Age analysis of newspaper coverage of mental illness

In this study, we examine newspaper coverage of mental illness in children and adults taken from 6 weeks during a 1-year period. Articles were coded for (1) type of article; (2) types of disorders named or described; (3) themes related to crime, attributions of the disorder, treatments, and critiques of the mental health system; and (4) "elements of responsible journalism," including inclusion of perspectives from mental health experts, statistics related to mental illness, referrals to additional sources of information, and avoidance of slang terminology. We examine how these variables differ by the age of the group discussed in the article: children/adolescents and adults/older adults. One thousand two hundred fifty-two articles were coded for these four clusters as well as age of group discussed in the article. Inter-rater correlations of two independent judges were satisfactory for 10% of the stories. Age group comparisons revealed that the child articles contained a significantly higher proportion of feature articles; were significantly more likely to discuss behavior and conduct disorders, and alcohol and drug abuse, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anxiety disorders, and eating disorders, and to contain themes of causation, treatment, and critiques of the mental health system. The adult articles contained a significantly higher proportion of episodic news stories and were significantly more likely to present themes of dangerousness and crime. Our analysis found that child articles were significantly more likely to incorporate elements of responsible journalism, while adult articles were significantly more likely to use stigmatizing terminology. Our report encourages journalists to develop contextually comprehensive and informative presentations of mental illness and issues surrounding the mental health system for all population groups in order to provide readers with accurate information within the context of general social trends and relevant expert opinion.