scholarly journals A primary investigation of professional help-seeking attitudes, self-concealment and gender roles of university students

2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 59-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yaşar Özbay ◽  
Şerife Terzi ◽  
Serdar Erkan ◽  
Zeynep Cihangir Çankaya

The aim of this study is to investigate the professional help-seeking attitudes of university students from their gender, gender roles, the perspective of socioeconomic level and self concealment. Professional Help-Seeking Attitudes Scale-Short Form, Self-Concealment Scale, Bem Gender Role Inventory, and personal information form have been used as data gathering tools. Data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics, t-test and one way anova. The results of the study show that professional help-seeking attitudes among female students are more positive than the male students; those in low or middle socioeconomic level has more positive attitudes; those with female gender roles and those with high androgens have more positive attitudes than male and ambiguous gender roles; and the students who have high levels of selfconcealment have negative attitudes toward seeking psychological help.

BMJ Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. e035818
Author(s):  
Gregory Tee Hng Tan ◽  
Shazana Shahwan ◽  
Chong Ming Janrius Goh ◽  
Wei Jie Ong ◽  
Ellaisha Samari ◽  
...  

ObjectivesA considerable proportion of those who suffer from mental illnesses in Singapore do not seek any form of professional help. The reluctance to seek professional help could be due to misconceptions about the causes of mental illnesses. Research has shown that help-seeking attitudes can predict actual service use. As young adults are most at risk of developing mental illnesses, this study aims to elucidate the impact of causal beliefs about mental illness on help-seeking attitudes among university students in Singapore.DesignPrior to attending an anti-stigma intervention, data on the Causal Beliefs about Mental Illness, Inventory of Attitudes towards Seeking Mental Health services and questions pertaining to sociodemographic background were collected from participants using a self-administered questionnaire. Multiple linear regressions were performed to examine the relationship between causal beliefs and help-seeking, as well as their sociodemographic correlates.SettingsA university in Singapore.Participants390 students who were studying in a University in Singapore.ResultsYounger age was associated with higher scores on psychosocial attribution, while prior social contact with individuals with mental illness was significantly associated with lower scores on personality attribution. With regard to help-seeking attitudes; being a male and personality attribution were significantly associated with lower scores on ‘Psychological Openness’ and ‘Indifference to Stigma’, while psychosocial attribution was significantly associated with higher scores on ‘Help-seeking Propensity’. Having prior social contact also predicted higher ‘Psychological Openness’, while being in Year 2 and 3 predicted lower scores on ’Indifference to Stigma’.ConclusionFindings from this study suggest that help-seeking attitudes might be influenced by causal beliefs, with personality attribution being the most impairing. Hence, to reduce the wide treatment gap in Singapore, anti-stigma interventions targeting young people could focus on addressing beliefs that attribute mental illness to the personality of the individual.


2017 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 301-306
Author(s):  
Fatt Mee Foo ◽  
Siti Aishah Hassan ◽  
Mansor Abu Talib ◽  
Noor Syamilah Zakaria

AbstractThis study aims to measure the latent mean difference in perfectionism and marital satisfaction by counseling help-seeking attitudes. The respondents were 327 married graduate students from a research university in Malaysia. An online self-administered questionnaire was used to collect the data. The respondents completed the Almost Perfect Scale- Revised, Dyadic Almost Perfect Scale, Marital Satisfaction Scale, and Attitudes toward Seeking Professional Psychology Help Scale. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to examined the instruments and the results indicated that construct validity were achieved. The latent mean difference in perfectionism and marital satisfaction by counseling help-seeking attitudes were tested using multigroup invariance analysis. The respondents with negative attitudes toward counseling help-seeking (n = 159) reported a higher latent mean in perfectionism but a lower latent mean in marital satisfaction compared to those with positive attitudes toward counseling help-seeking (n = 168). The implications of these findings for counseling services are discussed.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 13-22
Author(s):  
Rachella Ryandra Fitri

The purpose of this study is to observe: (1) Gender difference in mental health literacy of Yogyakarta State University students and (2) Differences in mental health literacy of Yogyakarta State University students based on vignette character’s gender. The type of this study was factorial survey. In this study, respondents were presented with short descriptions called vignette that were constructed and contained elements that had been manipulated by the researcher to control certain variables, namely gender and mental disorders that the characters had. Then, subjects were asked to answer closed questions (Mental Health Literacy Test) based on the vignettes. The subjects in this study were 377 undergraduate students from Yogyakarta State University. The sampling techniques used in this study were cluster random sampling and incidental sampling. Chi-Square was performed to analyze the data. The results of this study indicated that: (1) There were gender differences in mental health literacy aspect positive attitudes toward professional help where more male respondents did not recommend seeking professional help for depression (2) There were differences in mental health literacy aspects knowledge about the causes of mental disorders and positive attitudes towards professional help based on gender vignette characters for depression.


2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 438-461 ◽  
Author(s):  
Munyi Shea ◽  
Y. Joel Wong ◽  
Kimmy K. Nguyen ◽  
Serani Baghdasarian

Female gender has been consistently associated with positive psychological help-seeking attitudes and behaviors; however, surprisingly few empirical studies have examined how femininity-related variables impact women’s help-seeking decision making. Informed by the theory of reasoned action (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980), the purpose of this study was (a) to investigate the associations between two femininity constructs—subjective femininity stress and gender solidarity—and psychological help-seeking intention, and (b) to explore the mediating roles of help-seeking attitudes and social stigma using structural equation modeling. Participants were 451 college-enrolled women in Southern California. Results revealed that all the mediation relationships involving help-seeking attitudes and stigma were significant. Subjective femininity stress was positively related to help-seeking intention via help-seeking attitudes, but was negatively related to intention via social stigma. Gender solidarity was positively related to help-seeking intention via positive attitudes and reduced social stigma. Implications for future research, prevention programs, and practice are discussed.


2011 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew S. Kendra ◽  
Lauren B. Cattaneo ◽  
Jonathan J. Mohr

Abnormal psychology instructors often use traditional and personal methods to educate students about and improve student attitudes toward mental illness and professional help-seeking. Data from abnormal psychology students ( N = 190) were used to determine if and how students’ attitudes toward mental illness and professional help-seeking attitudes change over time. The study also examined whether stigma-related variables were influenced by student presentations about personal experiences with mental illness. With few exceptions, stigma-related variables did not change over time or in relation to student presentations. Implications for research and teaching to improve attitudes toward mental illness and professional help-seeking are discussed.


2018 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
pp. 286-292 ◽  
Author(s):  
Subin Park ◽  
Mina Jeon ◽  
Yeeun Lee ◽  
Young-Mi Ko ◽  
Chul Eung Kim

Objectives: Identifying predictors of psychological help-seeking attitudes is essential to improve access to needed mental health services. We investigated factors – particularly Big Five personality traits – that affect attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help for mental illness among Korean adults. Methods: A total of 654 participants aged 15–54 years were recruited through an online panel survey. Help-seeking attitudes for mental illness were measured by the Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help Scale (ATSPPH), and personality traits were measured by the Big Five Personality Inventory-10. Results: Multivariate analyses showed that female gender, history of psychiatric diagnosis, agreeableness and openness to experience were significantly associated with positive attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help for mental illness. Conclusions: These findings suggest that specific personality traits should be considered when developing strategies to promote positive attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help. Further research using a representative community sample is needed to generalize our findings.


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