Journal article : Review
The romanticisation of mental health problems in adolescents and its implications: a narrative review
- Abstract:
- Romanticisation is the perception and portrayal of a phenomenon as more attractive, interesting, cool, profound or desirable than it really is. There are concerns that mental health problems are increasingly romanticised, particularly among adolescents, but there is limited research on this topic. This narrative review investigated: (1) what romanticisation is in the context of adolescent mental health problems, (2) why adolescents might romanticise mental health problems, (3) the implications of romanticising mental health problems in adolescence, and (4) what interventions might reduce this phenomenon. Sixty-one publications were reviewed, including qualitative and quantitative analyses, cross-sectional and longitudinal self-report studies and conceptual reviews. Most investigated romanticisation of mental health problems online, with most researchers situated in a Western context. Identity formation, popular media influences and peer influences arose as potential explanatory factors. Negative outcomes to romanticisation were indicated, including the reinforcement of mental health problems and reduced help-seeking; few interventions to reduce the phenomenon have been proposed to date.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
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(Preview, Version of record, pdf, 1.0MB, Terms of use)
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- Publisher copy:
- 10.1007/s00787-025-02701-0
Authors
- Publisher:
- Springer Nature
- Journal:
- European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry More from this journal
- Volume:
- 34
- Issue:
- 8
- Pages:
- 2297–2326
- Place of publication:
- Germany
- Publication date:
- 2025-04-12
- Acceptance date:
- 2025-03-24
- DOI:
- EISSN:
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1435-165X
- ISSN:
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1018-8827
- Pmid:
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40220194
- Language:
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English
- Keywords:
- Subtype:
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Review
- Pubs id:
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2118949
- Local pid:
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pubs:2118949
- Deposit date:
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2025-06-02
- ARK identifier:
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Ndour and Foulkes
- Copyright date:
- 2025
- Rights statement:
- ©2025 The Authors. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.
- Licence:
- CC Attribution (CC BY)
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