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Medical Care Research and Review
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Stigma and Help Seeking for Mental Health Among College Students

Daniel Eisenberg

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, daneis{at}umich.edu

Marilyn F. Downs

Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts

Ezra Golberstein

Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts

Kara Zivin

Department of Veterans Affairs and University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Mental illness stigma has been identified by national policy makers as an important barrier to help seeking for mental health. Using a random sample of 5,555 students from a diverse set of 13 universities, we conducted one of the first empirical studies of the association of help-seeking behavior with both perceived public stigma and people’s own stigmatizing attitudes (personal stigma). There were three main findings: (a) Perceived public stigma was considerably higher than personal stigma; (b) personal stigma was higher among students with any of the following characteristics: male, younger, Asian, international, more religious, or from a poor family; and (c) personal stigma was significantly and negatively associated with measures of help seeking (perceived need and use of psychotropic medication, therapy, and nonclinical sources of support), whereas perceived stigma was not significantly associated with help seeking. These findings can help inform efforts to reduce the role of stigma as a barrier to help seeking.

Key Words: stigma • help seeking • mental health • college students

This version was published on October 1, 2009

Medical Care Research and Review, Vol. 66, No. 5, 522-541 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1077558709335173
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