Adolescents’ Mental Well-Being, Resilience, and Attitudes Towards Help-Seeking During COVID-19: a Cross-Sectional Study

Adolescent mental well-being is a growing international concern. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated mental health issues, but there is little evidence of its effect on school-going adolescents. A cross-sectional survey was sent to six schools, comprising the Warwick Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS), Child and Youth Resilience Measure (CRYM-R), Peer Mental Health Stigmatization Scale (PMHSS), and General Help-Seeking Questionnaire (GHSQ). In total, 410 adolescents completed the survey. The WEMWBS indicated moderate levels of mental well-being (mean 48.02, SD 10.97), the CRYM-R indicated personal (41.87 (SD 6.32)) and caregiver resilience (30.15 (SD 5.95)), were relatively well-preserved. Family/friends were the most likely source of help-seeking. There were significant positive correlations between well-being and resilience (< 0.001), and mental health stigma and help-seeking attitudes. There was an inverse relationship between personal resilience and both stigma awareness and stigma agreement (p < 0.05). Those with lower well-being scores were less likely to seek help from anyone (p < 0.001). Well-being scores were lower compared to pre-pandemic studies and help-seeking attitudes are still problematic. Given that we are yet to see the full impact of COVID-19 on the emotional/psychological health of adolescents, interventions to increase resilience and promote mental well-being and help-seeking are urgently needed. Interventions delivered through school curricula and with the support of teachers are likely to present the best opportunity for rapid roll-out.