Influencing factors of attitudes toward seeking professional help for mental illness among Korean adults

Abstract

Objectives: Identifying predictors of psychological help-seeking attitudes is essential to improve access to needed mental health services. We investigated factors – particularly Big Five personality traits – that affect attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help for mental illness among Korean adults. Methods: A total of 654 participants aged 15–54 years were recruited through an online panel survey. Help-seeking attitudes for mental illness were measured by the Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help Scale (ATSPPH), and personality traits were measured by the Big Five Personality Inventory-10. Results: Multivariate analyses showed that female gender, history of psychiatric diagnosis, agreeableness and openness to experience were significantly associated with positive attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help for mental illness. Conclusions: These findings suggest that specific personality traits should be considered when developing strategies to promote positive attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help. Further research using a representative community sample is needed to generalize our findings.