Cultural Commitment and Attitudes Toward Seeking Counseling Services in American Indian College Students

Abstract

Counseling attitudes were assessed for American Indian college students rating themselves as either strongly or weakly committed to both Tribal and Anglo cultures. Participants strongly committed only to Tribal culture displayed more negative attitudes toward seeking counseling, recognizing a personal need for counseling, having confidence in mental health professionals, and interpersonal openness than those strongly committed only to the Anglo culture or to both cultures. Strongly committed participants demonstrated more negative attitudes toward interpersonal openness than those weakly committed to both cultures. Women showed more positive attitudes toward these issues than did men. We recommend that counselors consider cultural commitment in understanding the hesitancy among potential American Indian clients to use conventional psychological services.