Young Adults’ Perceptions of the Role of Self-Reliance and Trust on Help Seeking for Mental Health Problems
Many young people are reluctant to seek support for mental health concerns, and a preference for self-reliance has been identified as a key barrier. Yet, the conceptualisation of self-reliance and its role in help seeking is not well understood. This study examines the meaning of self-reliance for y...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2024-12-01
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| Series: | Youth |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2673-995X/4/4/109 |
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| author | Abigail Meadley Debra Rickwood Amelia Ishikawa |
| author_facet | Abigail Meadley Debra Rickwood Amelia Ishikawa |
| author_sort | Abigail Meadley |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Many young people are reluctant to seek support for mental health concerns, and a preference for self-reliance has been identified as a key barrier. Yet, the conceptualisation of self-reliance and its role in help seeking is not well understood. This study examines the meaning of self-reliance for young people and how they perceive it affects help seeking, with a focus on the role of trust (both in oneself and in others). Thirty Australian young people aged 18–25 years were interviewed. A reflexive approach, incorporating both inductive and deductive coding techniques, was used to construct themes about self-reliance, trust, and help seeking for young people. Participants identified that both self-reliance and help seeking exist on a continuum from insufficient self-reliance to extreme self-reliance and excessive help seeking to unwillingness to seek help. Trust was a key component of self-reliance, and a balance between trust in oneself and trust in others was deemed necessary for self-reliance to be adaptive and for appropriate help seeking to occur. To maintain this balance, young people felt that a level of self-awareness was necessary. A high level of trust in oneself was considered to increase self-reliance, whereas a high level of trust in others increases help-seeking behaviours. Understanding the role of trust in self-reliance informs developmentally appropriate ways to address self-reliance as a barrier to mental health help seeking for young people. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-c7d0fa4db1234c8d82a7a343e3962929 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2673-995X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-12-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Youth |
| spelling | doaj-art-c7d0fa4db1234c8d82a7a343e39629292025-08-20T02:56:58ZengMDPI AGYouth2673-995X2024-12-01441726173810.3390/youth4040109Young Adults’ Perceptions of the Role of Self-Reliance and Trust on Help Seeking for Mental Health ProblemsAbigail Meadley0Debra Rickwood1Amelia Ishikawa2Faculty of Health, University of Canberra, Canberra 2617, AustraliaFaculty of Health, University of Canberra, Canberra 2617, AustraliaFaculty of Health, University of Canberra, Canberra 2617, AustraliaMany young people are reluctant to seek support for mental health concerns, and a preference for self-reliance has been identified as a key barrier. Yet, the conceptualisation of self-reliance and its role in help seeking is not well understood. This study examines the meaning of self-reliance for young people and how they perceive it affects help seeking, with a focus on the role of trust (both in oneself and in others). Thirty Australian young people aged 18–25 years were interviewed. A reflexive approach, incorporating both inductive and deductive coding techniques, was used to construct themes about self-reliance, trust, and help seeking for young people. Participants identified that both self-reliance and help seeking exist on a continuum from insufficient self-reliance to extreme self-reliance and excessive help seeking to unwillingness to seek help. Trust was a key component of self-reliance, and a balance between trust in oneself and trust in others was deemed necessary for self-reliance to be adaptive and for appropriate help seeking to occur. To maintain this balance, young people felt that a level of self-awareness was necessary. A high level of trust in oneself was considered to increase self-reliance, whereas a high level of trust in others increases help-seeking behaviours. Understanding the role of trust in self-reliance informs developmentally appropriate ways to address self-reliance as a barrier to mental health help seeking for young people.https://www.mdpi.com/2673-995X/4/4/109young peopleself-reliancetrusthelp seekingmental health |
| spellingShingle | Abigail Meadley Debra Rickwood Amelia Ishikawa Young Adults’ Perceptions of the Role of Self-Reliance and Trust on Help Seeking for Mental Health Problems Youth young people self-reliance trust help seeking mental health |
| title | Young Adults’ Perceptions of the Role of Self-Reliance and Trust on Help Seeking for Mental Health Problems |
| title_full | Young Adults’ Perceptions of the Role of Self-Reliance and Trust on Help Seeking for Mental Health Problems |
| title_fullStr | Young Adults’ Perceptions of the Role of Self-Reliance and Trust on Help Seeking for Mental Health Problems |
| title_full_unstemmed | Young Adults’ Perceptions of the Role of Self-Reliance and Trust on Help Seeking for Mental Health Problems |
| title_short | Young Adults’ Perceptions of the Role of Self-Reliance and Trust on Help Seeking for Mental Health Problems |
| title_sort | young adults perceptions of the role of self reliance and trust on help seeking for mental health problems |
| topic | young people self-reliance trust help seeking mental health |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2673-995X/4/4/109 |
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