ORCID

https://orcid.org/0009-0003-9209-6715

Date of Award

Summer 2026

Language

English

Embargo Period

7-13-2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College/School/Department

Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology

Program

Counseling Psychology

First Advisor

M. Dolores Cimini

Committee Members

Kimberly Colvin, Laura Long, Estela Rivero

Keywords

counseling psychology, help seeking, college student mental health

Subject Categories

Counseling Psychology

Abstract

Although many college students experience mental health challenges, help-seeking rates remain disproportionately low relative to reported need (Abelson et al., 2022). Identifying factors that facilitate help-seeking is critical for improving access to mental health support in this population. Prior research has identified mental health literacy as a significant predictor of help-seeking behavior and intentions among college students (Gorczynski et al., 2017; Smith & Shochet, 2011), whereas personal stigma, which is defined as a person’s negative attitude towards people with mental health concerns (Griffiths et al., 2006), has been consistently associated with reduced help-seeking (Abelson et al., 2022). Grounded in the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1991), the present study examined whether personal stigma mediated the relationship between mental health literacy and help-seeking intentions among college students. Additionally, given evidence suggesting elevated personal stigma among college student men (Abelson et al., 2022), gender was examined as a moderator of the proposed mediation model. Participants were 327 college students who completed an online survey assessing mental health literacy, personal stigma, help-seeking intentions, and demographic characteristics. Conditional process analyses were conducted to test the hypothesized mediation and moderated mediation models. Results did not support the hypothesized mediating role of personal stigma or the moderated mediation model involving gender. However, several significant relationships emerged that both converged with and diverged from previous literature. Most notably, mental health literacy demonstrated a strong direct effect on help-seeking intentions, suggesting that greater knowledge and understanding of mental health concerns may independently facilitate willingness to seek support. These findings underscore the importance of enhancing mental health literacy as a potential intervention target for increasing help-seeking among college students. The absence of significant mediation effects suggests that the relationship between mental health literacy and help-seeking intentions may operate through mechanisms other than personal stigma, highlighting the need for continued investigation into factors influencing help-seeking decision-making in college populations.

License

This work is licensed under the University at Albany Standard Author Agreement.

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