Citation

Kuhlman STW, McDermott RC, Kridel MM, Kantra LM. J. Am. Coll. Health 2018; ePub(ePub): 1-9.

Affiliation

Psychology Department , University of South Alabama , Mobile , AL , USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/07448481.2018.1506791

PMID

30240336

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: College students are most likely to seek psychological help from their peers. Internalized public stigma (ie, personal stigma) may prevent peer-helpers from aiding others, and such help-negating effects may depend on contextual factors such as race and gender. The current study examined a moderated mediation model in which the relationship between public stigma and peer intervention behaviors was mediated by personal stigma and moderated by race and gender categories.

METHOD: Undergraduate students (N = 5,183) from the national Healthy Minds Study completed measures of help-seeking stigma and peer-helping behaviors.

RESULTS: Conditional Process Modeling revealed that personal stigma fully mediated the link between public stigma and peer-helping behaviors. Gender (but not race) moderated these associations such that the indirect and direct effects were stronger from men than women.

CONCLUSIONS: Peer-helper interventions may benefit from culture-specific re-norming messages and by addressing the role of gender in peer-helping.

Language: en

Keywords

Peer-helping; college students; cultural differences; gatekeeper; stigma