Cultural mistrust and mental health help-seeking attitudes among Filipino Americans.

Abstract

As low as the rate of mental health help-seeking is among Asian Americans, Filipino Americans seek mental health services at a much lower rate even compared with other Asian Americans. Despite the field's progress in identifying and understanding factors that may influence mental health help-seeking attitudes among Asian Americans, despite research on other minority groups suggesting that cultural mistrust may influence attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help, and despite the abundance of literature documenting the historical and contemporary experiences of oppression by Filipino Americans, the possibility that cultural mistrust may play a significant role in Filipino Americans' mental health help-seeking attitudes have yet to be empirically investigated. Thus, using a sample of 118 Filipino Americans, the current study demonstrates that higher levels of cultural mistrust is related to lower likelihood of seeking professional psychological help. Furthermore, cultural mistrust predicted variance in mental health help-seeking attitudes that are not accounted for by income, generational status, loss of face, and adherence to Asian cultural values. Implications for future research are discussed.

Mental health help seeking among Filipinos: a review of the literature

“…The discrepancy could be a product of the ethnic heterogeneity of the participants in the study. Among Filipino Americans, research suggests that loss of face was negatively associated with past utilization and propensity to seek help from mental health professionals, positively associated with willingness to seek help from lay networks, and not related to help seeking from general practitioners and folk healers (David, 2010;Gong et al, 2003). However, among Filipinos, loss of face was positively associated with intent to seek face-to-face and online counseling (Bello et al, 2013).…”

“…Studies suggest that loss of face was negatively associated with indifference to stigma and psychological openness among Filipino Americans (David, 2010;Gong et al, 2003). Among Filipinos, loss of face was negatively associated with attitude towards counseling, and positively associated with perceived stigma for seeking help and receiving psychological help (Bello et al, 2013).…”

“…Although the concrete role of hiya on mental health help-seeking behavior has not yet been studied, loss of face, an arguably related construct, has been previously researched (Abe-Kim et al, 2004;David, 2010;Gong et al, 2003). Loss of face has been defined as the threat or loss of one's social integrity, especially as it relates to social relationships and one's social standing, and oftentimes measured using the Loss of Face Scale (Zane & Yeh, 2002).…”

Mental Health Help-Seeking Behaviors of Muslim Immigrants in the United States: Overcoming Social Stigma and Cultural Mistrust

“…Many studies found that cultural mistrust resulted in a preference by Black clients for Black counselors, negative attitudes toward seeking psychological treatment, and a propensity to terminate therapy prematurely (Sue & Sue, 1972;Townes, Chavez-Korell, & Cunningham, 2009). These findings have been generalized to other minority groups including Southeast Asians and Latinos (David, 2010;Shea & Yeh, 2008).…”

“…Initially developed as a concept to describe the distrust Black Americans had towards White Americans, cultural mistrust encompasses an overall mistrust of White-dominated institutions such as the legal system, educational system, job settings, and government agencies (David, 2010). Many studies found that cultural mistrust resulted in a preference by Black clients for Black counselors, negative attitudes toward seeking psychological treatment, and a propensity to terminate therapy prematurely (Sue & Sue, 1972;Townes, Chavez-Korell, & Cunningham, 2009).…”