Asian populations are rapidly rising, representing the fastest growing racial group of immigrants in the U.S. with many seeking higher... Show moreAsian populations are rapidly rising, representing the fastest growing racial group of immigrants in the U.S. with many seeking higher education. While many face risk for poor mental health outcomes and high suicidal ideation, Asian college students report lower rates seeking mental health services than White Americans. The purpose of this study was to test a culturally sensitive help-seeking model for Asian international and Asian American college students, and to capture relevant psychological and cultural factors that influence help-seeking. This study used an observational design to build on the current research and evaluated the effects of acculturation, enculturation, public stigma of help-seeking, self-stigma of help-seeking, and attitudes on willingness to seek psychological services. Four hundred and fifty-eight students (Age M = 23.93, SD = 4.36) represented by 265 Asian International Students and 193 Asian American Students. Using a path analysis, results demonstrated a poorly fitted model, suggesting that acculturation, enculturation, public stigma, self-stigma, attitudes, and willingness do not relate significantly to each other when viewed altogether in a model. This remained true even when modifications to the model were made, and when observing the model within only Asian American student sample or Asian international student sample. However, significant direct effects were observed between enculturation and public stigma in the total sample, as well as separately in Asian American or Asian international samples. These findings highlight the importance of exploring with different methodological approaches to gain insight on other important psychological and cultural factors that impact help-seeking among Asian international and Asian American college students. Show less
The impacts of stigma on people with lived-experience are widely recognized, however, stigma has been noted to extend to family members. The... Show moreThe impacts of stigma on people with lived-experience are widely recognized, however, stigma has been noted to extend to family members. The current investigation examines how specific types of stigma experienced by parents/caregivers (N=250) of children with mental health challenges are related to symptoms of depression and attitudes towards help-seeking. Results found that higher levels of public stigma, self-stigma, and vicarious stigma were associated with higher levels of depression and were differentially associated with attitudes towards help-seeking. Findings from this investigation add to the small body of literature examining stigma experienced by parents/caregivers of children with mental health challenges. Show less
