College Students' Coping and Psychological Help-Seeking Attitudes and Intentions

The relationship between college students' coping and psychological help-seeking attitudes and intentions was examined. Seven hundred and nineteen students participated (180 men, 537 women, and two individuals who did not indicate their gender). Questionnaires were completed online and included the Brief COPE and Beliefs About Psychological Services scales. It was found that for students with previous counseling experience, coping by means of greater use of support seeking and less use of avoidant coping strategies was associated with greater intent to seek psychological help, greater stigma tolerance, and greater belief in psychologists' expertness. Problem-focused coping was unrelated to psychological help-seeking attitudes and intentions among these students. For students without previous counseling experience, coping by means of greater use of support seeking (emotional support, instrumental support, and venting), greater use of problem-focused coping (active coping, positive reframing, religion, and planning), and less use of avoidant coping strategies (denial, substance use, behavioral disengagement, and self-blame) was associated with greater stigma tolerance and greater belief in psychologists' expertness. For these students, coping behaviors were not related to intentions to seek counseling.