Adolescents who turn to service providers for guidance: the perspectives of informal sources of support

Research suggests that youth rarely seek formal help for their problems and tend to turn for assistance to those with whom they interact regularly. The current investigations examined the help-seeking patterns of teenagers in their relationships with service providers from the service providers’ perspectives. A preliminary quantitative study (Study 1), based on responses of 424 service providers, examined service providers' view of adolescents’ approach to them. It maps the expectations, considerations, and difficulties that characterise adolescents’ help-seeking efforts as perceived by these professionals. Furthermore, a qualitative study (Study 2), based on 20 semi-structured interviews of hairdressers and driving instructors, enabled a deeper understanding of adolescents’ help-seeking patterns, including the facilitating or constraining aspects of adolescents’ relationships with these service providers.