In accord with prior research on help seeking for behavioral health care (Christiana et al., 2000; Kessler et al., 1998; Wang et al., 2005), an earlier age of onset tended to decrease the probability of treatment-seeking. Younger individuals often depend on their parents to recognize their symptoms and assist them into care (Dakwar et al., 2014). However, many parents are not aware of the extent and deleterious effects of substance use by their children (Green et al., 2011). Nevertheless, given the strong association of earlier age of onset with greater disorder severity and functional limitations, the lower likelihood of treatment-seeking among younger individuals represents an important challenge for health planners. Higher rates of treatment-seeking among people who were members of more recent cohorts could be due to increased perceived need for treatment among these individuals, less stigma, and greater knowledge of treatment availability or effectiveness (Kessler et al., 1998; Mackenzie et al., 2012; Wang et al., 2005).
