| Objective To describe the status of mental health literacy among middle school students and analyze the relationship between mental health literacy and anxiety and depression symptoms. Methods In November 2022, 6,322 secondary school students from 11 cities in 2 provinces, Shandong Province and Henan Province, who were enrolled in secondary school were selected by convenience sampling as the study subjects and were surveyed using the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7, the Patient Health Questionaire-9 items, and the Mental Health Literacy Questionnaire. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to explore the relationship between mental health literacy and anxiety and depression symptoms in middle school students. Results The mental health knowledge score of middle school students was (81.95±4.93), the interpersonal support score was (2.44±0.72), the cognitive reappraisal score was (2.48±0.71), the awareness score was (2.68±0.61), and the distraction score was (2.61±0.63). Mental health knowledge, interpersonal support, awareness, distraction, and mental health awareness were negatively correlated with symptoms of anxiety and depression, while cognitive reappraisal was positively correlated with symptoms of anxiety and depression (P<0.05). Conclusions Symptoms of anxiety and depression are common among middle school students, and mental health problems are not optimistic. High cognitive reappraisal and low mental health knowledge, interpersonal support, awareness, distraction, and mental health literacy may increase the risk of anxiety and depression symptoms in middle school students. In the future, attention should be paid to improving the mental health literacy level of middle school students. |
