Asian American Students’ Cultural Values, Stigma, and Relational Self-construal: Correlates of Attitudes Toward Professional Help Seeking

In this study, we investigated how adherence to Asian values, stigma of receiving psychological help, relational-interdependent self-construal, age and gender, for Asian American college and graduate students, singly and in concert predicted attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help. We also examined how stigma mediates the effect of adherence to Asian values on help-seeking attitudes. Correlational and multiple regression analyses determined that lower adherence to Asian values, lower levels of stigma, a higher relational-interdependent self-construal were associated with more positive help-seeking attitudes. Also, female and older students possessed more positive help-seeking attitudes. The mediational model was not significant. We discuss potential barriers to seeking professional help across sociocultural levels. We address implications for research and practice in mental health counseling.