To seek or not to seek: decision-making in perceived social support among bullied adolescents

BACKGROUND: Higher perceived social support is associated with reduced psychological and behavioral problems among bullied adolescents; however, many decide not to seek support. Understanding how bullied adolescents make the decision to seek social support is crucial for encouraging support-seeking behaviors. Existing research often examines single factors of perceived social support in isolation or describes decision-making processes not specifically relevant to bullied adolescents. This study adopts a holistic perspective to explore the contributing factors and their interactions, providing a comprehensive account of how bullied adolescents make decisions about seeking social support. METHODS: Ten bullied adolescents (five girls, five boys; Mage = 14.00, SD = 0.47) from China were interviewed. Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was employed to investigate their lived experiences of seeking or not seeking social support. RESULTS: IPA revealed four factors to seeking social support among bullied adolescents: (1) Prefer to use personal coping strategies, (2) determine whether the benefits of support-seeking outweigh the risks, (3) estimate if at least one of the three thresholds of support-seeking is reached, and (4) evaluate the effectiveness of support-seeking based on responses received and their effects. Notably, the interactions among these factors significantly shaped their decision-making process. From these insights, we developed a conceptual model that illustrates how bullied adolescents navigate the decision to seek social support. CONCLUSIONS: The findings emphasize that the decision-making process regarding social support among bullied adolescents is multifaceted, shaped by a variety of interconnected factors. This integrated model provides a comprehensive framework for understanding and promoting support-seeking behaviors in this vulnerable population.