Do Expectancies Influence Choice of Help-Giver? Adolescents’ Criteria for Selecting an Informal Helper

This study endeavors to test whether adolescents’ expectations of potential helpers’ nurturance and expertise are associated with adolescent selection of an informal helpgiver. A sample of 89 adolescents in Grades 8 and 11 responded to assessments of help seeking within four different scenarios. Regression analyses revealed that expectations of expertise are important in selecting a mother or father as a potential help giver, whereas expectations of nurturance are influential in choosing a friend as a help giver. Age was not found to modify the relationship between expectations and selection of a helper, and gender modified the relationship in only one scenario. Results are discussed in terms of adolescent help seeking as having a dual function, that of information seeking and relationship development.