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Master Thesis
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| Author |
Loo, Elias Pek Hee |
| Title | Personal factors affecting adolescents' willingness to seek psychological help |
| Institute | Thesis (M.A.) (Applied Psychology) National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University |
| Year | 2001 |
| Supervisor | |
| Call no. | RT637.C6 Loo |
Summary
Why are youths in schools not seeking professional psychological help for their personal problems despite a greater awareness of counseling services available in the community and schools ? Although fewer youths were caught committing crimes in the first half of 2000 as compared to the same period in 1999 (Leong, 2000), more have been arrested for arrested for crimes in the first half of 2000 (Chong and Lum, 2000). The seriousness of youth problems in spite of the increased number of avenues open for adolescents to seek help is an interesting phenomenon. This study attempts to examine some personal factors and attitudes influencing adolescents' willingness to seek professional help for their emotional problems the relation between self-disclosure to a counselor, self-concealment and the willingness to seek psychological help, and gender differences are also examined in this paper.
This study uses self-report measures administered to a sample of 102 teenage students from 10 educational institutions, including secondary schools, junior colleges and a polytechnic. These adolescents were randomly chosen but were given a choice whether to take part in the study.
The results of the study show that self-concealment and attitudes influencing help-seeking behavior is negatively correlated. In fact further analysis revealed that high self-concealers have less favourable attitudes towards counseling than do low self-concealers. Also, high self-concealers are found to be more likely to face coercion concerns as compared to low self-concealers since it is assumed that counseling requires them to reveal their innermost thoughts . Moreover, the high self-concealing adolescents are also highly concerned about stigmatization or their image. However there is no significant difference between male and female adolescents in the area of self-concealment.
With regard to self -disclosure, it was found that interpersonal openness and self-disclosure are correlated and that individuals scoring high on the interpersonal openness scale disclose more readily to counselors than low scorers. However, contrary to prediction, this study revealed that there is no significant difference between male and female teenagers in terms of their willingness to self-disclose to a counsellor. There is also no significant difference between male and female participants in their towards help-seeking. Finally, teenagers who see their peers, family and self as being sufficient also have less favourable attitudes toward counselling.
This study suggests the need to change adolescents' perceptions and attitudes about helping seeking. Programmes formulated by the relevant authorities authorities and service providers, apart from being useful and effective, must attempt to reach these youths with strategic publicity. These programmes could come in the form of telephone therapy and peer counselling, for example.
Future efforts should also focus on reducing psychological barriers to help-seeking such as coercion and stigma concerns. Adolescents should be told that counsellors will work collaboratively with them to help resolve their problems. Counsellors, in turn, must realize the seriousness of adolescent problems and employ methods that will make the youths feel comfortable about revealing personal information. This issue is made important when results show that only about 33% of youths approach their parent(s) for help when they have personal problems. Further research needs to be done and service providers must take up the appropriate measures in order to meet the adolescents' needs.
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