Three Scales Assessing High School Students’ Attitudes and Perceived Norms About Seeking Adult Help for Distress and Suicide Concerns

Abstract

Validated measures that can be administered to school populations are needed to advance knowledge of help-seeking processes and to evaluate suicide prevention programs that target help-seeking. With 6,370 students from 22 high schools, we assessed the psychometric properties of three brief measures: Help-Seeking Acceptability at School, Adult Help for Suicidal Youth, and Reject Codes of Silence. Internal consistency coefficients ranged from 0.64 – 0.84. In support of construct validity, lower scores on each scale were associated with more maladaptive coping norms; and for each one unit increase on each scale, students were one-third to one-half as likely to report suicidal ideation, suicide attempts and elevated depression.

Associations Between Suicidal High School Students’ Help-Seeking and Their Attitudes and Perceptions of Social Environment

“…The scales were also related negatively to maladaptive coping attitudes. These scales identified related but distinct constructs pertaining to help-seeking in two independent samples of high school students using confirmatory factor analysis (Schmeelk-Cone et al 2012). Internal consistency coefficients (Chronbach’s α) presented below are from the present sample.…”

“…The Help-Seeking Acceptability at School scale (Schmeelk-Cone et al 2012; Wyman et al 2010) assesses students’ beliefs and perceived norms about getting help for emotional distress. The scale consists of four items (Chronbach’s α = 0.86 for this sample) beginning with the stem, “If I was really upset and needed help…” Students responded to questions covering intentions to seek help (“I would talk to a counselor or other adult at school”), expectations of receiving help (“I believe a counselor or other adult at school could help me”), and perceived norms about seeking help (“My friends…” or “My family……would want me to talk to a counselor or other adult at school”).…”

“…The Adult Help for Suicide Youth scale (Schmeelk-Cone et al 2012; Wyman et al 2010) assesses adolescents’ perceptions about the availability of capable adults to help suicidal students (Chronbach’s α = 0.69; 3 items). Using the same scale described above, students responded to the following: “I know adults who could help a friend thinking of suicide;” “My school has people who can help students going through hard times;” “I can think of an adult whom I trust enough to help a suicidal friend.” Higher scores (item average) reflect student perceptions that capable adults are available, and positive intentions to utilize help.…”

“…These factors include whether the teen feels there are adults available at school who are approachable and can respond effectively to suicide concerns (Schmeelk-Cone et al 2012; Yakunina 2010). They also include the teen’s willingness to overcome barriers, such as a perception that suicide concerns should not be shared outside of close peer groups (Wyman et al 2010).…”

Mobile Phone Intervention to Reduce Youth Suicide in Rural Communities: Field Test (Preprint)

“…Our previous work showed that high school students with suicide ideation were more likely to seek adult help if they held positive views toward seeking such help (e.g., belief that friends and family would want them to ask for help), if they perceived adults at school as available and capable of helping suicidal students, and if they believed that the social resources in their lives (family support, positive friends, mentors, healthy activities, generosity, spirituality, mental health, and medical access) would help them get through tough times [12]. Positive help-seeking attitudes are also associated with both a lower risk for suicidal behavior [39] and increased helpseeking behavior among suicidal youth [12]. Numerous studies have demonstrated the importance of youth-adult connections in adolescent health [40][41][42] and for suicidal youth in particular [43][44][45][46][47].…”