Stigma of Seeking Psychological Services: Examining College Students Across Ten Countries/Regions

Document Type

Article

Source of Publication

Counseling Psychologist

Publication Date

2-1-2017

Abstract

© Division of Counseling Psychology of the American Psychological Association. Stigma is an important barrier to seeking psychological services worldwide. Two types of stigma exist: public stigma and self-stigma. Scholars have argued that public stigma leads to self-stigma, and then self-stigma is the primary predictor of attitudes toward seeking psychological services. However, this assertion is largely limited to U.S. samples. The goal of this research was to provide a first step in understanding the relationship between public stigma, self-stigma, and attitudes toward seeking psychological services in international contexts (N = 3,276; Australia, Brazil, Canada, Hong Kong, Portugal, Romania, Taiwan, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and United States). Using structural equation modeling, we found that self-stigma mediated the relationship between public stigma and attitudes toward seeking services among college students in each country and region. However, differences in path strengths emphasize the need to pay attention to the role of public and self-stigma on attitudes toward seeking psychological services throughout the world.

ISSN

0011-0000

Publisher

SAGE Publications Inc.

Volume

45

Issue

2

First Page

170

Last Page

192

Disciplines

Medicine and Health Sciences

Keywords

cross-cultural, help seeking, stigma, therapy

Scopus ID

85019050890

Indexed in Scopus

yes

Open Access

no

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