Autonomy versus support: self‑reliance and help‑seeking for mental health problems in young people

Abstract

<p><b>Purpose</b> Many young people with mental ill-health do not seek support, and developmental growth in self-reliance may be a barrier to help-seeking. Increasing autonomy is a positive developmental task for youth and a key aspect of resilience. This study examined the infuence of perceived social support and resilience on the previously unexamined relationship between self-reliance and intentions to seek help from informal, professional, and self-help sources for mental health problems. <p><b>Methods</b> An online survey was completed by a representative Australian community sample of 5,203 young people aged 12–25 years (half female), in May–June 2020.</p> <p><b>Results</b> Path analysis showed the hypothesised conceptual model did not ft the data well, but a modifed model was a good ft. Higher self-reliance was associated with lower intentions to seek informal and professional help, as expected, but not with greater intentions for self-help. The relationship between self-reliance and informal help-seeking intentions was fully mediated by perceived social support, whereas the relationship between self-reliance and professional help-seeking was also direct. Perceived social support fully mediated the relationship between self-reliance and resilience. Intentions to use selfhelp were not infuenced by variables in the study, but higher self-help intentions were associated with higher professional help-seeking intentions. Associations were consistent across age and gender groups.</p> <p><b>Conclusion</b> The results show the critical role of social support for combating some of the unhelpful aspects of self-reliance for mental health help-seeking in young people. Future research should explore how self-reliance can hinder or be harnessed to facilitate accessing appropriate mental health.</p>