The Counseling Psychologist

Stigma is an important barrier to seeking psychological services worldwide. Two types of stigma exist: public stigma and self-stigma. Scholars have argued that public stigma leads to self-stigma, and then self-stigma is the primary predictor of attitudes toward seeking psychological services. However, this assertion is largely limited to U.S. samples. The goal of this research was to provide a first step in understanding the relationship between public stigma, self-stigma, and attitudes toward seeking psychological services in international contexts (N = 3,276; Australia, Brazil, Canada, Hong Kong, Portugal, Romania, Taiwan, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and United States). Using structural equation modeling, we found that self-stigma mediated the relationship between public stigma and attitudes toward seeking services among college students in each country and region. However, differences in path strengths emphasize the need to pay attention to the role of public and self-stigma on attitudes toward seeking psychological services throughout the world.

The purpose of the study was to examine the association between parents’ attitudes towards diversity and their young adult children’s intergroup experiences and attitudes. We surveyed a sample of non-Latino White, first-year university students (n = 154) and one of their parents (n = 154) at the start of the academic year; a subsample of these students (n = 87) and one of their parents (n = 87) was also surveyed again at the end of their first year. We found that, among parents who expressed greater openness to diversity, young adult children were more likely to appreciate diversity and less likely to endorse racial colorblindness. We found similar effects regarding parents’ openness to diversity on students’ likelihood to engage in campus diversity experiences, which subsequently increased students’ diversity appreciation and decreased students’ endorsement of racial colorblindness. Implications and future directions are discussed.

Religion is a source of strength in Latina/o culture during challenging life transitions, such as the immigration process. Guided by a sociological stress–process model, this study examines relations between dimensions of religious coping, acculturative stress, and psychological distress among 530 young Latina women (ages 18-23 years) who recently immigrated to the United States (i.e., approximately 12 months prior to assessment). Higher levels of acculturative stress were associated with higher levels of psychological distress. Negative religious coping (i.e., the tendency to struggle with faith) moderated the relation between acculturative stress and psychological distress. Participants experiencing higher levels of acculturative stress reported greater psychological distress when they indicated more negative religious coping. Positive religious coping (i.e., the tendency to relate to faith with comfort and certainty) was not linked with acculturative stress or psychological distress. Implications for culturally tailored counseling interventions for this underserved and understudied population are discussed.

In the present study, we used multigroup structural equation modeling in a sample of college students (N = 2,461) to examine ethnic and gender differences in the connections between dispositonal hope and intentions to seek psychological help from formal and informal sources. In a personal-emotional problem scenario, we found a robust positive relationship between hope and intentions to seek help from informal sources, but no association for formal sources. In a suicidal thoughts scenario, hope was positively associated with intentions to seek both informal and formal psychological help. Results of exploratory moderation analyses indicated that the model was invariant across non-Latino White students and Asian American students, as well as across men and women. These findings address critical gaps in the hope and help-seeking literature, and suggest that increasing college students’ dispositional hope may provide a unique positive psychology-focused avenue for increasing help-seeking intentions, even within underserved populations.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the experiences of eight women survivors of childhood sexual abuse who view themselves as having a positive sexual self-schema, including their experiences of sexual satisfaction. Through thematic analysis, we developed the following themes: The Context for Sexual Development, Sexual Exploration, Coping Strategies, and Embracing the Sexual Self as Whole. The findings highlight the importance of relational, interpersonal, and community healing. Integral to women’s healing were experiences of sexual risk that allowed them to gain a sense of agency and empowerment. The themes that emerged provide additional support for Relational Cultural Theory as well as post-traumatic growth. We discuss the implications of these results in relation to counseling practice, training, and research.

To combat the prevailing deficit and dysfunction paradigm, scholars have called for research focusing on LGB individuals from a positive psychology perspective. Thus, we examined the mediating roles of coping with discrimination via resistance and education/advocacy in the relations between heterosexist discrimination and positive LGB identity among 356 LGB persons. We also examined the potential moderating role of personal growth initiative between (a) heterosexist discrimination and five positive LGB identity dimensions, (b) heterosexist discrimination and engagement coping, and (c) engagement coping and the LGB identity dimensions. Findings revealed that coping with discrimination via education/advocacy mediated the relationships between heterosexist discrimination and belonging to the LGB community, commitment to social justice, self-awareness, authenticity, and relationship intimacy links. We also found coping via education/advocacy predicted both commitment to social justice and self-awareness for LGB persons with low and high personal growth initiative, with stronger relations for those with low personal growth initiative.