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This study evaluated clinical and cultural barriers to help seeking to identify which factor best predicted African American undergraduate student initial attitudes towards seeking professional psychological help (ATSPPH-short form). Predictor variables included anticipated utility, emotional openness, cultural mistrust, racial identity development, and stigma. Moderator variables controlled for prior counseling, gender and site. This study built upon prior research by evaluating clinical and cultural factors together and utilizing an information processing model to conceptualize data (Vogel et al., 2006). The focus on African American undergraduate students was based on retention problems for this population (American Council on Education, 2006) and underutilization of counseling by this population despite evidence of links between counseling & college persistence (Alford, 2000; Hamilton, 2006; Kearney, Draper & Barron, 2005; Trippi & Cheatham, 1991; & Wilson, Mason & Ewing, 1997). Sixty seven students from two Northeastern US colleges were surveyed. Direct correlation analysis found nine significant relationships with ATSPPH. Controlled for prior counseling use, anticipated benefit (r = .423, p=.001), Emotional Openness (r = .330, p=.010), and an Assimilationist Ideology of Racial Identity (r = .296, p=.022) were correlated with ATSPPH. Stepwise Multiple Regression found four significant predictors of attitudes, anticipated benefit (F=15.062, p<.001), Private Regard subscale of Racial Identity Development (F=13.845, p<.001), Prior Counseling (F=11.791, p<.001), and Emotional Openness (F=10.485, p<.001). Predictors appeared to match each level of the information processing model, suggesting a complex decision making process. Future research might repeat the model with greater or different populations. / Counseling Psychology

Overview: Most of the mental health literature on students focuses on the experiences of undergraduates. In nearly all instances when graduate students are examined, their experiences are typically combined with those of undergraduates, despite graduate students representing a different group of students. Research questions: I asked what are correlates of psychological distress for graduate students? Which services or supports were students accessing? What were the characteristics of students who accessed help? Methods: This study used an online survey conducted during the spring and summer of 2018 that examined the mental health experiences of 389 graduate students at McMaster University. Results: I found that there was no consistent pattern for which groups of graduate students experienced distress markers: year of study did not predict which students would experience distress, and white and non-white students were equally likely to seek help. Students were more likely to seek a combination of formal and informal supports than select one type over the other. Finally, students who experienced stigma were equally likely to seek help as those who did not experience it. Contributions to literature: This thesis has highlighted some important findings about the graduate student population at McMaster University. By providing this information, I have helped extend the mental health literature to the graduate student group that is so often underrepresented or misrepresented. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA) / This project investigated the mental health experiences of graduate students (i.e. Master’s degree or Ph.D. students) at McMaster University through an online survey. This survey was designed with the goal of determining the following: whether students were experiencing distress; what kinds of mental health services McMaster students use; and what some of the characteristics were for the students who seek help. I found that numerous students experienced overwhelming depression and overwhelming anxiety. A person’s racial background did not strongly influence whether they accessed services. Students were more likely to access a combination of supports between talking to a professional and talking to family, friends, or partners about mental health issues. Stereotypes or prejudices around mental health did not strongly influence which students accessed services. This thesis offers some important insights into the mental health experiences of graduate students, a topic which is often ignored in academia.

In this qualitative research study, I share first-generation college students' help-seeking experiences with writing tasks and use an affective lens to investigate how first-generation students feel when navigating various help-seeking situations. Often, students' experiences and emotions highlight their commitments to independence. In this study, I found that students' feelings of insecurity and confidence both encouraged and discouraged help seeking with writing, that students expressed determination as a central affect when describing their commitment to independence, and that loneliness is a significant affect in regards to writing help seeking and independence. These findings provide writing center faculty and tutors and first-year composition instructors a framework for interpreting first-generation college students' expressions of confidence, insecurity, and determination. Using this framework, I give suggestions on effectively responding to the help seeking of first-generation students.