STRATHCLYDE University has launched a study into young men’s mental health, in collaboration with Dundee University and Monash University in Melbourne.
The two-year Men Minds project will focus on three groups of adolescent young men – those who are migrants, LGBTQ+ or who are in conflict with the law.
These groups typically face additional challenges to their mental health and wellbeing in comparison to the average person, as well as barriers to accessing mental health supports or participating in research.
The study aims to increase our knowledge of the mental health issues relating to marginalised adolescents, as well as of the help systems and strategies available, engaging with a wide range of non-academic partners in a bid to ensure that any resulting policy and practice change leads to “long-lasting real-world impact”.
Iain Corbett, one of Strathclyde’s Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice’s (CYCJ) latest recruits as a participation adviser, said that mental health issues had a significant influence on his experience as a young man.
He said: “I grew up in a low-income family and in my teens, I had three family bereavements in quick succession, and it really affected my mental health.
“I don’t see it as an excuse but after this happened, my behaviour began to spiral. I ended up with some convictions for minor offences but after my first conviction, I found I didn’t really care about the others I got. I knew that what I was doing wasn’t right but I didn’t think about any repercussions.
“It was a difficult time, I could see my peers around me were also struggling. I had friends who died, through suicide and through drink-driving, while others went to prison.”
The university also hopes to boost understanding of how young people from marginalised groups can be “engaged effectively in co-producing research” through the project.
Dr Nina Vaswani, a research fellow at the CYCJ – who is leading the study – said: “Mental health is one of the main challenges that marginalised young men face but their mental health is less well understood because of the barriers they face to participating in research.
“We’re aiming to work with young men to increase knowledge about what are suitable research methods and suitable interventions for them.
“It’s about creating an environment in which we can explore these ideas, to make information more inclusive and to support young men to lead on developing better research.
“The knowledge that we will gain from having more accessible research methods will also feed into service provision, practice and policy. Our non-academic partners will help with translating this new knowledge into tangible change for young men.”
The project is funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC), in collaboration with the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), all of which are part of UKRI (UK Research and Innovation).
