Personal and perceived public mental-health stigma as predictors of help-seeking intentions in adolescents

Finiki A Nearchou; Niamh Bird; Audrey Costello; Sophie Duggan; Jessica Gilroy; Roisin Long; Laura McHugh; Eilis Hennessy

doi:10.1016/j.adolescence.2018.05.003

Personal and perceived public mental-health stigma as predictors of help-seeking intentions in adolescents

J Adolesc. 2018 Jul:66:83-90. doi: 10.1016/j.adolescence.2018.05.003. Epub 2018 May 23.

Authors

Finiki A Nearchou¹, Niamh Bird², Audrey Costello³, Sophie Duggan⁴, Jessica Gilroy⁵, Roisin Long⁶, Laura McHugh⁷, Eilis Hennessy⁸

Affiliations

¹ University College Dublin, School of Psychology, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland. Electronic address: niki.nearchou@ucd.ie.
² University College Dublin, School of Psychology, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland. Electronic address: niamh.bird@ucdconnect.ie.
³ University College Dublin, School of Psychology, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland. Electronic address: audrey.costello@ucdconnect.ie.
⁴ University College Dublin, School of Psychology, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland. Electronic address: sophie.duggan@ucdconnect.ie.
⁵ University College Dublin, School of Psychology, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland. Electronic address: jessica.gilroy@ucdconnect.ie.
⁶ University College Dublin, School of Psychology, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland. Electronic address: roisin.long@ucdconnect.ie.
⁷ University College Dublin, School of Psychology, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland. Electronic address: laura.mc-hugh.1@ucdconnect.ie.
⁸ University College Dublin, School of Psychology, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland. Electronic address: eilis.hennessy@ucd.ie.

PMID: 29800758
DOI: 10.1016/j.adolescence.2018.05.003

Abstract

This study aimed to determine predictors of help-seeking intentions for symptoms of depression/anxiety and self-harm in adolescents. It focused on personal and perceived public stigma to gather data of value for the design of anti-stigma interventions. Participants (n = 722; 368 girls) were recruited from three cohorts of secondary school students in Ireland (mean ages: 1st = 12.9 years; 3rd = 14.9 years; 5th = 16.6 years). Hierarchical regression models indicated that perceived public stigma is a significant unique predictor of help-seeking intentions for depression [F(4, 717) = 13.4, p < .001] and self-harm [F(4, 717) = 13.5, p < .001]. This indicates that young people's beliefs about other people's stigma towards mental health problems was a stronger predictor of help-seeking intentions than their own stigma beliefs. These findings highlight the importance of looking separately at different types of stigma when investigating the role of stigma in predicting help-seeking intentions.

Keywords: Adolescence; Help-seeking; Mental health; Personal stigma; Public stigma.

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Anxiety / psychology
Child
Depression / psychology
Female
Help-Seeking Behavior*
Humans
Intention
Ireland
Male
Mental Health*
Perception
Social Stigma*