Mexican American Women College Students' Willingness to Seek Counseling: The Role of Religious Cultural Values, Etiology Beliefs, and Stigma

Although the importance of religion in the help-seeking processes of Latinx populations has been discussed (e.g., Moreno & Cardemil, 2013), few studies have considered the effects of religious and cultural factors on Mexican American women's underutilization of professional mental health se...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of counseling psychology 2019-10, Vol.66 (5), p.577-587
Main Authors: Choi, Na-Yeun, Kim, Helen Youngju, Gruber, Elisabeth
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Beliefs
College Students
Counseling
Counseling - trends
Cultural Characteristics
Cultural factors
Cultural Influences
Cultural values
Ethnic Values
Etiology
Female
Females
Health Care Seeking Behavior
Health services utilization
Help seeking behavior
Hispanic Americans
Human
Humans
Mental health
Mental Health Programs
Mental health services
Mental Health Services - trends
Mexican Americans
Mexican Americans - psychology
Pastoral counseling
Religion
Religion and Psychology
Religious Beliefs
Self esteem
Social Stigma
Sociocultural Factors
Stigma
Structural equation modeling
Structural Equation Models
Student Attitudes
Students - psychology
Universities - trends
Values
Willingness
Women
Working women
Young Adult
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Summary:Although the importance of religion in the help-seeking processes of Latinx populations has been discussed (e.g., Moreno & Cardemil, 2013), few studies have considered the effects of religious and cultural factors on Mexican American women's underutilization of professional mental health services and less willingness to seek counseling. To address this gap in the literature, this study focuses on religious cultural values reported by Mexican American college women and how sociocultural factors, such as spiritual and biological etiology beliefs and self-stigma, can shape their willingness to seek counseling, using the cultural influences on mental health (CIMH) theoretical framework (Hwang, Myers, Abe-Kim, & Ting, 2008). Using structural equation modeling, we tested 2 theoretically and empirically derived models of willingness to seek counseling among 276 Mexican American college women at a large Hispanic-serving university in the Southwest. The findings highlighted the direct and indirect ways in which religious cultural values related to willingness to seek counseling and the importance of accounting for etiology beliefs and self-stigma. Public Significance Statement Our findings highlight the importance of exploring within-group differences among Mexican American college women and of considering the complex ways in which individuals espouse ethnic and religious cultural factors, which can influence their help-seeking processes.
ISSN:0022-0167
1939-2168
DOI:10.1037/cou0000366