Gender and ethnic differences in formal and informal help seeking among Israeli adolescents.

This study examines the willingness of Jewish and Arab Israeli adolescents to look for help in times of distress and explores the factors that are associated with the willingness of these adolescents to look for help from formal vs. informal sources. The sample consisted of 6017 randomly selected respondents, 14-18 years old, attending secondary schools. Multiple regression analyses were used in order to explore what predicts formal vs. informal help seeking. Results indicate that satisfaction with school, family and friends, and ethnicity are all important predictors that are associated with the willingness of Israeli adolescents to ask for formal and informal help. The interaction between gender and ethnicity was also examined. The findings present the specific differences between formal and informal help seeking and are discussed in the Israeli context.

[1]  Gustavo S. Mesch,et al.  Fear of Crime and Individual Crime Protective Actions in Israel , 1998 .

[2]  E. Zigler,et al.  Psychological correlates of help-seeking attitudes among children and adolescents. , 1994, The American journal of orthopsychiatry.

[3]  R. Hubbard,et al.  The Vulnerable Aged: People, Services, and Policies , 1990 .

[4]  R. Corney,et al.  Sex differences in general practice attendance and help seeking for minor illness. , 1990, Journal of psychosomatic research.

[5]  E. Dubow,et al.  Demographic Differences in Adolescents' Health Concerns and Perceptions of Helping Agents , 1990 .

[6]  G. R. Farris.  General Practice , 1999 .

[7]  S. Lavy,et al.  Help-seeking atititudes among Israeli adolescents. , 2001, Adolescence.

[8]  V. Braithwaite,et al.  Social-psychological factors affecting help-seeking for emotional problems. , 1994, Social science & medicine.

[9]  D. F. Morrison,et al.  Multivariate Statistical Methods , 1968 .

[10]  H. Ruch-Ross,et al.  Comparisons between inner-city and private school adolescents' perceptions of health problems. , 1982, Journal of adolescent health care : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine.

[11]  N. Gourash,et al.  Help-Seeking: A review of the literature , 1978, American journal of community psychology.

[12]  Barry J. Fallon,et al.  Adolescent help-seeking: what do they get help for and from whom? , 1995 .

[13]  Tarkka Marja-Terttu,et al.  Relationships among adolescent subjective well-being, health behavior, and school satisfaction. , 2002, The Journal of school health.

[14]  P. Blau.  Exchange and Power in Social Life , 1964 .

[15]  K. Schonert-Reichl,et al.  Correlates of help-seeking in adolescence , 1996 .

[16]  H. Temkin-Greener,et al.  Ethnicity, gender, and utilization of mental health services in a Medicaid population. , 1988, Social science & medicine.

[17]  D. Offer,et al.  To whom do adolescents turn for help? Differences between disturbed and nondisturbed adolescents. , 1991, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

[18]  Ness T. Morgan,et al.  Students' Help-Seeking Behaviours by Gender, Racial Background, and Student Status. , 2003 .

[19]  M Davies,et al.  Uncommon troubles in young people: prevalence estimates of selected psychiatric disorders in a nonreferred adolescent population. , 1990, Archives of general psychiatry.

[20]  A. Raviv,et al.  Adolescents' help-seeking behaviour: the difference between self- and other-referral. , 2000, Journal des adolescens.

[21]  Adams Js.  Towards an understanding of inequity , 1963 .

[22]  R. Blum,et al.  Formal help-seeking behavior of adolescents identifying themselves as having mental health problems. , 1994, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

[23]  P. Shrout,et al.  Minor depression in a cohort of young adults in Israel. , 1994, Archives of general psychiatry.

[24]  Kenneth Sullivan,et al.  Adolescent–parent separation. , 1980 .

[25]  P. Pintrich,et al.  "Should I ask for help?" The role of motivation and attitudes in adolescents' help seeking in math class. , 1997 .

[26]  M. Tatar.  Comparing adolescents' considerations for self-referral and counsellors' perceptions of these considerations: an exploratory study. , 2001, Journal of adolescence.

[27]  J. Edleson,et al.  Future interventions with battered women and their families , 1996 .

[28]  M. Greenberg,et al.  Indebtedness: An adverse aspect of asking for and receiving help. , 1971 .

[29]  Arie Nadler,et al.  Determinants of help seeking behaviour: The effects of helper's similarity, task centrality and recipient's self esteem , 1987 .

[30]  H. Adelman,et al.  Mental health and help-seeking among ethnic minority adolescents , 1994 .

[31]  B. Weiner,et al.  An attributional analysis of achievement motivation. , 1970 .

[32]  S H Schwartz,et al.  Help seeking, self-esteem, and achievement motivation: an attributional analysis. , 1972, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[33]  College students' help-seeking preferences. , 1982 .

[34]  M. Yeh,et al.  Children and adolescents in community health centers: Does the ethnicity or the language of the therapist matter? , 1994 .