Shared Cultural Values Influence Mental Health Help-Seeking Behaviors in Asian and Latinx College Students.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Zhou E
PROVIDER: S-EPMC9249685 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:First-generation (FG) college students (students for whom neither parent earned a bachelor’s degree) are typically less likely to interact with their instructors and communicate with them by email or in person, compared to continuing-generation (CG) students. Qualitative research suggests FG students are less likely to seek help when they need it, and when they do seek help they are more likely to engage in passive help-seeking (e.g., waiting quietly for assistance) as opposed to active help-seeking (e.g., promptly requesting assistance through multiple methods), compared to CG students. The current laboratory study provided students with an opportunity to seek academic and non-academic help and measured whether students engaged in active help-seeking behavior. We also tested whether having a shared identity with a help-provider could increase active help-seeking behavior among FG students. Results showed that FG students were less likely to seek academic help. Among FG and CG students who sought academic help, the intervention had no significant impact on active help-seeking. However, among students seeking non-academic help, active help-seeking behaviors were significantly higher for FG college students assigned a help-provider who signaled a FG identity. In other words, having a shared identity with a help-provider led to more active help-seeking among FG college students seeking non-academic assistance. FG faculty, staff, and student workers who provide non-academic assistance may want to consider self-identifying as FG to increase help-seeking behaviors among FG students struggling to navigate the college environment. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11218-023-09794-y.
| S-EPMC10218772 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundSeeking online health information (OHI) has become a common practice globally. The information seekers could face health risks if they are not proficient in OHI literacy. The OHI-seeking behaviors and skills of Chinese college students, the largest proportion of college students in the world, are understudied. This study was aimed to describe OHI-seeking behaviors and skills of college students in Guangdong, China.MethodsCollege students in the Guangdong province with OHI-seeking experience were invited via WeChat, QQ, and Sina Weibo using QR code posters and flyers for participation in this online anonymized questionnaire-based study. Data on demographics, OHI literacy, information resources, search approaches, and behaviors were collected. The relationship between perceived OHI literacy and high-risk behaviors was investigated by bivariate logistic regression analysis.ResultsRespondents were 1203 college students with a mean age of 20.6 years, females (60.2%), and undergraduates (97.2%). They sought health information via websites (20.3%), WeChat (2.6%), or both (77.1%). Baidu was the main search engine, and baike.baidu.com (80.3%), Zhihu.com (48.4%), and Zhidao.baidu.com (35.8%) were top three among 20 searched websites for information about self-care (80.7%), general health (79.5%), disease prevention (77.7%), self-medication (61.2%), family treatment (40.9%), drugs (37.7%), western medications (26.6%), hospitals (22.7%), physicians (21.4%), and Traditional Chinese Medicine (15.6%). Despite most respondents (78%) lacked confidence in the evidence quality and satisfaction with the results, only 32.4% further consulted doctors. Many (> 50%) would recommend the retrieved information to others. About 20% experienced hacking/Internet fraud. Cronbach's alpha for the internal consistency of OHI literacy was 0.786. Bivariate logistic regression analysis showed that students who believed they can judge the evidence level of OHI were more likely to self-diagnose (OR = 2.2, 95%CI, 1.6-3.1) and look for drug usage (OR = 3.1, 95%CI, 1.9-5.0).ConclusionsThis study reveals Chinese college students' heavy reliance on OHI to manage their own and others' health without sufficient knowledge/skills to identify misinformation and disinformation. The apparent risky information-seeking behaviors of Chinese college students warrant the provision of regulated, accurate, and actionable health information; assurance of cybersecurity; and health information literacy promotion in colleges by concerned authorities.
| S-EPMC8047546 | biostudies-literature
Project description:This study examined help seeking among 158 college students with a lifetime history of suicide ideation.Students were interviewed about episodes of psychological distress, formal treatment, and informal help seeking during adolescence and college.Of the 151 students reporting any lifetime episodes of distress, 62% experienced the first episode in adolescence, and 54% had episodes in both adolescence and young adulthood. Overall, 87% received informal help, 73% received formal treatment, and 61% received both. Among the 149 who ever sought help or treatment, the most commonly reported sources of help were family (65%), friends (54%), psychiatrists (38%), and psychologists (33%). Of the 94 individuals who experienced suicide ideation in college, 44% did not seek treatment during young adulthood. Treatment barriers reflected ambivalence about treatment need or effectiveness, stigma, and financial concerns.Most students had some contact with treatment, but family and friends might be important gatekeepers for facilitating treatment access.
