Are younger people more accurate at identifying mental health disorders, recommending help appropriately, and do they show lower mental health stigma than older people?

• Mental health prevention could result in overidentification of mental health disorders. • Younger people showed high levels of recognition of schizophrenia and social anxiety. • Younger people overidentified grief as a mental health disorder. • Younger people showed higher levels of mental health stigma than older people. • Public health education needs to achieve a balance to prevent overidentification. Mental health awareness initiatives and expansion in the concept breadth of mental health disorders have been suggested as potential contributors to the increased prevalence of mental disorders and help-seeking in younger people. Consistent with positive effects of mental health awareness campaigns, this study explored whether younger people show greater accuracy at recognising mental health disorders from written vignettes, lower mental health stigma and appropriate help-seeking recommendations. Participants ( n = 134 participants <40 years and n = 105 participants ≥40 years of age) were randomised to see three vignettes (Schizophrenia, social anxiety and grief) depicting a ‘young’ character (in their 20 s) or an ‘older’ character (in their 50 s). After each vignette, they were asked whether the character had a mental health disorder, whether they should seek help and questions focused on mental health stigma. They were also asked questions about their own mental health. Younger participants were more likely to identify a mental health problem and recommend help-seeking for social anxiety and grief than older participants. There were no differences for Schizophrenia. Younger people showed greater stigma towards the vignettes depicting Schizophrenia and social anxiety and rated their own mental health significantly worse than older participants. Results are consistent with better sensitivity, but lower specificity in the recognition of mental disorders in younger people. Perceptions of whether distressing experiences are considered a mental health disorder that requires professional help (but not the severity of the experiences themselves) may be different in younger compared to older age groups.