Predictors of help-seeking intention among young people: a Common-Sense Model based study

Mental health difficulties are prevalent among young people yet help-seeking remains low. The Common-Sense Model, widely applied in physical health, may help explain young people’s perceptions of mental health challenges and their intentions to seek help. This study explored the role of illness perceptions and gender in the relationship between distress severity and help-seeking intentions. Specifically, it examined whether illness perceptions mediate this relationship and whether gender moderates these effects, either directly or via the mediated pathways, if any. A total of 280 young people in Ireland participated in the study. Mediation and moderation analyses were conducted to assess the indirect effect of distress severity on help-seeking intentions through illness perceptions and the moderating effect of gender. Two illness perception dimensions—consequence and treatment control—fully mediated the distress severity—help-seeking relationship. Gender did not moderate either the direct or indirect pathways. Self-stigma significantly and negatively related to help-seeking intention in the mediation model. The findings suggest that mental health interventions might benefit from including information about the negative consequences of untreated mental health difficulties and emphasising treatment efficacy, while stigma interventions are crucial to promoting help-seeking intention.