Author ORCID Identifier
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2383-9058
Date of Award
12-2024
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Psychology
First Advisor
Lisa Armistead
Second Advisor
Page Anderson
Third Advisor
Cirleen DeBlaere
Fourth Advisor
Isha Metzger
Abstract
College students in the United States (US) have increasingly experienced mental health concerns to the extent that many consider it a crisis. Even as compared to other racial/ethnic minorities, this crisis is further compounded for Asians because they present with higher acuity, deal with added psychological stress from recent racism, underutilize mental healthcare, and are not well represented in research. Therefore, this study aimed to better understand what influences the use of professional psychological services by Asian college students. Specifically, through path analysis, the researcher tested the indirect effects of enculturation and stigma types (i.e., public stigma, self-stigma, and close others stigma) on the psychological help-seeking intentions of Asian American (AA; i.e., of Asian descent with US permanent residence, citizenship, or nativity) and Asian International (AI; i.e., of Asian descent with temporary residence in the US or foreign citizenship or nativity outside of the US) college students. The respective, indirect effect models for AA and AI college students demonstrated poor fit. Notably, for AA, enculturation shared a null association with all study constructs and self-stigma showed a significant, negative correlation with intentions. For AI, intentions likewise had nonsignificant correlations with the study constructs. Across AA and AI college students, however, those who identified as male and endorsed no treatment history reported less psychological help-seeking intentions. Overall, the results highlight the dearth of research in this area. While the study aimed to promote diversity by categorizing participants as AA and AI, there likely remains significant within-group heterogeneity subsumed under these labels, which could account for the null findings and be fruitful to consider in future research and clinical contexts.
Recommended Citation
Kim, Sae-Jin, "Enculturation, Stigma, and Intentions to Seek Psychological Help: Examining Indirect Effect Models with Asian American and Asian International College Students in the United States." Dissertation, Georgia State University, 2024.
https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/psych_diss/299
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