Families of adolescent clients and nonclients: their environments and help-seeking behaviors

Family demographic characteristics, family structure, family environment, and help-seeking variables were explored through interviews with two groups of Afro-American adolescents, including 52 clients and 52 nonclients. One parent of each adolescent was also interviewed. The ratio of single-parent families in the two groups differed significantly. Using one-way analysis of variance, significant differences were found between the means of the groups on five of the ten Family Environment Scale (FES) subscales. The family groups differed significantly on only one help-seeking variable, use of formal helpers. Adolescent client families reported using formal helpers more than did adolescent nonclient families (F = 2.69; df 102; p less than 0.05).