Masculinity and barriers to seeking counseling : the buffering role of self-compassion / Patrick J. Heath, Rachel E. Brenner, David L. Vogel, Daniel G. Lannin, Haley A. Strass

Less than 1/3 of college men seek psychological help per year when experiencing mental health concerns. Many believe this is because socialized masculine norms are incongruent with help-seeking decisions. In line with this, adherence to masculine norms like emotional control and self-reliance is consistently linked to factors associated with lower use of counseling. Identifying constructs that buffer, or reduce, the relationship between masculine norm adherence and common barriers to seeking help, like help-seeking self-stigma and resistance to self-disclosing, could shed light on mechanisms through which effective interventions could be developed. As such, this study examined whether self-compassion, or the ability to show oneself kindness and understanding in the face of challenges, moderated the relationship between masculine norm adherence and both help-seeking self-stigma and risks associated with self-disclosing to a counselor in a sample of 284 undergraduate men (M age = 19.68, range =18-30). Results indicate that self-compassion is associated with lower levels of help-seeking self-stigma and disclosure risks. Additionally, and perhaps more importantly, self-compassion buffered the relationship between emotional control and disclosure risks. These results support the need for future research focused on the development and assessment of self-compassion based interventions aimed at decreasing the barriers undergraduate men experience toward seeking psychological help.

Psychology