Influencing factors of attitudes toward seeking professional help for mental illness among Korean adults.

Abstract

Identifying predictors of psychological help-seeking attitudes is essential to improve access to needed mental health services. We investigated factors - particularly Big Five personality traits - that affect attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help for mental illness among Korean adults. A total of 654 participants aged 15-54 years were recruited through an online panel survey. Help-seeking attitudes for mental illness were measured by the Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help Scale (ATSPPH), and personality traits were measured by the Big Five Personality Inventory-10. Multivariate analyses showed that female gender, history of psychiatric diagnosis, agreeableness and openness to experience were significantly associated with positive attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help for mental illness. These findings suggest that specific personality traits should be considered when developing strategies to promote positive attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help. Further research using a representative community sample is needed to generalize our findings.