Why do young men not seek help for affective mental health issues? A systematic review of perceived barriers and facilitators among adolescent boys and young men

There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

Abstract

Men are less likely to seek help for their mental health than women, but less is known about the specific patterns of help-seeking in adolescent boys and young men. This is concerning as adolescent boys and young men have high suicide rates but a low take-up of services. It is therefore of particular importance that the access needs of this group are understood. This review sought to identify the barriers and facilitators faced by adolescent boys and young men in help-seeking for affective mental health disorders. A search of the PubMed, APA PsycInfo, and Cochrane databases identified 3961 articles, of which 12 met the inclusion criteria. Six of the studies were qualitative, five were quantitative and one used mixed methods. Two authors independently extracted data and assessed the quality of the articles. Five key themes were identified, including the impact of social norms, with the subthemes of conformity to masculine norms and self-stigma, limited availability of information about mental health, and ‘male-friendly’ mental health literacy campaigns. Other themes referred to the help-seeking preferences of adolescent boys and young men, in terms of informal or formal and online or offline help-seeking. Some of the factors were well-researched (e.g., conformity to masculine norms as a barrier) whereas other factors (e.g., self-compassion as a facilitator) were less researched. These barriers and facilitators need to be considered in the development of future strategies to improve the help-seeking behaviour of adolescent boys and young men.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00787-024-02520-9.

Related collections

Most cited references 52

Record: found
Abstract: not found
Article: not found

Using thematic analysis in psychology

Virginia Braun, Victoria Clarke (2016)

0 comments Cited 21934 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: found

Is Open Access

Age at onset of mental disorders worldwide: large-scale meta-analysis of 192 epidemiological studies

Marco Solmi, Joaquim Radua, Miriam Olivola … (2021)

Promotion of good mental health, prevention, and early intervention before/at the onset of mental disorders improve outcomes. However, the range and peak ages at onset for mental disorders are not fully established. To provide robust, global epidemiological estimates of age at onset for mental disorders, we conducted a PRISMA/MOOSE-compliant systematic review with meta-analysis of birth cohort/cross-sectional/cohort studies, representative of the general population, reporting age at onset for any ICD/DSM-mental disorders, identified in PubMed/Web of Science (up to 16/05/2020) (PROSPERO:CRD42019143015). Co-primary outcomes were the proportion of individuals with onset of mental disorders before age 14, 18, 25, and peak age at onset, for any mental disorder and across International Classification of Diseases 11 diagnostic blocks. Median age at onset of specific disorders was additionally investigated. Across 192 studies (n = 708,561) included, the proportion of individuals with onset of any mental disorders before the ages of 14, 18, 25 were 34.6%, 48.4%, 62.5%, and peak age was 14.5 years (k = 14, median = 18, interquartile range (IQR) = 11–34). For diagnostic blocks, the proportion of individuals with onset of disorder before the age of 14, 18, 25 and peak age were as follows: neurodevelopmental disorders: 61.5%, 83.2%, 95.8%, 5.5 years (k = 21, median=12, IQR = 7–16), anxiety/fear-related disorders: 38.1%, 51.8%, 73.3%, 5.5 years (k = 73, median = 17, IQR = 9–25), obsessive-compulsive/related disorders: 24.6%, 45.1%, 64.0%, 14.5 years (k = 20, median = 19, IQR = 14–29), feeding/eating disorders/problems: 15.8%, 48.1%, 82.4%, 15.5 years (k = 11, median = 18, IQR = 15–23), conditions specifically associated with stress disorders: 16.9%, 27.6%, 43.1%, 15.5 years (k = 16, median = 30, IQR = 17–48), substance use disorders/addictive behaviours: 2.9%, 15.2%, 48.8%, 19.5 years (k = 58, median = 25, IQR = 20–41), schizophrenia-spectrum disorders/primary psychotic states: 3%, 12.3%, 47.8%, 20.5 years (k = 36, median = 25, IQR = 20–34), personality disorders/related traits: 1.9%, 9.6%, 47.7%, 20.5 years (k = 6, median = 25, IQR = 20–33), and mood disorders: 2.5%, 11.5%, 34.5%, 20.5 years (k = 79, median = 31, IQR = 21–46). No significant difference emerged by sex, or definition of age of onset. Median age at onset for specific mental disorders mapped on a time continuum, from phobias/separation anxiety/autism spectrum disorder/attention deficit hyperactivity disorder/social anxiety (8-13 years) to anorexia nervosa/bulimia nervosa/obsessive-compulsive/binge eating/cannabis use disorders (17-22 years), followed by schizophrenia, personality, panic and alcohol use disorders (25-27 years), and finally post-traumatic/depressive/generalized anxiety/bipolar/acute and transient psychotic disorders (30-35 years), with overlap among groups and no significant clustering. These results inform the timing of good mental health promotion/preventive/early intervention, updating the current mental health system structured around a child/adult service schism at age 18.

