Psychology Commons^™

Can Hopelessness And Adolescents’ Beliefs And Attitudes About Seeking Help Account For Help Negation?, Coralie J. Wilson

Frank Deane

Avoidance of appropriate help is common in acutely suicidal samples and has been confirmed in nonclinical samples but factors that contribute to this help negation effect remain unclear. The current study is the second in series from the first author's larger PhD research program. In a sample of 269 nonclinical Australian high school students, the current study examines the impact of hopelessness, previous mental health care, beliefs, and attitudes toward professional psychological help on the help negation relationship. Results revealed that suicidal ideation significantly predicted lower help seeking intentions and that although hopelessness could not explain the help negation effect, …

Help Seeking For Mental Health Problems In Adolescence And Early Adulthood., Coralie J. Wilson

Coralie J Wilson

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Adolescence and young adulthood are critical life stages for mental health, as this is the period when most mental health problems and mental disorders have their peak incidence. It is also a time of increased suicidal ideation and frequency of suicide attempts. Despite the importance of adolescence and young adulthood in the aetiology of mental disorders, there is evidence that young people may be poorly informed about mental health and are unlikely to consult a professional for their mental health problems. Help-seeking is a term used to refer to the behaviour of actively seeking help from other people. …

Measuring Help-Seeking Intentions: Properties Of The General Help-Seeking Questionnaire, Coralie J. Wilson

Coralie J Wilson

A clear understanding of help-seeking intentions and behavior is fundamental to the identification of factors that can be modified to facilitate young people’s help-seeking when they are psychologically distressed or suicidal. Despite considerable research on help-seeking intentions and behavior for personal-emotional or distressing problems, integrating prior research has been impeded by a lack of consistent and psychometrically sound help-seeking measures. The General Help-Seeking Questionnaire (GHSQ) was developed to formally assess two aspects of help-seeking: (1) current intentions to seek help from different sources for different problems; and (2) quantity and quality of previous professional psychological helping episodes. The current study …

Measuring Help-Seeking Intentions: Properties Of The General Help-Seeking Questionnaire, Coralie J. Wilson

Frank Deane

A clear understanding of help-seeking intentions and behavior is fundamental to the identification of factors that can be modified to facilitate young people’s help-seeking when they are psychologically distressed or suicidal. Despite considerable research on help-seeking intentions and behavior for personal-emotional or distressing problems, integrating prior research has been impeded by a lack of consistent and psychometrically sound help-seeking measures. The General Help-Seeking Questionnaire (GHSQ) was developed to formally assess two aspects of help-seeking: (1) current intentions to seek help from different sources for different problems; and (2) quantity and quality of previous professional psychological helping episodes. The current study …

Can Hopelessness And Adolescents’ Beliefs And Attitudes About Seeking Help Account For Help Negation?, Coralie J. Wilson

Coralie J Wilson

Avoidance of appropriate help is common in acutely suicidal samples and has been confirmed in nonclinical samples but factors that contribute to this help negation effect remain unclear. The current study is the second in series from the first author's larger PhD research program. In a sample of 269 nonclinical Australian high school students, the current study examines the impact of hopelessness, previous mental health care, beliefs, and attitudes toward professional psychological help on the help negation relationship. Results revealed that suicidal ideation significantly predicted lower help seeking intentions and that although hopelessness could not explain the help negation effect, …

Hiding In Plain Sight: A Practical Guide To Identifying Victims Of Trafficking In The United States, Donna M. Hughes Dr.

Donna M. Hughes

Suicidal Ideation And Help-Negation: Not Just Hopelessness Or Prior Help., Coralie Wilson

Coralie J Wilson

Few distressed young people seek professional psychological help and little is known about what sources of help young people seek for different problems. In suicidal youth, poor help-seeking may be exacerbated by the process of help-negation. The current study is the first of a larger program of PhD research developed and led by the second author. In the current study, three hundred and two undergraduate university students completed a questionnaire measuring suicidal ideation, hopelessness, prior help-seeking experience, and help-seeking intentions. Participants indicated they would seek help from different sources of help for different types of problems, but friends were consistently …

Adolescent Opinions About Reducing Help-Seeking Barriers And Increasing Engagement., Coralie Wilson

Coralie J Wilson

Effective mental illness prevention programs are important for the safety of youth and adolescents. Research suggests that programs should facilitate appropriate help-seeking by lowering help-seeking barriers. This study used focus groups to obtain high school student opinions about actual help-seeking behaviors, reducing adolescent help-seeking barriers, raising sensitive issues with adolescents, and increasing appropriate help-source engagement. Transcript analysis revealed several themes. Relationship and trust were key approach factors for current help-seeking. Memories of successful prior helping episodes were also important. Education about appropriate help-seeking, presented in ways consistent with those currently used by adolescents (e.g., through peer networks), might reduce help-seeking …

Suicidal Ideation And Help-Negation: Not Just Hopelessness Or Prior Help., Coralie J. Wilson

Frank Deane

Few distressed young people seek professional psychological help and little is known about what sources of help young people seek for different problems. In suicidal youth, poor help-seeking may be exacerbated by the process of help-negation. The current study is the first of a larger program of PhD research developed and led by the second author. In the current study, three hundred and two undergraduate university students completed a questionnaire measuring suicidal ideation, hopelessness, prior help-seeking experience, and help-seeking intentions. Participants indicated they would seek help from different sources of help for different types of problems, but friends were consistently …

Adolescent Opinions About Reducing Help-Seeking Barriers And Increasing Engagement., Coralie J. Wilson

Frank Deane

Effective mental illness prevention programs are important for the safety of youth and adolescents. Research suggests that programs should facilitate appropriate help-seeking by lowering help-seeking barriers. This study used focus groups to obtain high school student opinions about actual help-seeking behaviors, reducing adolescent help-seeking barriers, raising sensitive issues with adolescents, and increasing appropriate help-source engagement. Transcript analysis revealed several themes. Relationship and trust were key approach factors for current help-seeking. Memories of successful prior helping episodes were also important. Education about appropriate help-seeking, presented in ways consistent with those currently used by adolescents (e.g., through peer networks), might reduce help-seeking …

Relationship Of Family Structure To Adolescent Drug Use, Peer Affiliation, And Perception Of Peer Acceptance Of Drug Use, Jeanne Jenkins, Sabina Zunguze

Jeanne E. Jenkins

The sample consisted of 2,229 high school students who were administered a self-report instrument containing items measuring drug use and psychosocial variables. Dependent variables included frequency of use of five gateway drugs [cigarettes, marijuana, beer, wine coolers, and liquor], degree of affiliation with drug- using peers, and perceptions of peer acceptance of drugs. Comparison groups included single-parent [both mother- and father-headed], step-parent, and intact families. Analysis conducted separately by grade level revealed significant differences between groups on drug use variables in grades 8 and 10, with adolescents from intact families reporting less frequent drug use, fewer drug-using friends, and perceptions …