Help-seeking behaviours of adolescents in urban high schools in two South African provinces : a comparative exploratory study.

Abstract

This study explored the patterns of help-seeking of 64 urban high school adolescents in Grades 10 and 11 in two South African provinces, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo. The type of problems faced by these adolescents such as interpersonal relationships, family and peer pressure, and whether or not they sought help for these problems was explored. Adolescents' preference for different sources of help for different problems is also discussed. Of concern was what mediated whether and where help was sought. This study also examined the role that the Life Orientation Programme and Guidance Programme played in the help-seeking behaviours of these adolescents. Data was collected using focus groups and individual interviews and analysed using a thematic method of data analysis. Adolescents across the two provinces seemed to have common problems and dealt with them in a similar manner. The adolescents' problems included peer pressure, family, academic anxiety and drug usage. To solve those problems adolescents seemed to prefer informal to formal sources to confide in. The Life Orientation Programme (LOP) seemed to play no significant role at this stage to the adolescents concerned.