The personal service gap: Factors affecting adolescents' willingness to seek help

• Published in: Journal of adolescence (London, England.) Vol. 32; no. 3; pp. 483 - 499
• Main Authors: Raviv, Amiram, Raviv, Alona, Vago-Gefen, Idit, Fink, Abby Schachter
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.06.2009; Elsevier; John Wiley & Sons, Inc
• Subjects: Adaptation, Psychological; Adolescent; Adolescent Behavior - psychology; Adolescent help-seeking behavior; Adolescents; Adolescents' attitudes toward seeking help; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Attitude Measures; Attitude to Health; Attitudes; Barriers; Barriers to help-seeking among adolescents; Biological and medical sciences; Constraints; Coping; Correlation; Developmental psychology; Emotional disorders; Emotional Problems; Emotions; Factor Analysis, Statistical; Female; Foreign Countries; Friends; Friendship; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gender differences; Gender differences in adolescent help-seeking behavior; Grade 10; Grade 12; Help Seeking; Help Seeking Behavior; Helping Behavior; Humans; Informal and formal help sources; Israel; Male; Medical sciences; Miscellaneous; Pediatrics; Peer Group; Peers; Psychologists; Psychology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Referral; Self-coping; Sex Differences; Sex Factors; Social Support; Surveys and Questionnaires; Symptoms (Individual Disorders); Teenagers; Israel; Self-coping; Barriers to help-seeking among adolescents; Informal and formal help sources; Gender differences in adolescent help-seeking behavior; Adolescents' attitudes toward seeking help; Adolescent help-seeking behavior; Human; Help seeking; Attitude; Psychological counseling; Sex; Emotional disorder; Treatment; Adolescent; Coping
• ISSN: 0140-1971; 1095-9254; 1095-9254
• DOI: 10.1016/j.adolescence.2008.07.004

The study explores adolescents' attitudes toward seeking help for emotional problems. The personal service gap is examined by asking adolescents about their willingness to refer themselves and others to formal (psychologists) and informal (friends) help sources, using a within-subjects design. The study included 662 Israeli adolescents in the 10th and 12th grades. The results indicate that adolescents refer peers more than themselves to a psychologist and to a friend. They are also more willing to refer themselves and peers to a friend rather than to a psychologist. Barriers to seeking psychological help are explored and significant correlations between perceptions of psychological benefit, problem severity and barriers to help seeking are described. Recommendations for increasing adolescents' awareness and use of help sources are suggested.