Correlations between formal help-seeking behavior for psychological problems and help-seeking intentions and attitudes

Abstract

The present study examined the correlations between formal help-seeking attitudes/intentions and actual helpseeking behavior for psychological problems. Initially, I assessed university students' attitudes and intentions to seek help, as well as their prior experience of seeking help from five formal sources of help (Time 1: N = 707). Actual help-seeking behavior was assessed four weeks after Time 1 to determine the correlations between helpseeking attitudes/intentions and behavior (Time 2: N = 412). The results revealed that for four out of five formal sources of help, help-seeking intentions were weakly correlated with help-seeking behavior (r = .11 - .22). Although help-seeking attitudes did not significantly predict help-seeking behavior, intentions were positively correlated with help-seeking attitudes (r = .23 - .34). I discuss future directions for measurement of help-seeking behaviors.