Psychosocial factors associated with help-seeking behavior among depressive adolescents

A group of 3,287 French school pupils between the age of 12 to 20 years, of whom 14.4% had sought consultation for depression, were investigated in order to analyse the factors related to the type of medical help obtained. Multivariate analyses showed that severe emotional distress alone did not explain the help-seeking behavior. Thus, among those adolescents with the same anxio-depressive level, girls, older adolescents, adolescents with parents living apart, with health worries, and adolescents often absent from school more often sought help for depression. Socioeconomic status, however, did not correlate with a higher level of consultation for depression. Adolescents attending medical services for depression had a higher consultation rate, for any reason, with general practitioners and with school nurses, in whom they confided more often than their counterparts. Nonmedical professionals also seemed to contribute to accessing to medical help for depression. Overall, those who consulted for depression, in very limited numbers turned to mental health services (8.4%).