Working-Class Men's Constructions of Help-Seeking When Feeling Depressed or Sad.

In this study, we conducted interviews with 12 working-class men employed in industrial and manual labor to identify their constructions of help-seeking in response to feeling depressed or sad. The semistructured interview format explored participant men's understanding and reactions to depression or sadness, their experiences of depression and reluctance to seek help, and their own and others' reactions to seeking help for feeling depressed or sad. Utilizing the consensual qualitative research methodology, four domains emerged: Concern About Threat and Stigma, Being a Man Means Not Seeking Help, Experiences of Safety and Relief, and Conditions That Reduce Threat and Stigma. The results suggest the need to account for men's experiences of both negative influences (e.g., masculinity injunctions, stigma, and threat to manhood status), as well as adaptive influences (e.g., contexts that reduce stigma) when addressing men's help-seeking for depression and sadness. The domains are illustrative of several theoretical frameworks including social-psychological models of social norms and stigma, precarious manhood theory, inclusive masculinity theory, as well as convergence with other research examining working-class men. Implications are discussed for outreach and practice addressing men's depression and help-seeking.

Working Men's Constructions of Visiting the Doctor.

To understand influences on medical help seeking in men from traditionally masculine occupations, semistructured interviews with 12 men employed in manual and industrial labor were conducted. The semistructured interview format explored participant men's understanding and experiences of annual exams and medical help seeking, their own and others' reactions to seeking medical help, and influences on their own care and understanding of what it means to seek medical care. Utilizing consensual qualitative research methodology, five domains emerged: Social norms around medical care, managing threat, getting medical help is gendered, work-related influences, and pragmatic contributors to medical help seeking. Results extended the literature by situating men's understanding of physician visits within a gendered and social context, and highlighting the influence of work and coworkers, where messages are often contradictory and inconsistent about medical help seeking. Future research should examine additional contextual factors influencing men's attitudes toward seeking health care, including race, culture, and sexual orientation, as well as seek to develop and evaluate interventions that promote men's utilization of medical services.

Sexual Orientation and College Students' Reasons for Nonmedical Use of Prescription Drugs.

BACKGROUND: Nonmedical use of prescription pain medications, sedatives, and stimulants is a well-documented problem among college students. Research has indicated that students who identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual are at elevated risk. However, little is known about students' reasons for use. OBJECTIVES: (1) To replicate findings that sexual minority students report higher nonmedical use than heterosexual students, moving from a campus-specific to a multicampus sample and (2) to test for an association between sexual orientation and reasons for use. METHODS: The 2015 College Prescription Drug Study surveyed 3389 students from nine 4-year public and private colleges and universities across the United States using an anonymous online survey. Measures assessed demographic information, prevalence of nonmedical use, frequency of use, where the drugs were obtained, reasons for use, and consequences of use. Stepwise logistic regression models were used to determine if sexual orientation predicted use. Chi-square tests of independence were also used to analyze prevalence of use by demographics as well as to assess differences in reasons for use by sexual orientation. RESULTS: Sexual minority students were significantly more likely than heterosexual students to nonmedically use any prescription drug, pain medications, and sedatives. Sexual minority students were also more likely to select that they used pain medications to relieve anxiety, enhance social interactions, and to feel better. Conclusions/Importance: Although sexual minority students are more likely to report nonmedical use, students overall use prescription medications for similar reasons, with the exception of painkillers. Implications and areas for future research are discussed.