Shared Cultural Values Influence Mental Health Help-Seeking Behaviors in Asian and Latinx College Students

Abstract

The current study sought to understand the influence of cultural values on mental health attitudes and help-seeking behaviors in college students of diverse ethnic backgrounds. Asian and Latinx college students (N = 159) completed an online survey in which they reported on their adherence to cultural values as measured by ethnicity-specific cultural values and general attitudes towards mental health. Factor analysis revealed two common factors of cultural values irrespective of ethnicity: Interdependent Orientation (IO) and Cultural Obligation (CO). Regardless of ethnicity, the more students endorsed IO values, the less likely they were to perceive a need for mental health treatment. IO value adherence was also predictive of more negative attitudes towards mental health. CO values were not predictive of perceived need or help-seeking behaviors. Findings highlight the importance of understanding shared cultural values across ethnic-racial groups and considering how the multidimensionality of culture may help explain shared mental health behaviors crossing lines of ethnic group membership.

Mental health literacy screening of students in Hispanic Serving Institutions

“…All Approach/Encourage responses include either consulting with a mental health provider outside of one's family or referring the peer in mental distress to mental health support services provided by mental health provider outside of the family. Thus, in an extension of the extant literature (Barthelemy, 2017; Suwinyattichaiporn & Johnson, 2020; Zhou et al., 2021), our findings indicated that decreases HSI students’ barriers to seeking counseling were predictive of increases in the likelihood that they responded in supportive ways when encountering a peer in mental distress. Based on the content of the MDRS, these supportive responses might include consulting with or referring a peer in distress to someone outside of the family, for example, a college counselor.…”

“…These findings are particularly promising considering college counselors’ need for mental health screening tools with validated scores among HSI students. Our findings suggest that the internal structure of Revised FSV Scale and the Approach/Encourage scale of the MDRS extends to HSI students, a distinct population with unique mental health needs (Barthelemy, 2017; Suwinyattichaiporn & Johnson, 2020; Zhou et al., 2021). Specifically, the results of the CFAs extend the generalizability of scores on the Revised FSV Scale and Approach/Encourage scale of the MDRS to a large sample of HSI students.…”

“…The SEM findings revealed that Fit and Value were significant, negative predictors of Approach/Encourage responses. Past investigators (Zhou et al., 2021) identified a reticence toward seeking mental health support from someone outside of one's family in Latinx culture. Our findings suggest that decreases in HSI students’ sensitivity to the Fit and Value barriers were associated with significant increases in their reported Approach/Encourage responses to encountering a peer in mental distress.…”

“…Consistent with the ecological framework of MHL (Wei et al., 2015), the Revised FSV Scale and MDRS might have implications for helping college counselors understand the mental health attitudes among HSI students. Understanding these attitudes is particularly important, as HSI students rely more on family, friends, and religion than college resources for their mental health needs and tend to seek counseling at lower rates than majority clients (Barthelemy, 2017; Suwinyattichaiporn & Johnson, 2020; Zhou et al., 2021). College counselors who work at HSIs can administer the Revised FSV Scale at orientations, mandated classes which all students take (e.g., academic excellence or interpersonal relations class), or at other venues.…”

“…In addition, although college students are uniquely positioned to recognize and refer a peer to mental health support services (Cheng et al, 2018;Kalkbrenner et al, 2020b), they face several obstacles that prevent them from helping others access mental health services when in need (Shea et al, 2019), and preliminary research indicates that this may be a greater issue for Latinx individuals (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2019). In fact, Latinx students often feel a greater sense of isolation than other students; rely more on family, friends, and religion than college resources for their mental health needs; and are less likely to seek counseling than majority clients (Barthelemy, 2017;Llamas & Ramos-Sánchez, 2013;Suwinyattichaiporn & Johnson, 2020;Zhou et al, 2021). Cheng et al (2018) suggest that obstacles to attendance in counseling can be related to feeling uncomfortable with emotions in general, experiencing a sense of lower psychological distress, and concerns about stigma.…”