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. 2023 Aug 10;23(1):579.
doi: 10.1186/s12888-023-05054-7.

Spanish media coverage of youth mental health issues during the COVID-19 pandemic

Juan Pablo Carrasco  1   2 , Anne-Marie Saucier  3 , Rob Whitley  3   4
Affiliations

Spanish media coverage of youth mental health issues during the COVID-19 pandemic

Juan Pablo Carrasco et al. BMC Psychiatry. .

Abstract

Background: The media portrayal of mental health is relevant in shaping the population's attitudes towards mental disorders. However, there is little information about the representation of young mental health issues in the Spanish-language press, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The general objective of this study was to analyse the tone and content of Spanish newspaper articles about mental disorders in youth during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: We collected media articles from the 10 most read news sources over a 6 month period (January-June 2021). These articles were coded for content using a standardised codebook, followed by an inductive thematic analysis. A total of 205 news items were evaluated.

Results: Results showed that the majority of the news items had an overall positive tone (68.3%), only 5.4% were stigmatising and only 7.3% were related to violence. However, few articles offered help seeking information (6%), adolescents were rarely quoted (14%) and children were never quoted. Substantial differences are described in terms of age, gender and disorder. The thematic analysis led to three emergent themes: (i) violence and victimisation; (ii) the COVID-19 pandemic; and (iii) technology and social media.

Conclusions: The percentage of news in the Spanish media that refer to young people's mental health in a stigmatising way or in a way associated with violence is very low. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic may have promoted more positive discussion about youth mental health. However, major challenges remain to be addressed, as patients are seldom quoted, very few articles offer help-seeking information, and a narrative of victimisation without appropriate discussion of resilience regularly occurs.

Keywords: Child; Mass media; Mental disorder; Mental health; Stigma; Youth.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Selection flowchart of news items
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The figure shows the percentages (relative frequencies) of news items grouped by those whose protagonist is male or female, for the most relevant categories in Tables 2 and 3
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
The figure shows the percentages (relative frequencies) of news items grouped by those whose protagonist is a child, an adolescent or both, for the most relevant categories in Tables 2 and 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
The figure shows the percentages (relative frequencies) of news items grouped by those whose protagonist is a young person diagnosed with psychosis or conduct disorders, anorexia, anxiety or depression, suicidal ideation or behaviour, and ADHD or autism or videogame addictions, for the most relevant categories in Tables 2 and 3
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Percentage of articles in which the described sub-themes are discussed (out of the total number of articles, N = 205)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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