Beliefs about causes of and risk factors for mental disorders: A comparison of japanese and american college students

Objective: Patterns of mental health literacy in depression between college students in the United States and Japan were examined. Participants: 289 American students and 298 Japanese students were recruited. Methods: Students read a scenario in which a man presents the symptoms of major depression and completed surveys that measured the ability to identify mental illness, beliefs in helpfulness of interventions, and described previous experience with depression. Results: National and gender differences were found in the ability to correctly recognize depression, beliefs in the cause of the depression, and recommended intervention. An interaction effect of country and gender was found for recommended intervention. Path-analytic mediation analyses showed that the national differences in recognition for depression were mediated by the national differences in experience with depression. Conclusions: Implications of the national and gender differences in MHL on the utilization of mental health services are discussed.