Understanding Mechanisms behind Cultural Differences in Help Seeking Propensity

Abstract

Cultural psychological literatures have documented that in contrary to Caucasians who are individualist, prioritize autonomy and independence, Asians are collectivists, prioritize group goals, interpersonal harmony and possess self-construal that very much overlaps with others of their in-group. Hence, Asians (including Asian Americans) should be more likely to seek help from their in-group. However, clinical psychological studies have documented Asian Americans’ underutilization of professional mental health compared to Westerners even in times of distress. In attempt to resolve previous conflicting cultural and clinical psychological literatures, this is the first study that examined help-seeking tendencies in other daily-life domains apart from mental health. Help-seeking is comprised of three elements: the willingness to seek help, comfort level when seeking help and the extent to which help-seekers expect to benefit from others. In the present study, I found that: 1. it was neither Asian Americans nor Westerners but Tsinghua University Asian students who reported the highest overall help-seeking propensity for relational problem, emotional distress and personal religious conflict; and 2. indicated greater preference for seeking help from career-driven connections when they were low-context communicators or when primed with high implicit power. Implications of findings for encouraging Asian immigrants and Caucasians’ help-seeking are discussed and explored.