Cover Image

An examination of sociodemographic and clinical factors influencing help-seeking attitudes and behaviors among adolescents with mental health problems

This study investigated sociodemographic and clinical factors influencing help-seeking attitudes and behavior among adolescents with mental health problems. As part of the ProHEAD (“Promoting Help-seeking using E-technology for ADolescents”) consortium a school-based, online assessment of sociodemog...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Cavelti, Marialuisa (Author) , Ruppen, Noemi Anne (Author) , Sele, Silvano (Author) , Moessner, Markus (Author) , Bauer, Stephanie (Author) , Becker, Katja (Author) , Krämer, Jennifer (Author) , Eschenbeck, Heike (Author) , Rummel-Kluge, Christine (Author) , Thomasius, Rainer (Author) , Diestelkamp, Silke (Author) , Gillé, Vera (Author) , Baldofski, Sabrina (Author) , Koenig, Julian (Author) , Kaess, Michael (Author)
Format: Article (Journal)
Language:English
Published: 2025
In: European child & adolescent psychiatry
Year: 2025, Volume: 34, Pages: 1391-1402
ISSN:1435-165X
DOI:10.1007/s00787-024-02568-7
Online Access:Verlag, kostenfrei, Volltext: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-024-02568-7
Get full text
Author Notes:Marialuisa Cavelti, Noemi Anne Ruppen, Silvano Sele, Markus Moessner, Stephanie Bauer, Katja Becker, Jennifer Krämer, Heike Eschenbeck, Christine Rummel-Kluge, Rainer Thomasius, Silke Diestelkamp, Vera Gillé, Sabrina Baldofski, Julian Koenig, the ProHEAD-Consortium, Michael Kaess
Description
Summary:This study investigated sociodemographic and clinical factors influencing help-seeking attitudes and behavior among adolescents with mental health problems. As part of the ProHEAD (“Promoting Help-seeking using E-technology for ADolescents”) consortium a school-based, online assessment of sociodemographic information, psychopathology, risk-taking and self-harming behavior, help-seeking attitudes and behavior, and barriers to help-seeking was conducted in adolescents aged ≥ 12 years recruited from randomly selected schools in five regions of Germany. Linear regression analyses with the LMG formula were performed to explore predictors of help-seeking attitudes and behavior and assess their relative importance. Nine thousand five hundred and nine participants (95.5%) completed the online assessment (mean age: 15.1 years, 58.6% female). In total, 1606 participants (16.9%) showed relevant mental health problems (e.g., depressive and eating disorder symptoms, alcohol problems, and thoughts of self-harming behavior). Among them, 895 (55.7%) reported having sought help (lifetime), with higher rates for informal (n = 842, 52.4%) compared to professional (n = 380, 23.7%) sources. High help-seeking propensity emerged as the most important factor contributing to professional help-seeking, followed by elevated levels of psychopathology and perceived barriers, with sociodemographic factors being less impactful. Psychopathological severity also outweighed sociodemographic factors in predicting negative help-seeking attitudes. These findings indicate that attitudes towards seeking professional help, perceived barriers, and psychopathology severity critically influence limited adolescent help-seeking behavior. This emphasizes the need for initiatives that promote help-seeking, reduce negative attitudes, and address structural barriers in adolescent mental health care.
Item Description:Online veröffentlicht: 27. August 2024
Online veröffentlicht: 27. August 2024
Gesehen am 24.10.2024
Physical Description:Online Resource
ISSN:1435-165X
DOI:10.1007/s00787-024-02568-7

Similar Items