Date of Award

1-1-2017

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College/School/Department

School of Social Welfare

Content Description

1 online resource (ix, 129 pages) : illustrations (some color)

Dissertation/Thesis Chair

Lynn Warner

Committee Members

Eunju Lee, Rufina Lee

Keywords

College students, Help-seeking behavior, Stigma (Social psychology)

Subject Categories

Psychiatric and Mental Health

Abstract

The current study investigated factors associated with mental health help-seeking attitudes among university students in South Korea. In particular, the study examined the moderating effects of culturally relevant factors (religiosity, social support, social stigma, and self-stigma) on the relationship between psychological distress and help-seeking attitudes and the mediating effect of stigma (social and self) on the association between psychological distress and help-seeking attitudes. A total of 240 students at 4 universities in South Korea completed in-class surveys in Spring 2016. Data was analyzed using a series of multiple regressions, hierarchical moderated multiple regression, and 3-step mediation regression. Results indicated that psychological distress, social stigma, and self-stigma contributed significant variance to help-seeking attitudes, controlling for socio-demographic variables; the relations were negative. None of the interactions of psychological distress and culturally relevant factors (religiosity, social support, social stigma, and self-stigma) contributed significant variance to help-seeking attitudes. However, findings revealed that social stigma and self-stigma fully mediate the relationship between psychological distress and help-seeking attitudes. Finally, limitations, implications, and future studies were discussed with conclusion.

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