Multiple mediating effects of stigma and loneliness between anxiety and attitude towards seeking professional psychological help among college freshmen / 中华行为医学与脑科学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To explore the mediating effect of stigma and loneliness between anxiety and attitude towards seeking professional psychological help among college freshmen.Methods:A sample of 920 freshmen was recruited in the study and they were required to complete self-rating anxiety scale(SAS), attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help scale-short form(ATSPPH-SF), questionnaire of stigma for seeking professional psychological help(SSPPH), University of California, Los Angeles loneliness scale(UCLA). SPSS 24.0 was used for descriptive analysis and correlation analysis.SPSS macro program PROCESS 3.4 was used to analyze the mediating effect.Results:(1) The scores of anxiety, stigma, loneliness and attitude towards seeking professional psychological help of all subjects were (44.70±7.13), (19.14±6.79), (52.30±6.65) and (18.12±3.49). Anxiety was positively correlated with stigma and loneliness( r=0.170, 0.351, both P<0.01). Stigma was positively correlated with loneliness ( r=0.264, P<0.01). Attitude towards seeking professional psychological help was negatively correlated with anxiety, stigma and loneliness( r=-0.085, -0.459, -0.185, all P<0.05). (2) There were three paths that anxiety affected attitude towards seeking professional psychological help.The mediating effect size of stigma was -0.037, accounting for 75.51% of the total indirect effect.The mediating effect size of loneliness was -0.011, accounting for 22.45% of the total indirect effect.The chain mediating effect of anxiety and attitude towards seeking professional psychological help was -0.001, accounting for 2.04% of the total indirect effect. Conclusion:Stigma and loneliness play multiple mediating effects on the relationship between anxiety and attitude towards seeking professional psychological help.