Gender Differences in Help-Seeking Attitudes: Implications for Social Work Practice

Purpose: Men’s wellbeing is inherently connected to the wellbeing of women and children and vice-versa. Thus, steps toward improving the psychological wellbeing of men is an important step toward improving not only the lives of men, but also women and children, who are often deeply affected by the actions of their fathers, brothers, friends, husbands, and partners. Men who avoid seeking psychological help, for example, are more likely to express psychological trauma in unhealthy ways, such as anger or violence. Thus, in order to support the wellbeing of women, children, and families, it is essential that social work research and practice become more attuned to the unique experiences of men. Medical and helping professionals have long acknowledged that men express less emotion than women, are hesitant to express weakness, and seek professional help much less frequently than their female counterparts. The lack of help-seeking is common across characteristics such as age, race/ethnicity, and nationality. We suggest that the gender gap in help-seeking may be rooted in attitudes regarding help-seeking behaviors generally.

Method: We used data from 934 respondents that answered questions in the 2006 General Social Surveys (GSS) Mental Health Module. This data included vignettes on hypothetical scenarios involving individuals with major depression, schizophrenia, and everyday problems. Using Structural Equation Modeling, we linked vignette type to the endorsement of help-seeking (on a 1-10 scale) for informal sources (family, friends, and religious leaders) and formal sources (general practitioner and mental health professional). The model exhibited acceptable model fit (Chi-square: 129.3***, RMSEA: 0.05, CFI: 0.97, SRMR: 0.03). Results revealed that men endorsed seeking help from religious leaders (β= -.05, p<.05) and general health practitioners (β= -.10, p<.001) less than women. Men also were less supportive of depressed individuals seeking help through a mental health professional (β= -.14, p<.001) than women. No differences were observed for informal help-seeking or for the general practitioner, nor for everyday problems. Furthermore, men were no more or less likely than women to endorse help-seeking if the individual in the vignette was male or female, suggesting that men’s attitudes about help-seeking are not simply limited to themselves or other males.

Implications: Our results show some support for the hypothesis that that men are less prone than women to display positive help seeking attitudes, particularly related to common mental health issues. This may help researchers, clinicians, and macro social workers better understand the numerous barriers to men’s help-seeking. More specifically, our results are useful to social work researchers and clinicians to help men who are underserved and who underutilize the services provided by social workers. The implications of our paper include the need for education programs to help men and improve health and a call for better screening of mental, physical, and other health services for men. Our results also have implications for understanding how men’s attitudes can negatively impact the mental, physical, and other health outcomes of men, women, and children.