Perceived Confidence in Mental Health Help-Seeking among Students

Background: College students are at high risk for mental health disorders. Despite access to mental health services on campus, many students go without professional help. Additionally, little research has been done about influence that peers can have in helping a friend seek help for mental health problems. This study aims to assess the relationship between stigma and an individual’s willingness to help a friend with mental illness among the college population.

Methods: University students (N = 698) enrolled in one Midwestern university participated in the study. A valid and reliable survey was used to examine college students’ perceived confidence in mental health help-seeking behaviors, perceived stigma-related attitudes, and experiences with mental health disorders. Multivariate analysis of variance was conducted performed to determine whether students’ perceived confidence differed based on sex, grade, stigma-related attitudes, and outcome expectations.

Results: Results indicated students were somewhat confident they could help a friend experiencing a mental health disorder. Significant differences in confidence were found based on sex, grade, holding stigma-related attitudes, and outcome expectations. More specifically, females, freshman/sophomores, students with lower stigma-related attitudes, and students with higher outcome expectations were more likely to feel confident in mental health help-seeking than males, juniors/seniors/graduate students, students with higher stigma-related attitudes, and students with lower outcome expectations.

Conclusions: Some college students may benefit from education and intervention to increase confidence in helping others with a mental health problem. Findings from this study may be used by mental health professionals as well as others working with college students.