Psychological distress and attitudes toward seeking help for personal and career counseling: the contributions of public and self-stigma

The current study observed the relation between psychological distress, stigma (public and self) and help-seeking attitudes for career and personal concerns. In particular, the study examined the contribution of psychological distress and stigma (public and self) to help-seeking attitudes. A total of 510 (N = 202 for career and N =308 for personal) students at a large Midwestern university completed an online survey in fall 2014. Data was analyzed using hierarchical moderated multiple regression. First, neither career distress nor personal distress contributed significant variance to help-seeking attitudes. Second, stigma (public and self), for both career and personal concerns, contributed significant variance to help-seeking attitudes; the relations were negative. Third, neither the interactions of career distress and public stigma nor personal distress and public stigma contributed significant variance to help-seeking attitudes. Last, the interaction of career distress and self-stigma did not contribute significant variance to help-seeking attitudes, but the interaction of personal distress and self-stigma did contribute significant variance. Results were discussed based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB), modified labeling theory (MLT) and approach-avoidance models. Limitations, implications, and future studies were discussed