Preliminary Psychometric Evaluation of the Mental Health Literacy Questionnaire for Young Adults (MHLq-YA) Among Greek University Students
Abstract
Background/Objectives: The rising yet underdiagnosed prevalence of mental disorders among young adults, due to stigma, limited knowledge, and reduced help-seeking, underscores the need for culturally validated tools to measure and enhance mental health literacy. This cross-sectional study aimed to validate the 29-item Mental Health Literacy Questionnaire for Young Adults (MHLq-YA) within the Greek context. Methods: A sample of 211 university students (mean age = 20.72 years) was recruited via online convenience and snowball sampling and completed the MHLq-YA, the Mental Health Promoting Knowledge scale (MHPK-10), and the Mental Help-Seeking Intention Scale (MHSIS). Results: Confirmatory Factor Analysis revealed that the originally proposed four-factor structure did not adequately fit the data. An Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) followed to identify a structure that better represented the Greek sample. After removing four items due to low factor loadings and poor conceptual alignment, EFA supported a three-factor solution of 25 items, explaining 41.93% of the variance with satisfactory internal consistency: “Knowledge about mental health issues and health behaviors” (α = 0.89), “Erroneous beliefs/stereotypes” (α = 0.70), and “Professional help-seeking behaviors” (α = 0.80). Known-group comparisons showed that mental health literacy scores differed by education and exposure to mental health issues. Inter-scale correlations ranged from low to moderate, and Heterotrait–monotrait ratios (HTMT < 0.85) supported discriminant validity. Moderately high positive associations between the MHSIS and “Professional help-seeking behaviors” (0.56) provided evidence of convergent validity. Conclusions: Overall, the 25-item MHLq-YA demonstrated preliminary construct validity and satisfactory reliability, offering a provisionally culturally adapted instrument for assessing mental health literacy in terms of knowledge, erroneous beliefs, and professional help-seeking behaviors.