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Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma logoLink to Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma
. 2022 Jul 26;15(4):1127–1136. doi: 10.1007/s40653-022-00459-0

A Typological Analysis of Help-Seeking Profiles in Youth and Associations with Victimization

Mylène Fernet 1,✉, Martine Hébert 1, Geneviève Brodeur 1, Florence Laguë Maltais 2, Stéphanie Couture 1
PMCID: PMC9684372  PMID: 36439675

Abstract

The need for autonomy and independence in adolescence is so fundamental that it can be difficult for youth to seek help when they experience difficulties. To date, few studies have documented profiles of help-seeking behavior according to victimization, gender, and perceived social support among adolescents and emerging adults. The aims of the study were to: (1) identify distinct help-seeking profiles according to gender, victimization experiences and perceived social support, and (2) illustrate the distinct profiles in light of the help-seeking experiences of participants. A total of 397 youth aged 14 to 25 years old completed a questionnaire; a subsample of 100 youth also participate in an individual semi-structured interview. Questions on dating violence and a history of child sexual abuse, help-seeking strategies, and perceived social support were administered. A significant proportion of respondents experienced child sexual abuse and reported dating violence experiences. Four clusters highlighting the diversity of help-seeking profiles among youth were identified: (1) Friend-oriented help-seekers; (2) Proactive help-seekers; (3) Formal help seekers; (4) Self-reliant youth. The results suggest that youth are more likely to rely on their friends for help and less likely to seek help from formal resources. Girls are more proactive than boys in help-seeking. Youth victims of psychological and physical dating violence are more likely to be classified in the self-reliant group while youth with a history of child sexual abuse were found in greater proportion in the friend-oriented group. Results underscore that perceived social support is associated with help-seeking behavior, and highlight the importance of addressing the reluctance of youth to reach for informal help, especially in youth who experienced dating violence. This study also underlines the relevance of bystander interventions to support youth who experienced dating violence or child sexual abuse.

Keywords: Help-seeking profiles, Adolescents and emerging adults, Dating violence, Childhood sexual abuse

Introduction

Adolescence and early adulthood are key developmental periods marked by the quest of identity and the desire to be independent (Barbot & Heuser, 2017). In facing these new challenges, it can be difficult for youth to seek help when they encounter difficulties. Indeed, the desire to develop their autonomy and independence can lead youth to want to solve their problems on their own. Even when youth experience interpersonal traumas, many will not reach out to formal resources, such as health professionals. Indeed, studies suggest that adolescents and emerging adults are more prone to seek help from informal resources such as friends and family members (Hedge et al., 2017; Martin et al., 2012; Moore et al., 2015). In their recent systematic review of the literature on barriers in accessing formal services for adolescent victims of dating violence, Bundock et al., (2020) identified three main barriers. First, the fact that adolescents tend to reach for informal resources, second the stigma surrounding dating violence (DV) and third the lack of protocols for screening and helping adolescents. Many factors including emotional competence, positive experiences, mental health literacy, and supportive social influence have been found to facilitate help-seeking behaviors in youth (Alleyne-Green et al., 2015; Moore et al., 2015; Van Camp et al., 2014). Several factors have also been shown in the literature to have an effect on help seeking, such as gender, perceived social support, dating violence victimization, and childhood sexual abuse.

Gender

Gender may also influence help-seeking behaviors. Studies indicated that girls tend to reach more formal and informal help, than boys (Fernet et al., 2019a, b; Hedge et al., 2017; Martin et al., 2012). Some authors also found that young men are more reluctant to ask for formal help than young women (Martin et al., 2012). While girls are encouraged to express their feeling and seek help, social norms surrounding masculinity may discourage boys from talking about their emotions since it is a sign of weakness (Seamark & Gabriel, 2018).

Perceived Social Support

Some studies have shown that the perception of availability of social support predicts informal help-seeking behaviors, which often lead to formal help-seeking (Hedge et al., 2017). In their study on help-seeking intentions of rural adolescents, Hedge et al., (2017) found that youth with higher perceived social support were more likely to seek help from informal and formal resources than youth who perceived less social support. Still, many adolescents and young adults prefer to rely on themselves to address their problems rather than on professionals (Gulliver et al., 2010).

