Teacher emotional support and attitudes toward professional psychological help-seeking among undergraduate students

Mental health issues are increasingly common among undergraduate students; nevertheless, many do not pursue professional psychological help despite the accessibility of counseling facilities. Attitudes toward professional psychological help-seeking are important factors in service use, and contextual elements within school environments, such as emotional support from teachers, may be associated with these attitudes. This study aimed to investigate the association between teacher emotional support and undergraduate students’ attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help, with initial attention to the dimensions of Positive Climate, Teacher Sensitivity, and Adolescent Perspectives. A cross-sectional survey was administered to 290 undergraduate students from several universities in Vietnam from October 6 to October 30, 2025. Data were obtained through an online self-administered questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, t-tests, one-way ANOVA, Pearson correlation analyses, and PLS-SEM were conducted to evaluate the data. The measures of teacher emotional support were significantly correlated ( r = 0.898–0.948, p < 0.01), suggesting considerable conceptual overlap. Moderate positive correlations were identified between the dimensions of teacher emotional support and Openness ( r = 0.592–0.601, p < 0.01), whereas Perceived Values exhibited negative correlations with both teacher emotional support dimensions ( r = − 0.410 to − 0.446, p < 0.01) and Openness ( r = − 0.558, p < 0.01). In the structural model, Teacher Sensitivity had a significant positive correlation with Openness (β = 0.276, t = 2.216, p = 0.027). Due to the elevated correlations and HTMT values among the dimensions of teacher emotional support, these dimensions should be regarded as significantly overlapping indications of a comprehensive teacher emotional support domain rather than as entirely separate predictors. Teacher emotional support was associated with undergraduate students’ attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help, especially Openness. Nonetheless, due to the significant overlap among Positive Climate, Teacher Sensitivity, and Adolescent Perspectives, the results indicate that teacher emotional support might be more effectively understood as a comprehensive higher-order construct in subsequent study.