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

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Abstract

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.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Counseling, Higher Education, and Special Education, 3234 Benjamin Building, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA

    Cixin Wang

  2. Graduate School of Education, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, 92521, USA

    Kristine M. Cramer

  3. Department of Counseling Psychology, School of Education, University of San Francisco, 2130 Fulton St., San Francisco, CA, 94117, USA

    Hsiu-Lan Cheng

  4. Department of Human Ecology, 2103 Richard A. Henson Center, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Princess Anne, MD, 21853, USA

    Kieu Anh Do

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  1. Cixin Wang
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  2. Kristine M. Cramer
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  3. Hsiu-Lan Cheng
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  4. Kieu Anh Do
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Correspondence to Cixin Wang.

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Wang, C., Cramer, K.M., Cheng, HL. et al. Associations Between Depression Literacy and Help-Seeking Behavior for Mental Health Services Among High School Students. School Mental Health 11, 707–718 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-019-09325-1

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