Impact of Attitudes on the Relationship between Psychological Symptoms and Help Seeking Behavior in a Black and Non-Black International Sample
| dc.contributor.author | Jones, Sydney B. | en |
| dc.contributor.committeechair | Cooper, Lee D. | en |
| dc.contributor.committeemember | Faulkner, Brandy S. | en |
| dc.contributor.committeemember | Diana, Rachel A. | en |
| dc.contributor.department | Psychology | en |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2024-07-10T12:35:00Z | en |
| dc.date.available | 2024-07-10T12:35:00Z | en |
| dc.date.issued | 2024-04-08 | en |
| dc.description.abstract | Internationally, members of the African diaspora, (Black people), report higher rates of untreated mental illness than peers of other races. Research has suggested that symptoms associated with poor mental health such as clinical depression and anxiety are associated with negative evaluations of help seeking behaviors such as contacting mental health professionals for care. The current study sought to examine the impact of attitudes toward seeking mental health care on the causal relationship between symptoms of depression, anxiety or stress as measured by the DASS-21 to help seeking behaviors reported by participants. This study further examined the impact of racial identity on this relationship to highlight any discrepancies specific to Black people. This research is intended to help guide and improve outreach, access, and clinical approaches to treating Black people with mental illness. A total of 500 participants were recruited for this study via online surveying software. Participants were divided into two groupings of 250 Black participants and 250 Non-Black participants (N=500) to complete the survey. A moderated mediation analysis was conducted to examine the mediating effects of attitudes towards professional help seeking on the relationship between psychological symptomology and help seeking behaviors, as well as to examine any moderating effects that could be highlighted by racial differences. There was a significant direct relationship between symptoms and help seeking behaviors found with a significant partial mediating effect of participant attitudes on the direct relationship (R2= 0.1521, p=<0.000). Race was not found to be a significant moderator of this mediation (CI95%: -0.001 to 0.004), though race did moderate the direct relationship from symptoms to help seeking behaviors (β= 0.016, SE= 0.0025, t= 6.375, p= < 0.000). | en |
| dc.description.abstractgeneral | The current study surveyed 500 international participants online to ask questions about 1: their own symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress; 2: their own thoughts and attitudes about professional psychological treatment; and 3: behaviors they had previously taken to see a mental health professional. Survey results were compared by race as half of all participants were self-reported as members of the African Diaspora (otherwise referred to as Black people). This study is intended to help guide and improve mental health care and access to care for Black people with mental illness. A mediation analysis was completed to look into the causal impact of attitudes (2) on the direct relationship from mental health symptoms(1) to help seeking behavior(3). Thoughts and attitudes about professional treatment(2) were used as a mediating variable to see how much those attitudes indirectly caused participants to seek help (or not). Racial identity (Black or Non-Black) was then examined for its impact on the mediation results, and served as a moderating variable. This analysis is otherwise known as a moderated mediation model. Results found that attitudes do mediate the relationship from psychological symptoms to help seeking behavior, with positive or negative attitudes causing about 15% of the difference in participants with the same symptoms choosing to seek mental health care or not. While there was a mediating impact of attitudes found, there was not a moderating impact of race on the results overall, with roughly the same outcome being shown in both the Black and Non-Black groups. Even though race was not found to predict difference in the impact of attitudes on help seeking behavior, race was shown to moderate the direct relationship from psychological symptoms to help seeking behavior. Black participants with the same psychological symptoms of depression, stress and anxiety as their Non-Black counterparts were 50% as likely to report help seeking behaviors. | en |
| dc.description.degree | Master of Science | en |
| dc.format.medium | ETD | en |
| dc.format.mimetype | application/pdf | en |
| dc.identifier.citation | Jones, S. B. (2024). Impact of Attitudes on the Relationship between Psychological Symptoms and Help Seeking Behavior in a Black and Non-Black International Sample [Unpublished master's thesis]. Virginia Polytechnic Institute. | en |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/10919/120628 | en |
| dc.language.iso | en | en |
| dc.publisher | Virginia Tech | en |
| dc.title | Impact of Attitudes on the Relationship between Psychological Symptoms and Help Seeking Behavior in a Black and Non-Black International Sample | en |
| dc.type | Thesis | en |
| dc.type.dcmitype | Text | en |
| thesis.degree.discipline | Psychology | en |
| thesis.degree.grantor | Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University | en |
| thesis.degree.level | masters | en |
| thesis.degree.name | Master of Science | en |