Latino/a college students' attitudes toward seeking counseling

The present study aims to understand college students’ attitudes toward seeking mental health counseling. The theory of planned behavior (TPB) is used to examine help-seeking behaviors. The constructs tested were attitudes, intention, and subjective norms (Boston University, 2014). There were 169 participants in this study. Participants were Latin Americans and their ages ranged from 18 to 38 years of age. Statistical analysis such as, a Pearson correlation, independent samples t-test, and bivariate regressions were performed to test the study hypotheses. The results show a positive correlation between Latino/a college students’ attitudes toward counseling and their intentions to seek help. There were no differences on attitudes toward seeking counseling among gender, however Latina college students have more intentions to seek counseling than Latino college students. It was found that self-disclosure does not predict attitudes toward counseling. Likewise, social support and acculturation do not predict intentions to seek counseling. Finally, past counseling experience did not influence attitudes towards seeking counseling, nevertheless it does affect intentions to seek counseling. Discussion about these findings as well as limitations of the study and future research recommendations are provided. Key words: Theory of planned behavior, attitudes, intention, college students, helpseekin