Mental health self-stigma and peer-victimisation in adolescence.

By mid-adolescence, many young people live with mental health challenges that reflect emotional difficulties (e.g., depression, anxiety, self-harm) and at the same time considerable numbers have diagnoses reflecting a range of neurodevelopmental disorders (e.g., ADHD, Autism spectrum). These challenges are often accompanied by mental health self-stigma which is the belief that you are different from you peer group in misleading and negative ways. As well as coping with symptoms associated with their difficulties, these groups also experience more peer-victimisation as compared to their typically developing peers. This research will examine whether mental health self-stigma makes it more likely that peer-victimisation will last longer and will have worse outcomes. To achieve this, a participatory research methods (PRM) approach will be used in collaboration with the Mental Health Foundation and their Youth Collective. Young people with lived experience of mental health difficulties will be meaningful partners in the project, that is, they will help to shape the direction and nature of the research, collect data, interpret results, and will co-produce appropriate ways of disseminating the conclusions to their peers. For PRM approaches to be successful, the possibility of a research changing as a result of meaningful discussions with project partners must be acknowledged. With this in mind, the first planned study will involve interviews with adolescents with lived experience of mental health stigma and peer-victimisation. These will explore their thoughts and feelings about the ways in which mental health self-stigma might be associated with peer-victimisation. The second study will involve asking young people to complete surveys three times across one year to evaluate the extent to which mental health self-stigma is a risk-factor for the (i) persistence and (ii) outcomes of peer-victimisation. Impactful and age-appropriate dissemination materials will be produced in collaboration with the Mental Health Foundation and their Youth Collective.