Factors Associated With Male Juvenile Training School Inmates’ Intentions to Seek Help From Juvenile Training School Instructors

<p>  In the present study, a scale that measures male juvenile training school inmates' perception of the attitudes and behavior of juvenile training school instructors was developed, and, using that instrument, factors associated with the inmates' intention to seek help from juvenile training school instructors were explored. The participants (N=215), who were new inmates of a juvenile training school, completed a questionnaire that measured help-seeking intentions, anticipated benefits of help-seeking, self-stigma of seeking help, perceived attitudes and behavior of juvenile training school instructors, previous experience with help-seeking, male gender roles, emotional suppression, and concerns. The results indicated that the scale of inmates' perception of the attitudes and behavior of juvenile training school instructors had a 2-factor structure: conscientious attitudes and behavior, and supportive attitudes and behavior, and that the instrument had sufficient reliability and validity. The results of structural equation modeling revealed that while the anticipated benefits of help-seeking were positively related to the participants' help-seeking intentions, self-stigma of seeking help was not positively related. Additionally, the anticipated benefits of help-seeking mediated the positive relationship of help-seeking intentions with both factors relating to the perceived attitudes and behavior of juvenile training school instructors, as well as with the participants' previous experience with help-seeking and male gender roles. Moreover, previous experience with help-seeking and emotional suppression were directly positively related to help-seeking intentions.</p>