TY - JOUR
T1 - The characteristics of help seeking among Palestinian adolescents following exposure to community violence
AU - Leshem, Becky
AU - Haj-Yahia, Muhammad M.
AU - Guterman, Neil B.
N1 - Funding Information: This research was supported by grants from the CRB Bronfman Foundation , the Sara Moses Fund , the Sondra and Chen Feldman Fund , and the Milton Rosenbaum Fund . Publisher Copyright: © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - Objective: This study examines patterns of and barriers for help seeking after exposure to community violence (ECV) among Palestinian adolescents from theWest Bank and East Jerusalem. Method: Self-administrated questionnaireswere filled-out by a sample of 1930 Palestinian Junior andHigh school students. Participants reported on their ECV, choice of help agent, barriers for help seeking, perceived help experience, and sociodemographic factors. Results: Informal help agents were the first choice of 48% of both male and female adolescents, 30% of the boys and 20% of the girls sought formal help, and 1.9% of the participants sought only formal help. Positive help experience was best attributed to listening and giving advice, while confronting the help seeker led to the most adverse experience. Seeking help from multiple sources produced better help experience. The common reason for not seeking help by girls was feeling that talking wouldn't help. Boys did not seek help out of fear of disclosure and feeling that the problem would go away on its own. Conclusions: Palestinian adolescents' help seeking patterns tend to confirm with those found in other populations. Study limitations and practical implications are discussed, and future studies are suggested.
AB - Objective: This study examines patterns of and barriers for help seeking after exposure to community violence (ECV) among Palestinian adolescents from theWest Bank and East Jerusalem. Method: Self-administrated questionnaireswere filled-out by a sample of 1930 Palestinian Junior andHigh school students. Participants reported on their ECV, choice of help agent, barriers for help seeking, perceived help experience, and sociodemographic factors. Results: Informal help agents were the first choice of 48% of both male and female adolescents, 30% of the boys and 20% of the girls sought formal help, and 1.9% of the participants sought only formal help. Positive help experience was best attributed to listening and giving advice, while confronting the help seeker led to the most adverse experience. Seeking help from multiple sources produced better help experience. The common reason for not seeking help by girls was feeling that talking wouldn't help. Boys did not seek help out of fear of disclosure and feeling that the problem would go away on its own. Conclusions: Palestinian adolescents' help seeking patterns tend to confirm with those found in other populations. Study limitations and practical implications are discussed, and future studies are suggested.
KW - Barriers for help seeking
KW - Community violence
KW - Help seeking
KW - Palestinian adolescents
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84954421191&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2014.12.022
DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2014.12.022
M3 - Article
SN - 0190-7409
VL - 49
SP - 1
EP - 10
JO - Children and Youth Services Review
JF - Children and Youth Services Review
ER -
