Self-concealment and attitudes toward counseling in university students.

TLDR

The study examined how self‑concealment relates to attitudes toward seeking psychological help and intentions to seek counseling among university students. Study 1 surveyed 257 undergraduates to assess relationships among self‑concealment, help‑seeking attitudes, and counseling intentions, while Study 2 compared high and low self‑concealers’ reactions to counseling descriptions that either highlighted or omitted disclosure of personal information. Self‑concealment was linked to less favorable attitudes toward help but higher intentions to seek counseling, and high self‑concealers were less favorable toward counseling when disclosure was emphasized, whereas no difference emerged when disclosure was not mentioned; these results suggest nuanced implications for counseling approaches.

Abstract

In study 1 (N = 257 undergraduates) the relations among self-concealment, attitudes toward seeking psychological help, and intentions to seek counseling were explored. Results revealed that even though self-concealment was associated with less favorable attitudes toward seeking help, it was also associated with greater intentions to seek counseling. In Study 2, high and low self-concealers (N = 83) read a description of counseling that either (a) indicated that counseling involves revealing highly personal information or (b) made no mention of such disclosure. Results revealed that in the former condition, high self-concealers were less favorable toward counseling than were low self-concealers, whereas in the latter condition, there was no significant difference between the two groups. Implications of these findings for future research are discussed