| S-EPMC3246367 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundDirect exposure to natural disasters is associated with increased mental disorders. Help-seeking behaviour among Chinese adults is low and the barriers and facilitators of help-seeking among Chinese adults exposed to natural disasters is understudied.ObjectiveUsing a person-centred approach, this study describes help-seeking preferences and their correlates in a sample of Chinese college students after experiencing Typhoon Hato, the strongest storm to affect Macao, China in the past 50 years.MethodThe baseline sample was collected one month following exposure to the Typhoon (September 2017). Six months following the baseline study (April, 2018), a total of 815 students (females = 71.5%) completed follow-up and were included in the data analysis. Latent Class Analysis (LCA) and Multinomial Logistic Regression were used to analyse the data via Mplus 7.4 and Stata 15.0.ResultsThree latent classes of help-seeking preferences were identified in this study, including: 'mental health professionals and close people' (MHPCP, 52%), non-seekers (31%), and 'multiple sources' (17%). The results of multinomial logistic regression showed that region of origin (mainland versus Macao, China), self-stigma, perceived helpfulness of professional mental health help, previous professional help-seeking behaviour, and perceived social support, were significantly associated with MHPCP help-seeking preferences.ConclusionA large proportion of students preferred to seek support from loved ones and professionals. However, over 30% of the sample preferred not seeking help for mental health concerns. Further research is needed to enhance mental health treatment seeking preferences among Chinese college students.
| S-EPMC7448932 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Based on cohort data obtained from 13,085 college freshmen's (2005 to 2011) SCL-90 (the Symptom Check-List-90) reports and their subsequent 4-year psychological counseling help-seeking records, this study examined the association between college students' mental health problems and help-seeking behaviors across four college years. Female students' mental health problems and help-seeking behaviors increased from the 2005 to the 2011 cohorts and no changes emerged for male students across cohorts. Overall, male students reported higher levels of mental health problems than did female students in the first college year, whereas female students reported more help-seeking behaviors than did male students in the following four college years. College students' mental health problems was associated positively with help-seeking behaviors. College students were more likely to seek help from the college psychological counselling center when they experienced relatively few or quite a lot of mental health issues (i.e., an inversed U shape). Implications for future studies and practices are discussed.
| S-EPMC5644985 | biostudies-literature
Project description:This study aimed to evaluate the impact of parental mental health on adolescent offspring. Data regarding 6512 families from the 2010-2021 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey were analyzed; among them, 428 were placed in the suicidal ideation (SI) group and 421 were placed in the matched control (MC) group. This number was selected for the use of the propensity score matching method. The findings highlighted significant associations between parental mental health and adolescent suicidal ideation, with mothers in the SI group having higher odds of Diagnosed Depression (OR 2.109, 1.023-4.350 95% CI), Depressive Mood (OR 2.155, 1.224-3.793 95% CI), and Suicidal Ideation (OR 2.532, 1.322-4.851 95% CI) compared to the MC group. Regarding the fathers, paternal Suicidal Ideation (OR 4.295, 1.747-10.599 95% CI) was the only significant factor for adolescent suicidal ideation. In contrast, maternal depressive symptoms and help-seeking behavior significantly impacted adolescent help-seeking; Maternal Depressive Mood increased with adolescent Help-Seeking (OR 4.486, 1.312-15.340 95% CI) while Maternal Suicidal Ideation reduced the probability of Help-Seeking in the SI group (OR 0.15, 0.031-0.721, 95% CI). Chronic and severe depressive symptoms in mothers could make adolescents less likely to seek help for their suicidal ideations. Therefore, clinicians working with adolescents should prioritize a family-oriented approach.
