Aim: To describe adolescents’ intentions to offer assistance to friends experiencing mental health problems and the associations with the adolescent’s own psychopathology and psychosocial characteristics. Method: A survey study of 1143 students aged 12-17 years in schools in the Australian Capital Territory and South Australia. Respondents were given a vignette of a young person with either depression or conduct disorder and asked questions about how they would respond to a friend with the problem presented. First-aid responses were classified as social support, adult engagement and unhelpful responses. Adolescent psychopathology was measured with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and desired social distance with a six-item scale. Results: The main response was to offer social support such as listening to the friend, distracting them or offering advice. Low confidence in offering help and unhelpful responses were associated with higher desired social distance, male gender, conduct problems and poor social skills. Providing social support was associated with female gender, high prosocial scores and lower desired social distance. Adult engagement to help a peer with conduct disorder was associated with female gender. Conclusion: Future education about mental health that is aimed at this age group should take into consideration the preferences of young people to seek help from their peers, and focus on encouraging young people to seek adult assistance when they are worried about the well-being of a friend.