Mental Health Help-Seeking Behaviors Among College Students

Mental health of college students has become an important and growing area of concern and research in recent years. Empirical research on the mental health of college students points to high prevalence and severity of mental health problems (e.g., depression, anxiety, substance use disorders). Prevalence estimates (at that given point in time) in undergraduate students have placed depression at approximately 14% and anxiety at approximately 16% (Eisenberg, 2007). Moreover, with regards to symptom severity, campus-counseling centers across the country report increases in the number of students seeking services for severe psychological problems (e.g., suicidal thoughts, self-injurious behaviors), compared to developmental and informational needs (Gallegher, Sysko & Zhang, 2001). Proposed explanations for these findings include increasing demands and stressors placed on students in comparison to past generations (e.g., familial pressure, pressure to succeed academically, financial instability; Essau, 2004), and changing demographics of college students (i.e., college admission is now available to more individuals rather than a small elite number; Kitzrow, 2003). Despite the increasing prevalence and severity of psychological disorders among students, research indicates that there is a treatment gap to the extent that many individuals remain untreated. Approximately 11% of students with a diagnosable mental health concern seek professional services (Vogel, Wade & Hackler, 2007). To that end, the present study aims to examine mental health care-seeking attitudes (i.e., psychological openness, help-seeking propensity, indifference to stigma) among college students. Undergraduate psychology students at a large, midwestern public university are currently being recruited to participate in a 60-minute online survey, in exchange for extra credit. Relevant measures for the present study include: the Attitudes toward Seeking Mental Health Services (IASMHS; Mackenzie, Knox, Gekoski & Macaulay, 2004), the 21-item Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21; Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995), the Inventory of the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support Assessment (MSOPSS; Zimet, Dahlem, Zimet, & FarIey, 1988), and the Self-Stigma of Seeking Help Scale (SSOSH; Vogel et al., 2006). Data analyses will consist of exploratory analyses examining the relationships among help-seeking attitudes (i.e., psychological openness, help-seeking propensity, indifference to stigma) and (1) depression, (2), anxiety, (3) stress, (4) social support, and (5) stigma. The present study is currently in the data collection stage. Final results will be presented during the conference. We propose the following exploratory, two-step data analysis plan. First, we will utilize zero-order correlations to examine relationships between our predictors (i.e., depression, anxiety, stress, social support, stigma) and our outcome (i.e., help-seeking attitudes). Secondly, we will conduct multivariate analyses to examine to what extent the variables which evidence significant relationships are predictive of help-seeking attitudes. The present study will examine the predictive power of depression, anxiety, stress, social support, and stigma on help-seeking attitudes in a sample of undergraduate students. Study findings will be discussed to provide recommendations for future research examining barriers to seeking care and factors that increase help seeking behaviors in college students