Patterns of online seeking and providing help among adolescents: a preliminary study

ABSTRACT

We proposed a typology of adolescents’ online support-related behaviours based on two facets: help-seeking and help-providing: (1) Transceivers seek and provide help; (2) Receivers seek help but do not provide it; (3) Transmitters provide help, yet do not seek it; and (4) Idlers refrain from seeking and providing help. Of the 528 adolescents, the largest group are Transceivers (45%), and they seek help mainly from peers through social networking sites, around social issues. For Receivers (5%) the most important facilitator of seeking help is anonymity. Transmitters (16%) refrain from seeking help due to self-reliance. Idlers (34%) refrain from seeking help due to their preference to face-to-face encounters. The characteristics of the four patterns are discussed in light of counselling implications.

KEYWORDS:

• Help-seeking
• help-providing
• cyberspace
• adolescence
• gender differences

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Benny A. Benjamin on his helpful comments on an earlier version of this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 These terms were adopted from telecommunications and computer technology: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transceiver; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_receiver; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmitter; https://www.computerhope.com/jargon/i/idle.htm

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yuliya Lipshits-Braziler

Yuliya Lipshits-Braziler, PhD, is a lecturer in the Educational Counseling Department at the Seymour Fox School of Education, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. Her primary research areas comprise various aspects of educational and career counselling in multicultural societies: (a) coping strategies, coping efficacy, perceived problem-solving abilities, and adaptability; (b) the school-to-work transition; and (c) school counselling in the digital era and online help-seeking among adolescents.

Sima Amram-Vaknin

Sima Amram-Vaknin, PhD, clinical psychologist and head of the Educational Counseling Division at the Seymour Fox School of Education, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. Her primary teaching areas include therapeutic processes in individual intervention; parenthood-development and change; and crisis intervention in families and individuals. Her main research areas include coping with traumatic and non-traumatic stressful events; adolescent help-seeking and coping strategies in the context of terror attacks; and formal and informal help-seeking among young adults (e.g. turning to mystics, religious authorities, and service providers within the community).

Gali Pesin-Michael

Gali Pesin-Michael is a doctoral candidate in the School of Psychological Sciences at Tel-Aviv University, Israel. Her doctoral research investigates psychological factors and communication strategies that influence successful intergroup dialogue about past and present injustice.

Moshe Tatar

Prof. Moshe Tatar, PhD, holds the Morton L. Mandel Chair for the Director of the Seymour Fox School of Education at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. He is the former Director of Education of “Revivim”- the Honors Program for the Training of Jewish Studies Teachers. He is the recipient of the Michael Milken Award for Continuing Excellence in Teaching and was nominated Honorary Professor at the Department of Psychology of the Catholic University, Lima, Peru. His teaching and research areas include: school counseling and psychology, multicultural education and counseling (with an emphasis on immigrants and minority groups), adolescents’ and teachers’ help-seeking behaviours and attitudes, and parental perceptions of schools.