UC Riverside

A disturbingly high number of adolescents experience mental illness, with many delaying seeking help for years. In response, public health inspired-help-seeking model and interventions argue that mental health problems should be appropriately recognized and labeled using psychiatric terminology. Accordingly, labels enable adolescents to understand that their symptoms are attributable to an authentic condition that can be treated. This is seen as an empowering and hopeful experience that promotes help-seeking. Adolescents often self-label, or cognitively self-identify as someone who has a “mental illness” or a “mental health problem.” They also receive parental labels, which occur when their parents similarly identify them. These labels do not always co-occur; rather, it is typical for adolescents to self-label in the absence of a parental label (discordant self-label), receive a parental label in the absence of a self-label (discordant parental label). In some cases, adolescents may self-label while receiving a parental label at similar times (concordant labels). Chapter 2 investigates the effects of con/discordant labels on three distinct types of help-seeking: formal, informal, and school-based. The findings reveal that discordant self-labels are inconsequential for help-seeking while discordant parental labels may harm adolescents’ help-seeking efforts. Only concordant labels were beneficial for help-seeking. The following chapter expands this investigation to consider whether sociological processes inform adolescents’ help-seeking decisions. While a public health perspective touts the benefits of labels, a sociologically oriented perspective considers how the associated stigma could undermine adolescents’ help-seeking efforts by eroding self-concept. To examine this, Chapter 3 explores self-concept (self-esteem and mastery) as a mediator in the relationship between con/discordant labels and help-seeking. The findings paint a complex picture of how adolescents may arrive at the decision to seek help. Opposing a public health perspective, the findings show that labels diminish adolescents’ self-concept. However, the findings contrast with sociological perspectives – a diminished self-concept is associated with a greater likelihood of engaging in certain help-seeking behaviors. This dissertation provides novel findings concerning how the con/discordance of labels plays a significant role in adolescents’ decisions to seek help. Furthermore, it challenges conventional thinking on how labels’ effects on self-concept shape adolescents’ help-seeking decisions.