Keywords

help-seeking attitudes, mental health stigma, first-generation college students, social support, and perceived discrimination

Abstract

The purpose of the current study was to investigate the relationship between first-generation college students' (FGCSs) help-seeking attitudes, as measured by the Attitudes Towards Seeking Professional Psychological Help – Short Form (Fischer & Farina, 1995); public stigma, as measured by the Perceptions of Stigmatization by Others for Seeking Psychological Help (Vogel, Wade, & Ascheman, 2009); personal stigma, as measured by the Self-Stigma of Seeking Help Scale Working (Vogel, Wade, & Haake, 2006); social support, as measured by the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (Dahlem, Zimet, & Walker, 1991); and perceived discrimination, as measured by the revised Everyday Discrimination Scale (Stucky et al., 2011). The researcher further investigated mediating effects of public and personal stigma in the relationships among the constructs. The researcher found statistically significant relationships among the variables for FGCSs and mediating effects of personal and public stigma. Specifically, public stigma mediated the relationship between perceived discrimination and personal stigma and the indirect effect of perceived discrimination on personal stigma via public stigma was statistically significant (ß = .070, p = .030). Personal stigma also fully mediated the relationship between public stigma and help-seeking attitudes and the indirect effect of public stigma on help-seeking attitudes via personal stigma was statistically significant (ß = -.231, p < .001). Public stigma partially mediated the relationship between social support and personal stigma and the indirect effect of social support on personal stigma via public stigma (ß = -.089, p = .010) was statistically significant. In addition, both public and personal stigma partially mediated the relationship between social support and help-seeking attitudes. The indirect effect of social support on help-seeking attitudes via both public and personal stigma was statistically significant (ß = .062, p = .015). The researcher presented discussion of results, limitations of the study, and implications of the findings.

Notes

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Graduation Date

2019

Semester

Summer

Advisor

Taylor, Dalena

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

College

College of Community Innovation and Education

Department

School of Teacher Education

Degree Program

Education; Counselor Education

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0007663

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0007663

Language

English

Release Date

August 2024

Length of Campus-only Access

5 years

Access Status

Doctoral Dissertation (Campus-only Access)

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