Help-seeking intentions among late adolescents with and without experience of out-of-home care

• There were no differences between young people with and without experience of out-of-home care in global help seeking intentions. • Participants with experience of out-of-home care were more likely to seek help from professional sources than from their own social networks compared to participants without out-of-home care experience. • Across models, social support was most clearly related to changes in help-seeking intentions. • We were unable to account for 83% of variation in help-seeking intentions highlighting the need to investigate other possible influencing factors than those included in this study. Seeking and receiving social support is linked to better mental health among adolescents, concurrently, and over time. Consequently, seeking help from others for personal, emotional, and other problems is key to healthy development. However, adolescents who are the most in need of help are the least likely to seek help when needed. In this study, we examine help-seeking behavior among adolescents with and without experience of out-of-home care (OHC). Using cross-sectional data from two populations of youth, we explore the relationship of several youth characteristics on help-seeking intentions. Our strongest model found resilience, perceived social support, OHC experience, and Swedish citizenship to be significantly related to changes in help-seeking intentions with social support explaining most of the variation in this outcome. Findings highlight the central role of perceived social support and resilience for adolescents’ willingness to seek help, regardless of OHC experience. Strengthening supportive relationships and transition services may enhance help-seeking among youth facing life challenges.