The prevalence inflation hypothesis and the effects of mental health awareness efforts on the mental health outcomes of children and young people.

Rates of mental health problems in children and young people have increased in recent years.

Efforts to raise awareness about these problems, such as public health campaigns, aim to reduce stigma and barriers to support. However, they may be paradoxically contributing to increased experiences and reports of mental health problems.

This so-called prevalence inflation hypothesis states that awareness efforts may be beneficially encouraging previously under-recognised symptoms to be reported but may also be problematically leading individuals to re-interpret milder distress as a clinical problem.

This proposed DPhil, informed by an experimental pilot study, will provide the first empirical testing of this hypothesis, exploring whether mental health awareness efforts affect how young people understand and self-report mental health symptoms.

In Study 1, via experience sampling methodology, participants will record and reflect on awareness efforts encountered in their daily lives, indicating the frequency and content of exposure to these materials, and how they appraise it. Self-reported symptoms will indicate the impact of awareness efforts on mental health outcomes.

In Study 2, a series of experiments will then systematically explore how exposure to different mental health awareness efforts affects young people's self-understanding and self-reporting of mental health problems.

Experimental conditions will be determined by Study 1 findings; including varying content according to the prevalence, causes, and agency of anxiety and depression.

In Study 3, a mixed methods experiment will explore how young people interpret and are impacted by video-based awareness efforts (narrative accounts).

Overall, this mixed-methods testing of the prevalence inflation hypothesis will improve our understanding of the effects of mental health awareness efforts on young people's mental health.

This information will allow those designing future campaigns (such as organisations and charities) to make evidence-based decisions about language choice, content, presentation, and audience when raising awareness about mental health.