Factors influencing help-seeking behaviours for emotional and personal problems experienced by school-going adolescents in Gampaha District, Sri Lanka

Emotional and personal problems include managing emotions, relationships and other difficulties that affect an individual’s life. Help-seeking refers to seeking assistance for these problems. Adolescents in low-and-middle-income countries, such as Sri Lanka, experience unique social factors that influence their help-seeking behaviours. Understanding these factors are key to informing public health strategies and policies to address these problems. Given the current gap in knowledge in Sri Lanka, the aim was to identify methods of help-seeking for emotional and personal problems and their determinants among Sri Lankan adolescents. A cross-sectional survey administered to school-going adolescents (grades 10–13) across seven secondary schools in Gampaha District, Sri Lanka. Fixed-response, study-specific questions, examined seven help-seeking methods: informal support, family support, religious leaders, activities, traditional care, positive attitude, and professional support. Associations between sociodemographic factors and help-seeking were assessed using logistic regression models. Analyses included 1006 surveys. Factors associated with higher likelihood of help-seeking include: girls, having ≥ 1 sibling, higher psychological distress symptoms, experiencing more maternal and paternal care, having religious caregivers, and higher academic stress. Lower likelihood of help-seeking was linked to: lower engagement in sporting activities, higher depressive symptoms, higher maternal education level, higher paternal overprotection and rural/semi-urban living. Of seven help-seeking methods examined, no sole method was preferred by Sri Lankan adolescents. Help-seeking was influenced by social, demographic and economic factors identified across immediate and surrounding environments of Sri Lankan adolescents. These findings indicate that a multipronged approach to promoting help-seeking for personal and emotional problems among Sri Lankan adolescents is needed.