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The paper explores gender differences and the role of stigma in teen willingness to use mental health services. It reports that more girls than boys turned to a friend for help for an emotional concern, whereas more boys turned to a family member first. Boys had less mental health knowledge and experience and higher mental health stigma than girls. In adjusted analyses, girls were twice as likely as boys to report willingness to use mental health services. Parental disapproval and perceived stigma helped to explain the relationship between gender and willingness to use mental health services