Determinants of Adolescent Mental Health Literacy in Selected South African Secondary Schools: The Roles of Socioeconomic and Demographic Status, and School Level Context
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5708/EJMH.21.2026.0055Keywords:
access to services, mental health literacy, ordinal logistic regression, school location, socio-economic inequalitiesAbstract
Introduction: Parental employment, school grade, and location significantly influence learners’ mental health literacy (MHL), impacting early detection and help-seeking behaviors.
Aim: This study investigates the determinants of adolescent MHL in selected secondary schools in Tshwane, South Africa.
Methods: A secondary data analysis was conducted using 529 secondary school learners selected through stratified random sampling from five different schools: four in townships and one in an urban area. Ordinal logistic regression was performed to identify significant predictors of MHL, with a p-value less than .05 considered statistically significant.
Results: The study findings indicated that school level factors were statistically significant. Learners attending urban schools were three times more likely to demonstrate higher mental health literacy than those attending township schools (OR = 3.03, 95% CI [2.02, 4.55], p < .001). Moreover, Grade 12 learners exhibited significantly higher odds of mental health literacy compared to those in lower grades (OR = 6.24, 95% CI [2.24, 17.39], p < .001). The effect of parental employment status was evident: learners whose parents were employed showed significantly higher odds of mental health literacy compared to learners from other parental employment categories (OR = 1.65, 95% CI [1.30, 2.09], p < .001).
Conclusions: School-level factors (urban location and Grade 12) and parental employment were significant predictors, emphasizing the role of contextual and socioeconomic influences on learners’ MHL.
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Published 2026-05-04
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