Mental Health Help-Seeking Intention and Organizational Climate in a Population of Military Service Members

Historically, psychological effects of war such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) have been understated and misdiagnosed throughout the world. Military members that displayed symptoms of PTSD such as anxiety, depression, and sadness were thought to lack the strength and courage necessary to be a soldier. As a result, many soldiers suffering from symptoms of PTSD would suffer in silence and not seek the requisite help for mental health care. This Dissertation examines the mental health help-seeking intention of U.S. military service members using the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). Additionally, this Dissertation considers the effects that leadership support climate and coworker support climate play in a soldierâ??s intention to seek help for mental health care. This Dissertation contributes to the literature in three ways. First, this Dissertation contributes by applying a rigorously tested theoretical framework to the study of mental health help-seeking intention in U.S. military personnel. Second, this Dissertation contributes by incorporating the constructs of leadership support climate and coworker support climate into mental health help-seeking literature. Third, this Dissertation will introduce the concepts of leadership support climate and organizational support climate into the study of the theory of planned behavior. This Dissertation concluded that the personal attitudes of military service members towards mental health help-seeking is significant in predicting their mental health help-seeking intention. Furthermore, the Dissertation concluded that mental health help-seeking attitudes mediates the relationship between leadership support climate and mental health help-seeking intention. These results underscore the importance of role of leaders in influencing service members to seek help for mental health problems