Dating Violence

Among the many challenges that adolescents and young adults may encounter in this phase of their lives, there are unfortunately for a significant number of youth experiences of DV (Wincentak et al., 2017). In their meta-analysis on the prevalence of physical and sexual DV among adolescents, Wincentak et al., (2017) revealed that between 10% to more than 50% of youth report DV. While a significant number of youth will experience DV, not all youth will seek help. For those that do, there are many factors may influence help-seeking behaviors. The perceived DV severity and the form experienced influence help-seeking attitudes and behaviors in youth. Ansara & Hindin (2010) found that youth who had sustained more severe violence were more likely to seek help than those who reported more minor acts of violence. In their study on help-seeking behaviors of sexually assaulted women on college campuses, Wood & Stichman (2018) found that many women did not report their victimization because they did not perceive what happened to them as sexual violence. This echoes the findings of Fernet and colleagues (Fernet et al., 2019b) suggesting that a major barrier to formal help-seeking was that youth did not consider sexual DV severe enough to seek help. In the same vein, Cho (2017) concluded that psychological violence was more related to informal help-seeking while physical violence was more likely linked to formal help-seeking. Also, Hedge et al., (2017) indicated that, for sexual DV, youth are more prone to reach out for help that for psychological violence. While some youth will face DV, it is concerning to see the vast majority will not reach out for formal help. Similar issues are apparent in other forms of interpersonal victimization, such as child sexual abuse (CSA).

Childhood Sexual Abuse

Like DV, childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is a major public health problem. In their systematic review and meta-analysis on the prevalence of CSA worldwide, Bart and al. (2013) found that the prevalence of CSA for girls ranged from 8 to 31% and for boys from 3 to 17%. Unfortunately, it appears that CSA is not always disclosed. Many factors, including fear of not being believed, shame, self-blame and peer influence have been found to affect the disclosure of CSA (McElvaney et al., 2014). For instance, it seems that asking a child directly or indirectly about CSA facilitate disclosure (McElvaney et al., 2014). However, shame and self-blame are still some of the greatest barriers to help-seeking behaviors for CSA victims (McElvaney et al., 2014).

Despite the consequences associated with CSA, few victims reach for formal resources. Indeed, adolescents victims of CSA who seek help tend to first disclose to their friends (Campbell et al., 2015). Many youths would opt for informal resources because they do not want to be included in legal procedures (Campbell et al., 2015). Given the consequences of CSA, these youth might be at greater risk for facing major psychological distress if they do not get the help they need.

This brief overview of the literature suggests that help-seeking is a heterogeneous phenomenon which can be greatly influenced by personal variables such as gender, perceived social support as well as experiences of victimization. Despite previous studies that have addressed this topic, we still know little about help-seeking profiles among adolescents and young adults. Studies have mainly focused on identifying factors that play a role as help-seeking facilitators or barriers rather than document the diversity of profiles and their associated correlates. While studies have identified several factors, they have not offered exhaustive and simultaneous analysis of the impact multiple factors have on help-seeking behaviors. The documentation of such profiles would be beneficial to develop tailored interventions addressing specific needs and characteristics of youth. Therefore, the present study aimed to (1) identify distinct help-seeking profiles according to gender, perceived social support and victimization experiences, and (2) illustrate the distinct profiles in light of the help-seeking experiences reported by the participants.

Methods

Data for this study are drawn from a larger mixed-methods study based on an embedded design (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2011) which focused on the romantic and sexual experiences of adolescents and young adults self-identified as heterosexuals. To meet the objectives, quantitative analysis was used to identify distinct help-seeking profiles, while qualitative analysis was used to illustrate the profiles. Combination of quantitative and qualitative measures and analysis strategies are presented in the following section.

The data were collected from March 2016 to December 2017 in Quebec (Canada). To be eligible, participants had to be aged between 14 and 25 years old. They had to be sexually active and have been involved at least in one romantic relationship. Primary caregivers of a dependent child and youth who were living with their partner were excluded, as their reality may be different from that of the majority of young people.

