archives@tulane.edu / 1 / Alejandra Leyton

Approximately 40% of youth experience psychological problems; however, less than half receive necessary services. Several help-seeking models suggest that for children to receive psychological care parents must: recognize a problem, decide to seek help, and select a service. The parent problem recognition stage has been largely overlooked in the literature and few studies have examined all stages of the process together. The current study aimed to fill gaps in the literature regarding parent problem recognition and explore the help-seeking process for child externalizing problems, anxiety, depression, and sleep difficulties. Data was collected an Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. Participants were 219 parents of children ages 7 to 12 who provided information about help-seeking and child mental health symptoms. Rates of accurate parent problem recognition ranged from 37.6% (sleep) to 66.0% (externalizing concerns). Rates of help-seeking in the current study were low ranging from 42.6% (sleep) to 72.7% (depression) even when parents identified a problem for their child. The severity of the child’s problem and parent past experience with mental health predicted problem identification and help-seeking across most presenting concerns. Specialty mental health services were underutilized across problem areas with over 70% of parents indicating that they had or would seek help from their pediatrician and less than half indicating that they had or would seek help from a therapist or psychologist. Results support previous findings that child psychological problems are under-recognized and under-treated. Future research and clinical work is needed to close the gap between the need for services and service use.

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (Clinical Psychology) in the Department of Psychology University of Zululand 1992. / Single parenting is becoming much more common today for a variety of reasons. The single parent family is a result of divorce, desertion or separation, death or having a child illegitimately, Some women make this choice for palitico-feminist reasons, wanting parenthood but being unwilling to cohabit with a man. It may well reflect a deep seated need to prove her independence. The present study has been motivated by the fact that becoming a single parent is usually a traumatic process with much heated and confused emotion in relationships over and above the basic problem of just one adult figure having to cope with small children. The aim of the study was to elicit from a group of single mothers their needs, to prioritize these needs, then form an on-going self—help group programme. It was hypothesized that a self-help group programme for single mothers would improve parental attitudes, parenting skills and interpersonal functioning. Parental attitudes, parenting skills and interpersonal functioning were assessed over three assessment periods, i.e. pretest, post test and fallow up. The following psychological measures were used: Maternal chi1d—rearing attitude scale, Parenting skills qualitative and quantitative ratings and Carkhuff scales far levels of interpersonal functioning. The project consisted of meetings with the group of single mothers at weekly intervals over two months. The group meetings were videotaped for evaluation by independent judges, for levels of interpersonal functioning. A short written qualitative evaluation of the programme was required of the mothers. After the programme was instituted there was no significant change in parental attitudes and parenting skills* One can assume that this group of single mothers had an extensive knowledge of child-rearing practices and parenting skills. This might be so because the group was composed of educated and professiona1 mothers. At the same time one cannot cone 1ude that educated and professional mothers have good parental attitudes and parenting skills because there is no available literature or research findings to support that cone 1usion. Interpersonal functioning improved remarkedly in terms of empathy, respect, genuineness and se1f—disc1osure. The single mothers evaluated the programme as goad and helpful to their children. They all wished that the programme could continue. One of the limitations of the study was the fact that the sample was small. But the number met the requirements for a group. Another limitation was that the group only comprised of one category of single mothers, i.e. educated and professional mothers. Perhaps if the group has a mix of categories, i.e. lay mothers and teenage mothers, resu1ts yielded would show a significant change in child—rearing attitudes and parenting skills. Single motherhood is very stressful. Single mothers find it difficult to cope with the role strain, isolation and 1one1iness. Even though some single mothers might be financially adequate they still need emotional support. Interpersonal functioning is improved if people with a similar problem are put in a group. Members recognize that they are not alone in having an emotional problem. The simple sharing of experiences is an important human need.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused a global health crisis. Consequently, many countries have adopted restrictive measures that caused a substantial change in society. Within this framework, it is reasonable to suppose that a sentiment of societal discontent, defined as generalized concern about the precarious state of society, has arisen. Literature shows that collectively experienced situations can motivate people to help each other. Since societal discontent is conceptualized as a collective phenomenon, we argue that it could influence intention to help others, particularly those who suffer from coronavirus. Thus, in the present study, we aimed (a) to explore the relationship between societal discontent and intention to help at the individual level and (b) to investigate a possible moderating effect of societal discontent at the country level on this relationship. To fulfil our purposes, we used data collected in 42 countries (N = 61,734) from the PsyCorona Survey, a cross-national longitudinal study. Results of multilevel analysis showed that, when societal discontent is experienced by the entire community, individuals dissatisfied with society are more prone to help others. Testing the model with longitudinal data (N = 3,817) confirmed our results. Implications for those findings are discussed in relation to crisis management. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement. / New York University Abu Dhabi

