The relationship between help -seeking attitudes and coping response patterns in adult African -American males
Abstract
The present study examined the relationship between professional help-seeking attitudes and coping response patterns in African American adult males. Participants were 130 male volunteers attending college or living and working in West and Middle Tennessee communities. Each participant completed the Attitude Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help Scale (ATSPPHS), the Coping Response Inventory (CRI) Adult Form/Actual and a demographics survey. It was hypothesized that: (1) a positive correlation would exist between high scores on the ATSPPHS and high scores on the Approach Summary Index (ASI) of the CRI; (2) a positive correlation would exist between low scores on the ATSPPHS and high scores on the Cognitive Summary Index (CSI) of the CRI; and (3) the demographic variables of age, education, religious participation, fraternal participation and previous mental health services experience would predict help-seeking attitudes. The Pearson correlation and a multiple regression were used for data analysis. The first and second hypotheses were not supported. Of the criterion variables, only education, religious participation and previous experience were found to predict help-seeking attitudes, accounting for 12.5% of the variance. Overall, this study suggests that African American men hold slightly less favorable attitudes toward professional help-seeking and have flexible coping styles. Implications for prevention and intervention are discussed.
Subject Area
Behaviorial sciences|African Americans
Recommended Citation
Samuel Lee Carney,
"The relationship between help -seeking attitudes and coping response patterns in adult African -American males"
(2003).
ETD Collection for Tennessee State University.
Paper AAI3088278.
https://digitalscholarship.tnstate.edu/dissertations/AAI3088278