Attitudes toward women and orientation to seeking professional psychological help

Studied the relationship between attitudes toward the rights and proper roles of women in society and attitudes toward seeking professional help for emotional problems in a sample of 80 college students. Liberal attitudes toward women were associated with positive help-seeking attitudes in men and women, contrary to predictions based on prior research and on feminist criticisms of the mental health profession. No sex difference in attitudes toward help-seeking was found; however, the attitudes toward women variable appears to be at least as good a predictor of actual help-seeking as a person's attitude toward help-seeking, within the sample studied.