Participants

A total of 397 adolescents and young adults (298 girls and 98 boys) completed the questionnaire. Most respondents reported only one nationality. The majority (86.7%) identified as Canadians, 4.8% were from North Africa and Middle East, 3.3% identified as Europeans, and 5.2% to other nationalities. The vast majority (86.8%) were students at the time of the study; only 11.4% were working and 1.8% were neither working nor studying. A subsample of 100 youths also participated in a semi-structured interview.

Recruitment and Procedures

Participants were recruited through the Youth Romantic Relationships Project mailing list, from organizations in the Greater Montreal area (Quebec, Canada), by distribution of pamphlets, classified ads, information booths and word of mouth. Potential participants were first pre-screened by telephone to verify their eligibility.

For the questionnaire, participants could either complete it online via LimeSurvey or with a research assistant at our Laboratory. As for the interview, eligible participants came to the Laboratory on Violence and Sexuality (Montreal, Canada) for a 2-hr session or they met with a research assistant via Zoom software. The study protocol was presented in detail to ensure adequate comprehension of study goals, procedures, risks and benefits. Ethical considerations (e.g., voluntary and confidential participation, rights of the participant, mandatory reporting to authorities when the safety of the participant is believed to be compromised) were also discussed. Upon consent, participants self-administered the questionnaire, of which 100 completed a one-to-one semi-structured interview. Participants who did the semi-structured interview were also given a small financial compensation ($20 CAD) for their time. This study received approval from the institutional research ethics board of the affiliated University.

Measures

Quantitative Component

Adolescents and young adults completed questionnaires evaluating perceived social support, dating violence victimization (psychological, physical and sexual), history of child sexual abuse, and help-seeking strategies. All measures were administered in French.

Perceived Social Support. Youth completed a 5-item inventory to assess perceived social support developed by The Northern Ireland Young Life and Times Survey (ARK Northern Ireland, 2009) and the Quebec Child and Adolescent Health and Social Survey (ESSEA; Aubin et al., 2002). Participants estimated the extent to which they thought the following people: their parents, a friend, a sibling, a significant adult, or a health professional (psychologist, sexologist, social worker, psychosocial worker or physician) would be able to listen to them, encourage them and help them, if they needed it. Each source of support was rated with a 4-point response scale: “I don’t have any” (1), “not at all” (2), “a little” (3), “a lot” (4). Mean score went for 0 to 4.

Dating Violence. DV was assessed by means of two measures: frequency of physical and psychological DV in the past 12-month or with the most recent partner if the youth was single at the time of completing the survey. Both were measured using a brief-version of the Conflicts in Adolescent Dating Relationships Inventory (CADRI) (Wekerle et al., 2009; Fernández-González et al., 2012). The questionnaire includes 6 items assessing psychological DV and 3 items evaluating physical DV. Participants were asked to report the frequency of the events, from never to six times or more. Score went from 0 to 30 for both psychological and physical DV. Sexual DV in the prior 12-months was assessed using 9 items from the revised version of the Sexual Experiences Survey (Koss et al., 2007 Koss & Gidycz, 1985; Koss & Oros 1982). The behaviors considered are: sexual contact (kissing, fondling or touching), attempted sexual intercourse, and sexual intercourse with penetration. The questions assessed three invasiveness levels and different tactics (pressure, alcohol or drugs, and physical strength). Participants reported on a 4-point scale the occurrence of the events (0 to 6 times or more). Mean score can vary from 0 to 90.

History of Child Sexual Abuse: Child sexual abuse was assessed by asking the participant if they have felt obligated by manipulation, blackmail or force before the age of 18 to (a) touch a person sexually or being sexually touched, or (b) have sex with penetration (oral, vaginal or anal) based on items developed by Finkelhor and colleagues (1990). Following a positive response, participants were then asked who was involved: (1) a member of the close and extended family; (2) a person in authority (trainer, counselor, teacher), (3) a known person outside of the family (excluding boyfriend or girlfriend), (4) a stranger. The data were recoded in dichotomous variable (0 = no history of CSA, 1 = history of CSA).

