Skip to content
Skip to main content

About this free course

Download this course

Share this free course

Introduction to adolescent mental health
Introduction to adolescent mental health

Start this free course now. Just create an account and sign in. Enrol and complete the course for a free statement of participation or digital badge if available.

Acknowledgements

This free course was written by Victoria Cooper, Sharon Mallon and Anthea Wilson and was published December 2021. We would also to thank Jennifer Colloby, Steven Harrison and Karen Horsley for their key contributions and critical reading of this course. We would like to thank the parents, young people and professionals who shared their experiences with us.Their willingness to share sensitive and highly personal accounts of having or supporting those with mental health challenges adds greatly to this course and we will hope will benefit all those who find themselves in similar situation.

Except for third party materials and otherwise stated (see terms and conditions [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] ), this content is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence.

The material acknowledged below (and within the course) is Proprietary and used under licence (not subject to Creative Commons Licence). Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following sources for permission to reproduce material in this free course:

Session 2: Understanding Adolescence

Figures

Figure 1: GoodStudio/Shutterstock.com

Figure 2: Frederick Gutekunst (1831–1917) Blue pencil.svg wikidata:Q1452890 https://commons.wikimedia.org/ w/ index.php?curid=1292633

Figure 4: from: Abreu, A. P. and Kaiser, U. B.(2016) ‘Pubertal development and regulation’, The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, vol 4, no. 3, pp. 254-264.)

Figure 6: Kevin the Teenager (from BBC comedy) Tiger Aspect Production/ ©BBC

Figure 7: adapted ©Viktoria Kabanova|Alamy Images

Figure 8: Purestock/Alamy Stock Photo

Figure 9: adapted from Gardner, M. and Steinberg, L. (2005) ‘Peer influence on risk taking, risk preference, and risky decision making in adolescence and adulthood: an experimental study’, Developmental Psychology, vol. 41, no. 4, pp. 625–35.

Figure 10: ©John Birdsall/Alamy Stock Photo

Figure 11: ANDY HARMER/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/Universal Images Group

Figure 13: ©Centre for Mental Health https://www.centreformentalhealth.org.uk/ mental-health-among-children-and-young-people

Audio/Video

Video 1: Reflecting on Adolescence: Martha and Josie: © The Open University

Video 5: Gerine Lodder | TEDxGroningen TEDx Talks https://creativecommons.org/ licenses/ by-nc-nd/ 4.0/

Video: Activity 8 created by The Open University using Elucidate software under licence

Every effort has been made to contact copyright owners. If any have been inadvertently overlooked, the publishers will be pleased to make the necessary arrangements at the first opportunity.

Don’t miss out

If reading this text has inspired you to learn more, you may be interested in joining the millions of people who discover our free learning resources and qualifications by visiting The Open University – www.open.edu/ openlearn/ free-courses.