Navigating Trade-Offs in Support Preferences: Toward Supportive Communication Guidance for Help-Givers of Young People

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Abstract
Social support is a key protective factor for young people's mental health, yet help-seekers may perceive supportive messages received through digital devices differently depending on content and style. We investigate how young people evaluate support messages from peers, adult mentors, therapists, and AI across four help-seeking scenarios. We conducted a mixed-methods secondary analysis of a survey study with 255 participants. We identified young people's contrasting opinions on various supportive communication elements that influenced whether they liked or disliked the message, shaping how well the support was received. These contrasting findings related to (1) message length, (2) normalization of the help-seeker's situation, (3) levels of encouragement, and (4) referral to formal support. These findings highlight how individual preferences moderate support message reception. We propose a reflection question bank to guide help-givers to consider how to incorporate help-seeker's unique supportive communication element preferences and trade-offs between contrasting perceptions, informing the design of more personalized and context-sensitive support in young people's mental health.

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