Abstract

Introduction: Since the changes brought about by the pandemic confinement, mental health in the education sector became relevant, since these alterations to academic practices are recently showing consequences in the mental health of students. Objective: To construct and validate an instrument that measures mental health from a socioeconomic perspective, which conceives mental health as a social emergent. Methodology: A quantitative, non-experimental, cross-sectional study was carried out. The sample consisted of 313 university students. From a socioeconomic theoretical perspective, the instrument was configured by seven dimensions, distributed in 24 items which were measured by a Likert-type scale. Results: 309 subjects completed the instrument correctly. The created questionnaire showed adequate psychometric indices. The seven dimensions that have been theoretically defined Mental Health (MH); Academic Load (AC); Academic Performance (AR); Family Support (FS); Peer Relationship (PR); Teacher Disposition towards the student's mental health (DD); and Institutional Programmatic Offering (OP). They can explain 68.7% of the variance of the construct. Conclusion: The mental health perception scale for university students has validity and reliability, that allows its application as an adequate and relevant instrument. © 2025, HISIN (History of Information Systems). All rights reserved.