This study aimed to investigate the mental health perception of teenagers from different socioeconomic backgrounds. A total of 252 students from the Federal District´s High School, being 129 from private school located in a high Human Development Index (HDI) region (54.3% female, 34.1% in the last year of high school and 48.8% aged over 16 years old) and 123 from public school located in a low HDI region (52.8% female, 82.9% from the 1st year of high school and 32.8% at the age of 16). The teenagers were asked to complete drawings by the phrase: "For myself, being mentally and emotionally healthy is ...". The analysis of drawings resulted in 312 mental health representations and 11 thematic categories. In general, the mental health representations were guided by an ecological view, represented mainly by human figures with related content to personal well-being, representations of inter-relational links and intra-family and social contexts.
adolescence; conceptions of mental health; Ecology of Human Development; socio-economic conditions
