Mental health stigma and professional help-seeking behaviors among Asian American and Asian international students

Abstract

Objective: To examine the relationship between stigma and mental health help-seeking among Asian American and Asian international college students. Participants: Asian American college students (401 men, 858 women) and Asian international college students (384 men, 428 women). Methods: Data from the 2018–2019 Healthy Minds Study were used to assess perceived stigma, personal stigma, and help-seeking behaviors of college students. Results: Personal stigma mediated the relationship between perceived stigma and professional help-seeking intentions. The relationship between perceived stigma and personal stigma differed by international status, such that the relationship between perceived stigma and personal stigma was stronger for Asian international students. The indirect effect between perceived stigma and professional help-seeking via personal stigma also differed by international status. Conclusions: These results suggest that, consistent with prior work, stigma impacts help-seeking among Asian college students and international student status affects the strength of the key relationship between perceived stigma and personal stigma.

Keywords:

• Asian
• gender
• help seeking
• international
• stigma

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented from the Healthy Minds Study (HMS) in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of the United States of America and received approval from the Health Sciences and Behavioral Sciences Institutional Review Board (IRB) at the University of Michigan.

Additional information

Funding

No funding was used to support this research and/or the preparation of the manuscript.