The Theory of Planned Behavior as it predicts potential intention to seek mental health services for depression among college students

ABSTRACT Background: Between 9.5% and 31.3% of college students suffer from depression (American college health association national college health assessment II: reference group executive summary spring 2013. Amer. Coll. Health Assoc. 2013; Eagan K, Stolzenberg EB, Ramirez JJ, Aragon, MC, Suchard, RS, Hurtado S. The American freshman: national norms fall 2014. Higher Educ. Res. Inst.; 2015). Universities need to understand the factors that relate to care-seeking behavior. Objective: Across 3 studies, to relate attitudes, social norms, and perceived behavioral control to intention to seek mental health services, and to investigate barriers to care-seeking. Participants: University college students (N = 845, 64% female, 26% male, and 10% unspecified). Methods: New measures were created in Studies 1 and 2, and were examined using structural equation modeling in Study 3. Results: Partially consistent with the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, I, Fishbein, M. Understanding Attitudes and Predicting Social Behavior. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall; 1980), a model with an excellent fit revealed that more positive attitudes about care and higher perceived behavioral control directly predicted higher intention to seek mental health services. Conclusions: Educating college students about mental health disorders and treatments, enhancing knowledge about available services, and addressing limited access to long-term care might improve treatment rates for students suffering from depression.

[1]  John H. Pryor,et al.  The American freshman : national norms fall 2009 , 2009 .

[2]  Matthew Draper,et al.  Nature and severity of college students' psychological concerns: A comparison of clinical and nonclinical national samples. , 2006 .

[3]  M. Angermeyer,et al.  Attitudes that determine willingness to seek psychiatric help for depression: a representative population survey applying the Theory of Planned Behaviour , 2009, Psychological Medicine.

[4]  K. Schermelleh-Engel,et al.  Evaluating the Fit of Structural Equation Models: Tests of Significance and Descriptive Goodness-of-Fit Measures. , 2003 .

[5]  M. Browne,et al.  Alternative Ways of Assessing Model Fit , 1992 .

[6]  Magdalena Wojcieszak,et al.  What Underlies the False Consensus Effect? How Personal Opinion and Disagreement Affect Perception of Public Opinion , 2009 .

[7]  B. Byrne.  Structural equation modeling with EQS : basic concepts, applications, and programming , 2000 .

[8]  W. Mak,et al.  Help-seeking for mental health problems among Chinese , 2009, Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology.

[9]  I. Ajzen,et al.  Understanding Attitudes and Predicting Social Behavior , 1980 .

[10]  R. MacCallum,et al.  Power analysis and determination of sample size for covariance structure modeling. , 1996 .

[11]  J. Mackenbach,et al.  Young adults face major barriers to seeking help from mental health services. , 2008, Patient education and counseling.

[12]  Karl G. Jöreskog,et al.  Lisrel 8: Structural Equation Modeling With the Simplis Command Language , 1993 .

[13]  A. Farina,et al.  Attitudes toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help: A Shortened Form and Considerations for Research. , 1995 .

[14]  D. Dozois,et al.  Gaps in accessing treatment for anxiety and depression: challenges for the delivery of care. , 2004, Clinical psychology review.

[15]  Barbara M. Byrne,et al.  Structural equation modeling with AMOS , 2010 .

[16]  M. Riva,et al.  Perceived Distress in University Counseling Center Clients across a Six-Year Period. , 2000 .

[17]  C. Sherbourne,et al.  The quality of care for depressive and anxiety disorders in the United States. , 2001, Archives of general psychiatry.

[18]  Kevin Kim,et al.  Predictors of Intention to Practice Safer Sex Among Korean College Students , 2008, Archives of sexual behavior.

[19]  Gina A. Keppel,et al.  A Qualitative Study of Depression in Primary Care: Missed Opportunities for Diagnosis and Education , 2007, The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine.

[20]  T. Mackenzie,et al.  Prevalence and treatment of mental disorders. , 2005, The New England journal of medicine.

[21]  P. Sheeran,et al.  Some feelings are more important: cognitive attitudes, affective attitudes, anticipated affect, and blood donation. , 2013, Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association.

[22]  Sian L. Beilock,et al.  Multiple social identities and stereotype threat: imbalance, accessibility, and working memory. , 2009, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[23]  Harold Alan Pincus,et al.  Prevalence and treatment of mental disorders, 1990 to 2003. , 2005, The New England journal of medicine.

[24]  Barbara J. Bowers,et al.  The Recognition of Depression: The Primary Care Clinician’s Perspective , 2005, The Annals of Family Medicine.

[25]  R. Spitzer,et al.  The PHQ-9: A new depression diagnostic and severity measure , 2002 .

[26]  M. Tansella,et al.  Identification and management of depression in primary care settings. A meta-review of evidence , 2006, Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences.

[27]  Stephen L. Benton,et al.  Changes in Counseling Center Client Problems Across 13 Years , 2003 .

[28]  M. Hagger,et al.  Integrating the theory of planned behaviour and self-determination theory in health behaviour: a meta-analysis. , 2009, British journal of health psychology.

[29]  Icek Ajzen,et al.  From Intentions to Actions: A Theory of Planned Behavior , 1985 .