The study investigates young people conceptions of health and mental illness. The theoretical approach understands that the process of construction of health and disease is influenced by individual, family and sociocultural factors. Participants were 1163 young people of both sexes with a mean age of 15.84 years. A Self-administered questionnaire was formulated in a previous study with young Portuguese-speaking Switzerland. Mental health and illness concepts were investigated and also others issues about it. In the results, we found aspects of holist and traditional concepts of mental health. Mental illness was characterized as an emotional disorder, revealing the influence of internal and relational experiences in the design of mental illness. Socioeconomic differences were observed in this concept.
adolescents; young people; mental health; mental illness; concepts of mental health-illness
