Background

Poor mental health literacy and greater alignment with norms of hegemonic masculinity are established barriers to mental health help-seeking in men. However, little is known about how these variables influence adolescent male help-seeking and in particular, help-seeking for anxiety disorders. This study investigated the relationship between i) anxiety mental health literacy, ii) alignment with traditional masculinity norms and iii) help-seeking attitudes, intentions and behaviour in a sample of adolescent males.

Methods

1732 adolescent males (aged 12–18 years) participated online whilst at school.

Results

Participant attitudes towards formal help-seeking, intentions to seek help from a family member and from an online source were found to predict professional help-seeking behaviour by the adolescent and/or by their parents on the adolescents’ behalf. In adolescents with a low or average personal alignment with norms of hegemonic masculinity, greater anxiety mental health literacy was positively associated with more favourable attitudes towards formal and informal help-seeking. However, this relationship was not found in adolescent males with a greater alignment with norms of hegemonic masculinity.

Limitations

The study had a correlational research design and used self-report measures.

Conclusions

Mental health initiatives which consider the impact of masculinity and gender stereotypes have the potential to significantly improve help-seeking in this population.

中文翻译：

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研究男性气质对青春期男性焦虑特质的心理健康素养与心理健康求助之间的关系的影响

背景

不良的心理健康素养以及对霸权男性主义规范的更大认同是男性心理健康寻求帮助的障碍。然而，对于这些变量如何影响青少年男性求助，尤其是焦虑症的求助知之甚少。这项研究调查了i）焦虑心理健康素养，ii）与传统男性气质规范的一致性以及iii）青春期男性样本中寻求帮助的态度，意图和行为之间的关系。

方法

在学校期间，有1732名青春期男性（12至18岁）在线上参加了比赛。

结果

参与者对正式寻求帮助的态度，向家庭成员寻求帮助以及从在线资源中寻求帮助的意愿被发现可以预测青少年和/或其父母代表青少年的专业寻求帮助行为。在青少年中，个人对霸权阳刚之气标准的接受程度较低或中等，对心理健康素养的更高焦虑与对正式和非正式寻求帮助的态度更加积极相关。但是，这种关系在青春期男性与霸权男性气质规范的一致性更高的情况下没有发现。

局限性

该研究具有相关研究设计，并使用了自我报告方法。

结论

考虑到男性气质和性别定型观念的影响的精神卫生举措有可能显着改善这一人群的寻求帮助的潜力。