Although many students struggle with career-related issues in college, comparatively few engage the career services offered by their academic institutions for help with their difficulties. In addition, there is little research on the factors influencing students' decisions to engage in counseling for career-related issues, making it difficult to develop programs to enhance students' use of career counseling services. The present study examines the relationships between the stigma associated with help seeking and attitudes toward engaging in career counseling. Participants were 509 college students who completed measures of stigma and attitudes toward career counseling. Structural equation modeling results indicated that public and personal stigmas were linked to self-stigma, which in turn was linked to attitudes toward seeking career counseling. Sixty percent of the variance in self-stigma and 42% of the variance in attitudes was accounted for in the model.

Understanding the degree to which students' interests and achievement fit with educational environmental rewards and requirements can help universities retain students, while assisting students in finding fulfilling academic majors and careers. We examined the effect of various interest-major congruence indices and American College Testing (ACT) achievement indicators on biology and chemistry students' success and retention using archival university data from a Historically Black College/University. Results indicated that the specific congruence index utilized alters the statistical impact of achievement indicators on retention and success. Additionally, while the predictors of success and retention differed between biology and chemistry majors, math and English ACT scores impacted success and retention for both biology and chemistry majors, highlighting the utility of assessing skill areas beyond math for students majoring in both biology and chemistry. Career counselors and advisors should consider students' majors and the utility of exploration tools when providing guidance to college students.

The extent to which individuals prioritize different personal values may be conceptually linked to the perceptions of societal stigma associated with seeking psychological help (public stigma), as well as the extent to which they apply that stigma to themselves (self-stigma). We examined how personal values predicted public stigma and self-stigma of seeking psychological help. Undergraduates ( N = 342) from two universities, one historically Black college/university and one predominantly White institution, completed questionnaires assessing personal values and public stigma and self-stigma of seeking psychological help. Self-transcendence values predicted lower self-stigma directly and indirectly via public stigma. Though there were no structural differences between the modeled relationships of values, public stigma, and self-stigma between Black/African American and White/European American undergraduates, the groups differed in their prioritization of self-transcendence, openness to change, and conservation values. Results suggest that understanding how individuals prioritize certain values over others may help explain group-differences in help-seeking stigmas.

The current study examined associations of intersectional social identities on Black women’s (N = 126) career self-efficacy and interests at a Historically Black College and University (HBCU). Structural models examined associations of different aspects of gender and racial identity on Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) predictors (i.e., learning experiences and self-efficacy) for each RIASEC career interest. SCCT paths from learning experiences to career interests, via self-efficacy, were supported for all six career interests. For gender norms, domesticity directly predicted learning experiences and indirectly predicted interests for enterprising, investigative, social, and conventional themes; however, primacy of work conformity was not associated with learning experiences or indirect effects for any career interest. Racial centrality only predicted learning experiences and indirect effects on career interests for social careers. Aspects of racial and gender identity may set forth educational decisions that have implications for the eventual careers that many undergraduates pursue.

Contemplating seeking therapy may evoke threats to self-integrity that lead to avoidance of treatment, but eliciting self-affirmation, a psychological process that temporarily bolsters self-integrity, may forestall those threats. The present study utilized a randomized experimental design to test the effectiveness of contemplating seeking therapy and self-affirming personal values in reducing self-stigma and increasing the likelihood of deciding to learn about one’s mental health status and to receive mental health information in a sample of undergraduates at a Historically Black College/University (HBCU). Each participant was randomly assigned to contemplation (contemplation or no contemplation) and self-affirmation (self-affirmation or no self-affirmation) conditions, completed an assessment of self-stigma, and was offered opportunities to learn about mental health status and mental health information online. Engaging in just contemplation about seeking therapy was associated with greater self-stigma. However, the combination of self-affirmation and contemplation was associated with increased likelihood of seeking mental health screening results and general mental health information. Overall, results suggest that interventions that utilize both contemplation and self-affirmation strategies may increase receptivity to outreach efforts.