0 comments Cited 878 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: found

Is Open Access

Perceived barriers and facilitators to mental health help-seeking in young people: a systematic review

Amelia Gulliver, Kathleen Griffiths, Helen Christensen (2010)

Background Adolescents and young adults frequently experience mental disorders, yet tend not to seek help. This systematic review aims to summarise reported barriers and facilitators of help-seeking in young people using both qualitative research from surveys, focus groups, and interviews and quantitative data from published surveys. It extends previous reviews through its systematic research methodology and by the inclusion of published studies describing what young people themselves perceive are the barriers and facilitators to help-seeking for common mental health problems. Methods Twenty two published studies of perceived barriers or facilitators in adolescents or young adults were identified through searches of PubMed, PsycInfo, and the Cochrane database. A thematic analysis was undertaken on the results reported in the qualitative literature and quantitative literature. Results Fifteen qualitative and seven quantitative studies were identified. Young people perceived stigma and embarrassment, problems recognising symptoms (poor mental health literacy), and a preference for self-reliance as the most important barriers to help-seeking. Facilitators were comparatively under-researched. However, there was evidence that young people perceived positive past experiences, and social support and encouragement from others as aids to the help-seeking process. Conclusions Strategies for improving help-seeking by adolescents and young adults should focus on improving mental health literacy, reducing stigma, and taking into account the desire of young people for self-reliance.

0 comments Cited 615 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

All references

Author and article information

Contributors

June S. L. Brown: june.brown@kcl.ac.uk

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry

Title: European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry

Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg (Berlin/Heidelberg )

ISSN (Print): 1018-8827

ISSN (Electronic): 1435-165X

Publication date (Electronic): 14 July 2024

Publication date PMC-release: 14 July 2024

Publication date (Print): 2025

Volume: 34

Issue: 2

Pages: 565-583

Affiliations

[1 ]Anna Freud, ( https://ror.org/0497xq319) 4-8 Rodney Street, London, N1 9JH UK

[2 ]Department for Health, University of Bath, ( https://ror.org/002h8g185) Bath, UK

[3 ]Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, ( https://ror.org/0220mzb33) London, UK

[4 ]Department of Biostatistics and Health Informatics, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, ( https://ror.org/0220mzb33) London, UK

Article

Publisher ID: 2520

DOI: 10.1007/s00787-024-02520-9

PMC ID: 11868194

PubMed ID: 39004687

SO-VID: cc0b1cf0-f5d4-4b4e-be9c-f80e13bf7259

License:

Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

History

Date received : 30 August 2023

Date accepted : 1 July 2024

Custom metadata

ScienceOpen disciplines: Clinical Psychology & Psychiatry

Keywords: adolescent boys,young men,help-seeking,barriers,facilitators

Data availability:

ScienceOpen disciplines: Clinical Psychology & Psychiatry

Keywords: adolescent boys, young men, help-seeking, barriers, facilitators

Comments

Comment on this article

scite_

Smart Citations

Citing PublicationsSupportingMentioningContrasting

View Citations

See how this article has been cited at scite.ai

scite shows how a scientific paper has been cited by providing the context of the citation, a classification describing whether it supports, mentions, or contrasts the cited claim, and a label indicating in which section the citation was made.

Cited by 1

The Relationship Between E-Health Literacy, Health Anxiety, Cyberchondria, and Death Anxiety in University Students That Study in Health Related Department
Authors: Bahar Kefeli Col, Ayse Gumusler Basaran, Burcu Genc Kose

See all cited by

Most referenced authors 1,634

See all reference authors

Why do young men not seek help for affective mental health issues? A systematic review of perceived barriers and facilitators among adolescent boys and young men

Read this article at

Abstract

Supplementary Information

Related collections

New Psychiatry

Measurement of Glucocorticoid Receptor Signaling in Major Depression

Most cited references 52

Using thematic analysis in psychology

Age at onset of mental disorders worldwide: large-scale meta-analysis of 192 epidemiological studies

Perceived barriers and facilitators to mental health help-seeking in young people: a systematic review

Author and article information

Contributors

Journal

Affiliations

Article

History

Categories

Custom metadata

Comments

Comment on this article

Similar content 116

Cited by 1

Most referenced authors 1,634