Help-Seeking Strategies. Self-reported help-seeking strategies were assessed by asking youth how often and when they faced a difficult situation, and if they asked for advice from (a) a friend, (b) a family member, (c) a person who had the same problem, or if asked for help from (d) a family member or (e) a professional. The 5-point Likert scale assessed the frequency from “never” (1) to “always” (4) and were inspired from the French-Canadian Version of the Self-Report Coping Scale (Causey & Dubow, 1992; Hébert et al., 2007). A mean score on each item was calculated from 0 to 4.

Analytical Strategies

Frequency analyses were conducted on the variables of interest to verify if there were any outliers. Descriptive analyses were also conducted to provide a portrait of the sample regarding age, gender, dating violence victimization, and perceived social support.

Hierarchical cluster analysis is an excellent method to study heterogeneous populations (Borgen & Barnett, 1987) and consists of classifying participants into subgroups based on selected variables. To perform cluster analysis, scores from the help-seeking strategies measure were used: (a) help-seeking towards friends, (b) help-seeking towards parents, (c) help-seeking towards health professional, (d) and help-seeking towards a significant adult. Solutions between 3 and 5 clusters were investigated. To assess the differences between help-seeking profiles, analyses were conducted using Ward’s method and Euclidean distance.

In order to validate the clusters, different indicators potentially influencing help-seeking strategies were tested: (a) gender (b) perceived social support (c) DV victimization, and (d) history of CSA. ANOVAs followed by LSD post-hoc comparisons were used for continuous variables and chi-square analyses were used for dichotomous variables (i.e., gender and history of CSA).

Qualitative Component

Individual semi-structured interviews addressed the following themes: (1) dating relationships, (2) conflicts resolution and dating violence; and (3) informal and formal helpseeking. Interviews were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim with participants’ consent. In order to associate each participant that completed an interview with their corresponding profile, descriptive analysis in SPSS were run on the cluster variable. The lists of participants corresponding to each of the identified profile were then sorted and qualitative data were classified according to the four clusters. Finally, the most salient verbatim excerpts from participants corresponding to each profile were present along with quantitative results. Pseudonyms are used for each excerpt in order to preserve anonymity.

Results

First, the following section present the results of the descriptive analyses on DV and CSA. Then, the results of the cluster analysis will then be described.

Descriptive Data

A total of 22.9% of participants revealed they had experienced CSA in their lifetime. Also, results reveal that 60.5% of participants reported being victim of at least one act of DV in the past 12 months. More precisely, 59.4% experienced psychological violence, 17.1% physical violence and almost 30% of the sample reported at least one episode of sexual dating violence in the last 12 months (26.7%).

Help-seeking strategies profiles

A four-cluster solution was considered optimal, according to interpretability and statistically differences between every profile. Table 1 shows the comparisons between four profiles on clustering variables. The four profiles regarding help-seeking strategies among adolescents and young adults were named: (1) Friend-oriented help-seekers, (2) Proactive help-seekers, (3) Formal help-seekers, and (4) Self-reliant.

Table 1.

Comparison Between Help-Seeking Profiles on Clustering Variables

Friend-oriented
help-seekers
n = 179		 Proactive help-seekers
n = 125		 Formal
help-seekers
n = 58		 Self-reliant
n = 35		 F
M (SD)
Items
I ask help or advice to a family member (0–4) 1.85 (0.07)a 3.28 (0.06)b 1.67 (0.10)a 0.49 (0.11)c 152.51***
I ask advice to a friend (0–4) 2.81 (0.07)a 3.38 (0.06)b 2.45 (0.11)c 1.14 (0.14)d 69.32***
I ask someone who already had the problem to he/she would do (0–4) 2.13 (0.07)a 3.00 (0.07)b 1.97 (0.14)a 0.51 (0.10)c 75.70***
I consult a heath professional (0–4) 0.46 (0.04)a 1.54 (0.09)b 2.50 (0.11)c 0.26 (0.09)a 121.07***
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Note. *p < 0.05. **p < 0.01. ***p < 0.00; Standardized adjusted mean scores for each cluster are presented

Subsequent analyses aimed to explore whether the emerged profiles could be distinguished regarding gender, perceived support (parents, siblings, friends, health professionals and other significant adults), severity of psychological, physical and sexual DV experienced in the past 12 months and history of CSA. Table 2 presents the results of these analyses. For the different correlates analyzed, sexual DV and perception of support from a significant adult did not show statistically significant differences between the identified profiles. The following paragraphs provide a description of the emerged profiles, which are further illustrated with youth’s help-seeking experiences and quotes.

