Self-concealment and attitudes toward counseling in university students.

Abstract

In study 1 (N = 257 undergraduates) the relations among self-concealment, attitudes toward seeking psychological help, and intentions to seek counseling were explored. Results revealed that even though self-concealment was associated with less favorable attitudes toward seeking help, it was also associated with greater intentions to seek counseling. In Study 2, high and low self-concealers (N = 83) read a description of counseling that either (a) indicated that counseling involves revealing highly personal information or (b) made no mention of such disclosure. Results revealed that in the former condition, high self-concealers were less favorable toward counseling than were low self-concealers, whereas in the latter condition, there was no significant difference between the two groups. Implications of these findings for future research are discussed.

The Role of Outcome Expectations and Attitudes on Decisions to Seek Professional Help.

“…help-seeking studies (see Cepeda-Benito & Short, 1998;Kelly & Achter, 1995;Vogel & Wester, 2003). The zero-order correlations also showed that attitudes were related to intent to seek help for interpersonal, drug, and academic problems.…”

“…Some studies, for example, have reported that psychological distress and social support do not significantly predict help-seeking intent (Kelly & Achter, 1995;Vogel & Wester, 2003), whereas others show a connection between these factors and intent to seek help (Cepeda-Benito & Short, 1998;Cramer, 1999). Similarly, other studies have demonstrated that certain factors that should decrease or inhibit help seeking, such as the desire to avoid self-disclosing painful feelings or fears about what therapy will be like, affect help-seeking decisions (Kelly & Achter, 1995;Kushner & Sher, 1989;Vogel & Wester, 2003), whereas others do not (Carlton & Deane, 2000;Deane & Todd, 1996). As a result, it is important to directly examine these psychological factors simultaneously with a more sophisticated analysis such as structural equation modeling (SEM).…”

“…Indeed, studies have demonstrated several psychological factors that inhibit help seeking from a professional. These psychological factors are fear of treatment (Amato & Bradshaw, 1985;Kushner & Sher, 1989;Pipes, Schwarz, & Crouch, 1985), anticipated costs (Vogel & Wester, 2003), desire to avoid discussing distressing information (Cepeda-Benito & Short, 1998;Cramer, 1999;Kelly & Achter, 1995;Vogel & Wester, 2003), desire to avoid experiencing painful feelings (Komiya et al, 2000), and desire to avoid the social stigma or negative judgments from others (Deane & Chamberlain, 1994).…”

Povezanost Psiholoških Karakteristika Braka Sa Namerom Žena Da Traže Profesionalnu Psihološku Pomoć

“…Deane i Chamberlain 1994;Kelly & Achter 1995;Deane & Todd 1996;Bayer & Peay 1997;Cepeda-Benito & Short 1998;Cramer 1999;Carlton & Deane 2000) nedvosmisleno pokazuju da osobe koji imaju pozitivne stavove prema traženju profesionalne psihološke pomoći snažnije izražavaju nameru da traže pomoć, u odnosu na osobe koje imaju negativne stavove prema traženju profesionalne psihološke pomoći Takođe su značajni i rezultati brojnih istraživanja (npr. Halgin et al 1987;Deane & Todd 1996;Bringle & Byers 1997;Carlton & Deane 2000;Ciarrochi et al 2002) koji pokazuju da je postojeće iskustvo u traženju profesionalne psihološke pomoći pouzdan pokazatelj namere da se profesionalna psihološka pomoć traži i u sadašnjosti, odnosno u budućnosti, ukoliko postoji potreba za njom.…”

Young, black, and male in foster care: Relationship of negative social contextual experiences to factors relevant to mental health service delivery

“…Among study samples consisting predominantly of White college students, research suggests that individuals with more positive attitudes toward seeking help for mental health problems have greater intentions to seek counselling should the need arise (Cepeda-Benito & Short, 1998;Kelly & Achter, 1995). Notably, the help-seeking attitudes among younger or older youth, in general, have not been widely explored although it is generally believed that most view mental health services negatively (Garland & Zigler, 1994).…”