| S-EPMC10419277 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Although older adults may experience health challenges requiring increased care, they often do not ask for help. This scoping review explores the factors associated with the help-seeking behaviors of older adults, and briefly discusses how minority ethnic populations can face additional challenges in help-seeking, due to factors such as language barriers and differing health beliefs. Guided by Arksey and O'Malley's scoping review framework and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-AnalysesScoping Review guidelines, a systematic search of five databases was conducted. Using a qualitative meta-synthesis framework, emergent themes were identified. Data from 52 studies meeting inclusion criteria were organized into five themes: formal and informal supports, independence, symptom appraisal, accessibility and awareness, and language, alternative medicine and residency. Identifying how factors, including independence and symptom appraisal, relate to older adults' help-seeking behaviors may provide insights into how this population can be supported to seek help more effectively.
| S-EPMC9024019 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Background Mental health issues are common among university students, but the latter are unlikely to seek professional help even when mental health services are available. Coping strategies, stigma and psychological distress are often considered as factors that can affect help-seeking intentions in university students. Methods This study aimed to determine the role of coping strategies, stigma and psychological distress on the intentions to seek professional help for psychological problems. All students (N = 13,886) from an Italian medium-sized university were asked to participate in a multidimensional online survey and 3754 (27.1%) agreed to participate. A Structural Equation Modelling approach was applied to explore the simultaneous direct and indirect effects of distress, stigma and coping strategies on professional help-seeking intentions. Results Results showed that students were not very likely to seek professional help and, through the Structural Equation Model, psychological distress was found to be positively correlated with coping strategies, which in turn was negatively associated with the stigma of seeking help. The latter was negatively associated with professional help-seeking intentions. These effects suggest that students with significant psychological distress use coping strategies to face the stigma of seeking help: the lower the stigma of seeking help, the higher the chance of developing intentions to seek professional help. Conclusions This study suggests the importance of implementing programs to encourage college students to seek help, including measures that foster a stigma-free environment, reduce psychological distress and promote the use of adaptive coping strategies. Interventions should be focused firstly on self-stigma and secondly on perceived stigma, taking into consideration the level of psychological distress and social stereotypes associated with mental disorders and help seeking behaviours. Programs about coping are also essential and should focus on promoting emotion-focused strategies and problem-focused strategies. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40359-023-01171-w.
| S-EPMC10243082 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Inconsistent information on levels of eating pathology in Asian Americans exist. We investigated whether there were differences in mean scores for eating disorder (ED) symptoms among Whites, Asian Americans, and individuals identifying as another race (i.e., non-Asian people of color [NAPOC]). Participants included 716 college students (M age = 19.23; SD = 1.65) from a southeastern university. ED symptoms were assessed with the Eating Pathology Symptom Inventory (EPSI). Internalizing symptoms were evaluated via the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS). One-way ANOVAs investigated mean differences in symptoms between racial groups, with and without adjusting for sex, BMI, and internalizing symptoms. Overall, 16% (n = 114) of the sample identified as Asian American, 67% (n = 477) as White, and 17% (n = 125) as NAPOC. After correcting for multiple testing and adjusting for covariates, Asian Americans reported higher mean scores of purging, muscle building, and cognitive restraint (qs < 0.05) than Whites and NAPOC. Asian Americans also scored higher on restriction compared with Whites (qs < 0.05), as well as body dissatisfaction and negative attitudes toward obesity compared with NAPOC (qs < 0.05). These findings demonstrate the existence of racial differences among specific ED symptoms, highlighting the importance of considering these distinctions when diagnosing and treating EDs among diverse communities.
| S-EPMC7906921 | biostudies-literature
Project description:To provide an overview of studies within the past five years examining the impact of social network factors on addictive behaviors among college students, to discuss gaps, limitations, and controversies in the field, and to summarize with a discussion of future directions and implications for interventions.A review of 13 studies indicated that greater network exposure, centrality, reciprocated ties, and more tightly interconnected networks were associated with greater alcohol use and other addictive behaviors among college students.Greater research is needed that expands beyond alcohol use to other addictive behaviors among college students. Additionally, more studies are needed that longitudinally study the impact of changes in social networks on addictive behaviors and vice versa, as well as studies examining sociocentric (whole) networks. Social network approaches offer innovative perspectives in understanding social influences on addictive behaviors and novel intervention strategies for potentially reducing addictive behaviors among college students.
| S-EPMC5450660 | biostudies-other