Table 2.

Mean-group Differences on Correlates

Friend-oriented
help-seekers
n = 179		 Proactive
help-seekers
n = 125		 Formal
help-seekers
n = 58		 Self-reliant
n = 35		 χ2/F
Gender
Girl 67.6% a 87.2%b 86.2% b 54.3%a 27.26***
Boy 32.4%a 12.8%b 13.8%b 45.7%a
Child sexual abuse
Child sexual abuse 25.9% 15.6% 32.1% 28.1% 7.46 †
Dating violence victimization
Psychological (0–30) 3.44 (5.53) a 1.85 (2.99)a 2.44 (3.32)a 4.57 (5.82)b 4.72***
Physical (0–30) 0.97 (2.83)a 0.29 (1.46)b 0.82 (2.23)a 2.66 (6.64)c 5.89***
Sexual (0–90) 1.79 (5.12)a 1.58 (3.78)a 2.16 (6.52)a 3.46 (8.79)a 1.19 (n.s)
Perception of social support
Parents (0–4) 2,66 (0,60)a 2,81 (0,42)b 2.53 (0,60)a 2,43 (0,85)c 5.52***
Siblings (0–4) 2,01 (1.00)a 2,14 (1,07)a 1,62 (0,95)b 1,69 (0,99)b 4.52***
Friends (0–4) 2,83 (0,42)a 2,91 (0,28)a 2,57 (0,60)b 2,51 (0,74)b 11.95***
Health professional (0–4) 1,82 (1,16)a 2,17 (1,07)b 2,55 (0,73)c 2,11 (1,11)a,b,c 7.58***
A significant adult (0–4) 1.43 (1.19)a 1.58 (1.19)a 1.71 (1.08)a 1.63 (1.28)a 1.13 (n.s)
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Note. † p < 0.10 *p < 0.05. **p < 0.01. ***p < 0.00

Friend-oriented Help-seekers (n = 179, 45.2% of the sample). The first cluster consisted of the largest number of participants. Although this profile did not show the highest mean, youth in this group stood out due to the fact that when they face difficulties, they report asking for advice from their friends: “Talk to your friends, that would be my number one advice. (…) The worst thing that will happen is that there will be no solution. At least you will have told someone and you will not have all this weight. It is not just going to be on your shoulders anymore. I think that is the best thing you can do” (Émilie, Friend-oriented help-seeker, 17 years old). Youth in this group also seek help from someone who has already face a similar difficulty, has Érika reported: “Maybe my friends have already been there and they have something interesting to tell me about it” (Érika, Friend-oriented help-seeker, 20 years old).

They were less likely to turn towards a family member than the Proactive help-seekers: “My friends are there for me but at the same time they will not judge me no matter what decision I make or ultimately make. My mom might be a little more judgmental” (Raphy, Friend-oriented help-seeker, 22 years-old). Like the Self-reliant youth, they were less likely to seek help from formal resources than youth in the other two clusters. Marie-Claude mentioned that although she is not completely closed to the idea, it is not her first reflex to speak to a professional. “I’m not really someone who is going to want to go talk to a stranger, a professional. Let’s say it was necessary and then it was suggested to me, I would not be closed to that, but it would not be something that I would think of doing myself”. (Marie-Claude, Friend-oriented help-seeker, 15 years old).

As for possible correlates of this emerged cluster, male participants appeared more likely to be categorized in this cluster than in the Proactive or Formal help-seekers clusters. They perceived greater social support from friends than members of the Formal help-seekers or Self-reliant groups. A similar pattern was observed for perceived support from siblings. Youth in this subgroup also appeared to perceive less support from health professionals and some thought they may be less trustworthy. “Going to a free organization, you do not know how much confidentiality there will be…if you can trust the person. I think there is too much unknown in the process to make the effort to go and talk to someone from an outside resource. Free organizations if I may say so, you are inevitably going to question the competence of the people, the confidentiality, etc. I myself would not be confident in going to these people, so I am not going to… ''(Roger, Friend-oriented help-seeker, 23 years-old).

