Predictors of Help-Seeking for Mental Health Treatment Among Latinos.

Abstract

Despite mental health disorders being a leading cause of disability among Latinos, treatment-seeking behaviors are very low. Latinos are confronted with significant disparities in mental health treatment. This research study sought to examine (1) what are the attitudes toward professional help-seeking for mental health concerns among Latino individuals and (2) what participant characteristics and demographic factors are associated with Latino individuals' help-seeking attitudes. Employing a cross-sectional sampling strategy, 469 participants were recruited for a community-based survey study in the greater Houston area measuring mental health stigma and help-seeking attitudes. Structural equation modeling was used to estimate the associations between Latinos' help-seeking attitudes and sociodemographic characteristics of participants. Findings indicate that openness towards seeking professional help for mental health concerns is influenced by participants' age, marital status, gender, region of origin, education, public stigma, and self-stigma towards mental health problem. Findings support future research to examine broader systemic factors associated with help seeking and how they interact with sociodemographic characteristics and stigma. Latinos, even in parts of the country where they reside in high concentrations, continue to have low levels of mental health service utilization. Understanding the specific pathways that predict help-seeking for mental health issues is essential to systematically promoting early detection and entry into evidence-based treatments for Latinos.