be used with adolescents to measure positive MHL.
Testing, Psychometrics, Methodology in Applied Psychology, 2024, Vol. 31, pp. 327-343, DOI: 10.4473/TPM31.3.5