Proactive Help-seekers (n = 125, 31.5% of the sample). The second group with the largest number of participants described youth who were most likely, compared to other clusters, to seek help from a family member, from friends, and from someone who had dealt with the same issue. “Let’s say I’m having an argument with my friend and my other friend is next to me during my break at work, well, he is the one I will talk to first. I only talk to him when I am working. He is not my close friend. I am going to tell him that my friend pissed me off. He will give me his advice. It is just because he was there and I needed to vent.” (Camie, Proactive help-seeker, 19 years old). Participants in this group were also more likely to consult health professionals than participants classified in the Friend-oriented and Self-reliant clusters. “I find that talking to a psychologist is a good way talk about your problems and things like that, it is not good to repress everything inside. I’m like ‘talk about it and stop saying you’re strong, talk about it’, but that’s it, I think it’s good”. (Karianne, Proactive help-seeker, 17 years-old).

Analyses of possible correlates suggested that female participants were more likely to be classified in this group than in the Friend-oriented or Self-reliant groups. Although the result is marginally significant, participants classified in this cluster were less likely to report a history of CSA compared to youth in other clusters. They were also less likely to report having experienced physical DV in the past year compared to youth from the other three clusters. They were the ones showing the highest perceived support from parents, siblings as well as friends. “If I have something to talk about with my boyfriend, it [advice] is going come more from my best friend. (…). I am more comfortable with either my older sister or my best friend”. (Olivia, Proactive help-seeker, 20 years old).

Formal Help-Seekers (n = 58, 14.6% of the sample). A third cluster characterized youth displaying a stronger propensity to seek help from health professionals compared to youth from the other three clusters.

Female participants were more likely to be classified in this cluster than in the Friend-oriented and Self-reliant groups. Participants in this group were the ones who perceived the highest level of support from health professionals. One participant, Jeanne, said that she did not wanted to put too much weight on her friends’ shoulders by sharing her problems. “I would not want to rely on my friends. If I need them, I can call them, but I am not going to put that weight on them all the time. That is not what they are there for. Once in a while to support you, but when it gets heavy, I think you need to see someone [a professional]” (Jeanne, Formal help-seeker, 22 years old).

While the result was marginal, youth in this group were more likely to experience CSA. For Melissa, it was easier to confide in a formal source of help since they considered the person as not emotionally involved in the situation. “I have experienced I would say more [sexual] violence than emotional. I would not want to talk about things like that where the person listening to me might judge me (…). I do not want the person to be like: ‘ah but this is really not a good situation’ or ‘you should do this and this and this’. So if the person is too emotionally attached to me, I think they are going to tell me to do this because they do not want me to get hurt”. (Mélissa, Formal help-seeker, 23 years old).

Self-Reliant (n = 35, 8.7% of the sample). The last cluster involved youth who were characterized by their lowest mean scores on all four clustering variables. As such, this subgroup was unlikely to seek help from any source compared to participants in the other three clusters. A number of correlates appeared to distinguish youth in this cluster. Male participants were more likely to be classified in this cluster than in the Proactive or Formal help-seekers clusters. As George reported, seeking help, notably to formal sources, implies that one must have a serious problem. “I never thought about it (seeking professional support) because I thought it was not a big deal, the problems with my girlfriend, so I just did not think about it. It is something I do not like to talk about, I am a very closed person, I try to open up too”. (Georges, Self-reliant, 22 years old).

This cluster also involved participants who reported experiencing more frequent psychological and physical DV in the past year. Danielle was one of the participants who reported DV in their relationship. As reported, she avoided telling anyone about it so that she would not have to face the fact that her relationship was not healthy. “I did not want to tell people about it because I did not want to hear the truth. Knowing me and knowing people who have been in abusive relationships, you talk to someone and you convince yourself that you have to leave the person, but you do not leave them. For x reasons, you cannot”. (Danielle, Self-reliant, 19 years old).

