Professional Help-Seeking for Adolescent Dating Violence in the Rural South: The Role of Social Support and Informal Help-Seeking

Abstract

Structural equation modeling with three waves of data was used to assess a mediation model investigating the relationship between perceived social support, informal help-seeking intentions, and professional help-seeking intentions in the context of adolescent dating violence. The sample included 589 adolescents from a rural, southern county who participated in a longitudinal study of teen dating violence victimization and perpetration. Results suggest that informal help-seeking intentions are an important link between perceived social support and professional help-seeking intentions. Findings highlight the importance of informal help-seeking and informal help-giving in fostering professional help-seeking for adolescent victims and perpetrators of dating violence.

Promoting informal and professional help-seeking for adolescent dating violence

“…Haynie et al. () similarly found that females who were victims of both physical and verbal dating violence had more pronounced negative outcomes compared with females who were victims of verbal dating violence only. While it appears that physical and sexual dating violence may have more severe negative effects than psychological dating violence, particularly for females, it is clear that adolescent dating violence of any kind has significant implications for adolescent well‐being and therefore is a serious public health concern.…”

“…Dating violence is psychoemotional, physical, or sexual violence within a dating relationship (St. Mars & Valdez, ). As many as one third of adolescents report being a victim of some form of dating violence (Cyr, McDuff, & Wright, ; Foshee et al., ; Halpern, Oslak, Young, Martin, & Kupper, ; Haynie et al., ; Mulford & Giordano, ). Prevalence rates have varied from study to study due to differences in the types of violence asked about on surveys, age ranges of participants, and survey administration (Ocampo, Shelley, & Jaycox, ).…”

“…Poor outcomes associated with adolescent dating violence include a wide variety of physical, psychological, and behavioral problems. In addition to the risks of physical injury, dating violence has also been linked to problems such as eating disorders; suicidal thoughts and depression (Ackard et al., ; Banyard & Cross, ; Kaura & Lohman, ); substance use (Exner‐Cortens et al., ; Foshee et al., ); lower academic achievement (Chiodo et al., ); risky sexual behavior (Bonomi, Anderson, Nemeth, Rivara, & Buettner, ); and adverse health outcomes (Haynie et al., ). Only two of the above‐mentioned studies examined differentiated outcomes based on the type of dating violence victimization.…”

“…Instead, researchers need to consider informal and professional help seeking in tandem. Previous studies have suggested that professional help seeking may be dependent on informal help seeking (Hedge, Sianko, & McDonell, ), and some evidence suggests that receiving informal and professional help in tandem may be most effective in protecting adolescents from adverse outcomes (Liang et al., ).…”

“…Unfortunately, previous studies indicate that many adolescents do not seek any help for dating violence (Ashley & Foshee, ; Rickwood, Dean, Wilson, & Ciarrochi, ). Adolescents that do seek help choose to seek informal help only or informal and professional help together, and almost none seek only professional help (Hedge, Sianko, & McDonell, ; Neighbors & Jackson, ).…”