Sociodemographic, cultural and interpersonal risk factors as indicators of mental health needs.

The goal of this paper is to examine an integrated model of mental health needs which takes into consideration psychiatric symptoms and dysfunctions, behavioral dimensions, as well as socioeconomic and cultural factors. This model presupposes that specific life situations and positions of the respondent in different dimensions of the social structure are basic factors for the identification of mental health needs. The method of data collection was a personal interview with a sample of two hundred community members, 18 to 64 years, selected using a stratified random sampling based on the criteria of sex and age. Statistically significant differences were identified between age, sex, education, social role performance, subjective perceptions, and levels of mental health need. This evidence suggests that social roles and specific risk factors are basic elements in determining mental health needs.