Mental health stigma has been identified as a barrier to help-seeking in the United States. Research suggests that insecure attachment may contribute to higher mental health stigma and lower help-seeking behavior. This may be particularly salient in military personnel who tend to report higher mental health stigma than the general population. Evidence suggests that both supportive and destructive military leadership are related to service members' attitudes toward seeking help. In the current study, a sample of military service members and veterans (N = 232) completed an online survey regarding mental health stigma, military leadership experiences, attachment strategies, and mental health help-seeking behaviors. Findings indicated that destructive and supportive leadership experiences were significantly related to self and public stigma, and self-stigma mediated the relationship between destructive and supportive leadership experiences and likelihood to seek help. Attachment anxiety predicted higher self and public stigma, while attachment avoidance predicted high self-stigma but low public stigma, with high self-stigma partially mediating the relationship between attachment avoidance and help seeking.

While a substantial amount of research has addressed the psychological impact sexual assault has on its victims – as well as subsequent behavioral consequences – little is known regarding the stigma a victim of sexual assault may perceive as a result of her experiences. Perceived stigma may include feelings of shame, exclusion, and self-consciousness. Additionally, there have been no studies to date examining the impact such perceived stigmatization may have on help seeking behavior. To address this lack of data, college undergraduates at East Tennessee State University were recruited and surveyed over the Internet (course credit was provided as compensation for participation). To date, 51 (15%) out of 331 female participants indicated that they had experienced sexual assault (i.e., they had been coerced – physically or otherwise – into engaging in sexual activity against their will). Preliminary results indicated that these women perceived stigma as a result of sexual assault (M=1.40, SD=.87, range=0-3). Although marginally significant, preliminary results further show that with increased levels of perceived stigma women were somewhat less likely to seek help or support from friends and family; for example, participants who perceived themselves as stigmatized were less likely to share details of the incident with others (r=-.284, p=.053) or ask others to share similar experiences (r=-.275, p=.061). Other factors potentially impacting the relationship between perceived stigmatization and help seeking will be addressed; specifically, the impact of religious fundamentalism on perceived stigma and subsequent help seeking behavior. Because these consequences of sexual assault and contributors to help seeking have yet to be addressed in the literature on sexual assault, this study sheds new light on the impact such events have on women.

Using variables identified in the social science literature believed to influence attitudes toward seeking professional counseling, an attempt was made to develop a model for predicting Hispanics' willingness to obtain professional help. A second purpose of this study was to compare college students (n = 158) with their parents on their attitudes toward mental illness and toward seeking counseling. Among predictor variables, social stigma and the belief that mental illnesses are untreatable were the primary variables predicting attitudes toward seeking counseling. The more college students and their parents perceived there to be social stigma attached to those seeking therapy, and the more parents believed that mental illnesses are untreatable, the less favorable attitudes they had about seeking professional help. These attitudes were linked to their acculturation levels; in general, the more acculturated they were toward the Hispanic culture, the more pejorative their attitudes were toward mental illness and their willingness to seek professional help. Last, college students in general had significantly more positive attitudes toward mental illness and professional counseling than their parents. Recommendations for providing counseling with Hispanic clients are provided in the context of the present findings.

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