As for perceived social support, youth in this cluster had the least favorable perception of potential social support provided by parents. They had lowest mean scores of perceived social support form siblings and friends than Formal help-seekers, but they did not differ from other clusters regarding perceived support from health professionals. “I am not comfortable talking to my parents about anything. We are almost 15 years apart, my stepsister and I, less on the same page, so I am not as comfortable talking to them [my family]. I am not going to talk to my friends neither. I have always been less comfortable talking. I have always been more isolated so…I just would not know what to say” (Nirlie, Self-reliant, 20 years old).

Discussion

This study provided relevant findings that improve our understanding of the help-seeking strategies displayed by adolescents and emerging adults when they encounter difficulties by revealing the diversity of help-seeking strategies profiles. The results will be discussed to provide additional insights on the correlates associated with the profiles, namely: gender, victimization history and perceived social support, to identify possible cues that may guide the development of tailored-interventions promoting help seeking among youth.

Help-Seeking Profiles and Gender

The findings of the study show that female victims are more proactive help-seekers than male victims. Male victims represent a larger proportion of the Self-reliant and Friend-oriented help-seekers groups, while female victims are significantly more represented in the Proactive help-seekers and Formal help-seekers groups. These results are consistent with other studies that indicate that male youth are less prone to seek help from informal and informal resources than females (Hedge et al., 2017; Martin et al., 2012). This particularly echoes the finding of Martin et al., (2012) which suggest that young men were reluctant to reach out for formal help. Hegemonic masculinity, which stipulates that boys needs to be strong, avoid emotion and be self-reliant, may explain why male youth avoid seeking help from formal or informal resources (Harland & Mc Cready, 2012). As such, male youth may be less prone to disclose their difficulties and distress in order to maintain their masculinity. In a study on suicidal behaviour among young men, Cleary (2012) noted that young men did not disclose their distress because it was seen as un-masculine, both by themselves and their peers. As for psychological help, young men participating in Cleary’s (2012) study did not attend therapy due to the fear of exposing their distress and also because they were not familiar with psychological discourses.

Help-Seeking Profiles and Perception of Social Support

Results underscore that the perception of social support is associated with help-seeking behavior. Indeed, the more youth feel like their family and friends would be there for them, the more they tend towards them when seeking help. This result is in line with findings of Hedge et al., (2017) indicating that youth with more favorable perception of potential social support, like friends and family, were more likely to ask for help (informal and formal). Conversely, youth who believed health professional would be less likely to help them were less prone to reach out for help from them. The result is in line with the literature on help-seeking behaviors among youth, underscoring their preference to turn to informal sources of help or even keeping their difficulties private rather than seeking professional help (Gulliver et al., 2010; Hedge et al., 2017; Martin et al., 2012; Moore et al., 2015).

Help-Seeking Profiles and Victimization

The participant distribution according to victimization experiences in help-seeking strategies profiles reflect results from previous studies. Our study revealed that youth victims of DV are in a greater proportion in the Self-reliant profile, while youth in the Proactive Help seekers profile are less likely to report having experienced DV than any other group. Being close to their parents and friends may contribute to the prevention of DV since youth know they can rely on this type of support. On the contrary, youth in the Self-Reliant profile may tend to avoid disclosing their difficulties, suggesting they feel ashamed, powerless or isolated due to experiences of violence. In the study of Hébert and collaborators (2014), when experiencing DV, youth reported they felt less capable of reaching out for help for themselves than for their peers. Experiences of victimization may act as help-seeking barriers since youth victims of DV are less apt to seek help when they need it. The stigma surrounding DV is also such that some young people prefer to keep the events to themselves for fear of being judged (Moore et al., 2015). Lack of awareness of help services and access to resources (physical, monetary) can be barriers to seeking help. In addition, DV is often minimized because youth do not want to challenge their view of their romantic relationship. Thus, if they do not recognize that they are experiencing DV, they will not seek help (Fernet et al., 2019b).

According to our results, youth that reported CSA were more likely to be in the Formal help-seekers group. This could echo one of the findings of Campbell et al., (2015) in which youth victims of sexual DV who had voluntarily disclose to friends were then encouraged by their peers to tell an adult. In turn, the adult assisted the youth in reaching out for formal help (Campbell et al., 2015). We could argue that participants who felt closer to their friends and family were more comfortable and prone to disclose their victimization and, therefore, they requested help and support.

