Familial transmission of mental health help-seeking: Does it “run in the family”?

Familial transmission of mental illnesses and health behaviors is well established. However, little research has examined familial transmission of mental health help-seeking behaviors despite social science theoretical traditions that support its occurrence including social learning theory and the network episode model. Among parent-adolescent dyads, extant literature supports consideration of adolescent-autonomy versus parent-gatekeeping according to whether or not parents recognize a mental health problem in their adolescent. Given this, we examined familial transmission of self-reported mental health help-seeking among parent-adolescent dyads over an 18-month period from a school-based study (N = 422; Texas, USA). Generalized estimating equations tested the effect of multiple forms of parent help-seeking on similar forms of adolescent help-seeking, controlling for personal/family characteristics. We also examined interaction by parent recognition of a mental health problem in their adolescent to discern unique intergenerational processes across these subgroups of parent-adolescent dyads. Owing to effect modification by parent problem recognition (p<0.01), two unique familial transmission of help-seeking pathways emerged. When parent problem recognition was present, parent self help-seeking history reduced adolescent help-seeking net of controls. In contrast, when parent problem recognition was absent, parent self help-seeking history increased adolescent help-seeking net of controls. Our findings provide evidence of familial transmission of mental health help-seeking behaviors, but the direction of influence fundamentally depends on parent recognition of a mental health problem in their adolescent in order to reveal intergenerationally transmitted processes. The findings support our hypotheses that familial transmission of help-seeking starts early in adolescence and is likely influenced by parent modeling and gatekeeping, though explanations for the patterns observed, such as short- and long-term positive and negative mixed impacts of past help-seeking experiences of parents, require further study to ascertain.