Stigma, attitudes, and intentions to seek mental health services in college student-athletes

Abstract

Objective: To investigate predictors of mental health help-seeking as well as identify topics for which college student-athletes are most likely to seek help. Participants: Student-athletes (N = 328) from three Division II and III universities. Method: Participants completed a survey packet on stigma, attitudes, and intentions toward seeking mental health services as well as willingness to seek help for specific topics. Results: Structural equation modeling indicated public stigma was significantly related to self-stigma, self-stigma was related to attitudes, and attitudes were related to intentions. Using logistic regression analysis, self-stigma and attitudes were associated with an increased likelihood of having sought mental health services in the past. Comment: These results can be used to help sport psychologists and other mental health staff develop programing that might increase service use among student-athletes. Using a multifaceted approach that decreases stigma and improves attitudes could have the most meaningful effect on encouraging service use.

Keywords:

• Counseling
• help-seeking behavior
• quantitative
• sport psychology
• well-being

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Ed Etzel and Aaron Metzger for their helpful contributions on earlier versions of this manuscript.

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of the United States and received approval from the West Virginia University IRB.

Additional information

Funding

Research for this project was conducted with the financial support of the NCAA. Any opinions, findings and conclusions are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Collegiate Athletic Association.