Strengths and Limitations

This study has some limitation which provide possible insights for future studies. Our study’s sample is mainly composed of youth with similar background in terms of education, sexual orientation and cultural origin. The homogeneity of the sample may limit the generalization of our results to other adolescents and emerging adults and may not have captured sociocultural factors that impact help-seeking strategies. Future studies could focus on sexually and gender diverse youth to get a more complete picture of youth help-seeking patterns. However, the study includes both male and female youth groups, various types of DV were included in the analysis, and the online questionnaire was used to collect data at the regional level, which reflects a form of diversity of the sample.

Our sample consisted mainly of female participants. More research is necessary to better address help-seeking among male youth, especially regarding the issues related to hegemonic masculinity as a potential barrier to help-seeking. This study used a cross-sectional design. A longitudinal study may be relevant to evaluate the stability of the profiles over time and to evaluate whether the identified profiles could predict the help-seeking strategies deployed when adolescents and young adults encounter difficulties. Finally, to deepen the understanding of help-seeking patterns, future studies would benefit from gathering more information on the context surrounding help-seeking requests, on other coping strategies that do not refer to social support, and on the frequency of reaching out to each source.

Despite the limitations of this study, there are several strengths. This study is one of the first, to our knowledge, to document distinct help-seeking profiles in a sample of adolescents and emerging adults according to gender, perception of social support and victimization, allowing us to propose relevant interventions for youth. Therefore, this study contributes significantly to our knowledge on help-seeking strategies. Our results highlight the diversity of help-seeking strategies and offers a great overview of the intricacies of different profiles, while considering youth victimization experiences. In addition, by using a mixed-methods the quantitative data offer great insight on help-seeking strategies, while qualitative data give more depth to the quantitative result.

Implication for Practice

The findings of the present study provide many implications for future research and tailored intervention. Help seeking is a key component to develop. It is paramount to continue to work on the knowledge and attitudes related to help seeking, while also working on the skills needed to seek help for oneself and one’s friends.

Educational and prevention intervention would benefit from targeting the specific needs of the identified profiles. Regarding Friend-oriented Help-seekers, raising awareness regarding DV and giving the necessary tools to receive a disclosure could be beneficial to victims. The results of this study highlights the importance of promoting bystanders intervention, especially by educating peers on DV and on adequate responses regarding a disclosure of victimization experience. For example, more information can be given on resources available and reactions to be avoided and favoured during disclosure.

There is more chance that youth who reach out for help from their relatives and friends will receive a positive reaction if they are equipped to deal with those situations. For the Proactive Help-seekers, programs can help them to consolidate their abilities to seek help, provide validation and encourage victims to act as a sentinel to their friends. Help-seeking must be encouraged because it is a great strength.

In addition, for Formal Help-seekers, since youth that experienced CSA are more prompt to seek help from formal sources, intervention should focus on training health professionals in receiving CSA disclosure. A focus on providing resources with knowledge specialized to disclosure and reporting procedures can also help victims upon disclosure.

As for participants assigned to the Self-reliant profile, emphasizing the benefits of seeking help and working on the meaning attributed to seeking help could be avenues for clinical consideration. By deconstructing the stigma and the myths surrounding help-seeking towards formal resources and by promoting positive messages about them, it is possible to change the attitudes and perceptions of youth sorruncing formal help-seeking. Such formal help seeking could aid youth who are experiencing DV or CSA to get the support they need.

Furthermore, prevention strategies can be developed with the goal of reaching youth, especially male youth, as they seem to be more reluctant than their female participants when seeking help. For example, awareness campaigns on the use of mental health services could specifically target young men. Following the result of Cleary (2012), awareness campaigns could destigmatize the reach for help for boys and men. However, this does not mean that female target audiences should be neglected regarding prevention. In this regard, prevention through information technologies (e.g.: social media, apps, online intervention, etc.) could be a very good way to reach out to youth, given they are often present on social media.

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank adolescents and emerging adults who participated to this project and the community organizations partners.

Funding

This research was supported by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (#435-2013-1683) awarded to Mylène Fernet.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Submitted to

Child & Adolescent Trauma.

Footnotes

Publisher’s note

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