Girls Top The Class In Mental Health Knowledge

The National Schizophrenia Fellowship today (Monday March 12) launched new research showing that young women are more knowledgeable than men about mental health and mental illness.

The research was carried out by MORI for the National Schizophrenia Fellowship and its young people's @ease website. It is issued today to support the Department of Health's new mental health anti-discrimination campaign mind out for mental health which showed that young people in general still show a lack of awareness about stigma and discrimination in mental health.

The NSF research shows:

• 15 per cent of young men could not name a mental illness, compared to just 6 per cent of young women

However, years of mental health awareness work by public and voluntary bodies has paid dividends:

• In 1990, just 20 per cent of young people named schizophrenia as a mental illness (MORI/Mental Health Foundation)
• Now 40 per cent of young people name schizophrenia as a mental illness

Paul Farmer from NSF said: "Individual efforts such as @ease increase young people's understanding of mental illness and have made a real difference. The mind out for mental health campaign is a timely chance to make a concerted effort to transform the views of a generation."

Examples of NSF's work with young people are:

• The @ease website www.at-ease.nsf.org.uk, designed to attract young people through an on-line soap-style story that opens up the world of mental health and connects it to young people's everyday lives.
• The 'It Could Be You' project raises awareness of mental health and illness through the video 'It Could Be You' at schools, colleges and youth services in the Bristol area.
• The Cheltenham Young People's Project supports young people with mental health difficulties through assertive outreach.

"The mind out for mental health research shows that there is still a real need for a campaign aimed at stopping the stigma and discrimination surrounding mental health, while NSF's research shows that consistent campaigning has produced increased levels of understanding compared to 10 years ago" added Farmer.

Technical details

Other highlights from the NSF research:

• 85 per cent of young women are aware of some form of depression on prompting, compared to just 74 per cent of young men
• 54 per cent of young women say that they, a friend, or a member of their family have experienced depression, compared to 44 per cent of young men

Young people also recognise the value of social support in protecting mental health

• 58 per cent pointed to the need for a caring and supportive family
• 53 per cent pointed to the need for friends

Highlights from the mind out for mental health research

• young people recognise a need for an anti-discrimination campaign, with almost one fifth identifying mental health (18%) as the most important discriminatory issue to combat. This is second only to race (46%) and compared with sexuality (6%) and gender (3%).

Young people's facts and figures found on the @ease website:

• Young people under the age of 25 make up one in four of the population (14.9 million people)
• One in 10 young people will experience mental health problems severe enough to seek professional help
• Suicide rates are falling among all groups - except young people, where suicide accounts for 20% of all deaths
• 7.6 per 100,000 15-19 year olds will commit suicide
• Schizophrenia usually strikes at people in their teens and early adulthood
• From the first symptoms, young adults wait 18 months for a diagnosis of schizophrenia

Technical details

• MORI interviewed a quota sample of 272 adults aged 16-25.
• Interviews were conducted face-to-face, in homes across 182 sampling points across Great Britain.
• Interviews were carried out between 5-9 October 2000.
• Data have been weighted to the known profile of the British population.