Perceived Peer Norms and Help Seeking for Depression in Indian College Youth

Background: Low rates of professional help seeking are observed in college youth despite high prevalence of common mental health problems. Perceptions regarding social norms related to help seeking can be one of the factors that influence help seeking inclination. Aim: The present study examined perceived peer norms related to help seeking for depressive symptoms and their relationship to one’s own help seeking inclination in urban Indian college youth. Methods: A cross- sectional survey design was used. College youth (N=300) in a metropolitan Indian city constituted the study sample. A modified version of the General Help Seeking Questionnaire was used. This incorporated two depression vignettes; one described depressive symptoms in the context of a life event and another one depicted similar depressive symptoms without any life event. The likelihood of oneself as well as one’s peers seeking help from different sources was inquired into, for both the vignettes. Results: Friends were rated as the most likely source of seeking help for depressive symptoms. Seeking help from a professional by self and by one’s peers was rated as less likely when depression was preceded by a life event than when it was not. College youth rated their own likelihood of seeking professional help to be higher when they perceived their peers’ likelihood of seeking professional help to be higher. Conclusion: Perceived peer norms about help seeking for depression can play an important role in influencing inclination to seek help from professional sources in college youth. Implications for designing interventions to improve help seeking in youth are highlighted.