Factors that influence young people’s mental health help-seeking behavior: A study based on the Health Belief Model

Mental Illness is highly prevalent in adolescents and young adults, however individuals in this demographic group are among the least likely to seek help for such illnesses. To address this problem, the current study sought to identify predictors of help seeking behaviour in young people. Participants included 180 volunteers between the ages of 17 and 25, who completed several questionnaire’s designed to measure hypothesized predictors and moderators of help-seeking behaviour. Predictors included a range of health beliefs, personality traits and attitudes. Direct predictors of intentions to seek help included extraversion, perceived benefits of seeking help, and perceived barriers to seeking help (overall R2 = 0.40). Importantly, tests of hypothesised moderated relationships indicated that perceived benefits were more important than barriers, such that barriers were irrelevant when individuals believed that they would benefit from seeking help. Additionally, perceived susceptibility did not predict help seeking behaviours, unless individuals were health conscious to begin. Overall, the variable ‘Perceived Benefits’ was found to be of particular importance as it is 1) a strong and robust predictor of help seeking behaviors and 2) a factor that can theoretically be modified based on interventions and community awareness programs