“There may be a problem, but I’m not going because…”: examining classes of men and their rationales for not seeking mental health treatment

Abstract

Background

Men are less likely than women to seek out mental health treatment, despite men also having mental health struggles.

Aim

We examined typologies of men’s reasons for not seeking treatment even though they perceived a need for treatment.

Method

We conducted a latent class analysis using a U.S. national sample of 836 men who specifically indicated a need for mental health services, but did not seek treatment from the National Study on Drug Use and Health.

Results

We identified three distinct types of men and their unique rationales for not seeking treatment: positive attitudes class, perceived high behavioral control class, and negative attitudes class.

Conclusions

Unique strategies to market clinical services to each of the various needs and concerns of these types of men may prove more beneficial than a generic outreach approach. We encourage mental health professionals to proactively educate men about their services and aim to reduce barriers for men seeking treatment.

Keywords:

• Decision-making
• latent class analysis
• men
• mental health
• treatment seeking

Ethics approval

Ethics Approval Reference Number at Michigan State University: STUDY00004333.

Disclosure statement

We, the authors, declare that there was no conflict of interest in conducting this study.

Data availability statement

Data is used of participants who consented to the study, see Methods section.