Associations Between Depression Literacy and Help-Seeking Behavior for Mental Health Services Among High School Students

Despite the growth in school-based mental health services (SBMHS), rates of mental health help-seeking among adolescents remain low, especially for ethnic minority youth. This study examined factors associated with adolescents’ help-seeking of mental health services among a sample of 369 racially di...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:School mental health 2019-12, Vol.11 (4), p.707-718
Main Authors: Wang, Cixin, Cramer, Kristine M., Cheng, Hsiu-Lan, Do, Kieu Anh
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescents
Asian Americans
Attitudes
Barriers
Behavior Problems
Behavioral Science and Psychology
Black college students
Child and School Psychology
Clinical Psychology
College Students
Depression (Psychology)
Developmental Psychology
Education
Emotional Problems
Health education
Health literacy
Health services
Help Seeking
Help seeking behavior
High School Students
Knowledge
Mental depression
Mental disorders
Mental health care
Mental Health Programs
Minority & ethnic groups
Minority Group Students
Minority students
Multiple Literacies
Original Paper
Peers
Psychology
School Health Services
Secondary school students
Secondary schools
Social Bias
Stigma
Student Behavior
Teenagers
White people
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Summary:Despite the growth in school-based mental health services (SBMHS), rates of mental health help-seeking among adolescents remain low, especially for ethnic minority youth. This study examined factors associated with adolescents’ help-seeking of mental health services among a sample of 369 racially diverse high school students (age M  = 15.5 years, SD = 0.72, 81.3% were ethnic minorities). We examined the relationships among mental health literacy for depression, knowledge barriers related to services and providers, perceived stigmatization by others, emotional/behavioral difficulties, and actual help-seeking behavior. Logistic regression results showed that adolescents with higher mental health literacy for depression and more emotional/behavioral difficulties are more likely to report seeking help in general and from providers outside of school specifically, but not for services inside of school alone. Asian-American students were less likely to seek help than Caucasian peers. It is important to promote mental health literacy to encourage help-seeking among high school students.
ISSN:1866-2625
1866-2633
DOI:10.1007/s12310-019-09325-1