ESP-4168

Published

2025-11-21

Issue

Vol. 10 No. 11 (2025): published

Section

Research Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2025 Tingzhen Yan, Azlizamani Zubir, Farah Nadia Mohd Faudzi

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

The journal adopts the Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0), which means that anyone can reuse and redistribute the materials for non-commercial purposes as long as you follow the license terms and the original source is properly cited.

Author(s) shall retain the copyright of their work and grant the Journal/Publisher rights for the first publication with the work concurrently licensed since 2023 Vol.8 No.2.

Under this license, author(s) will allow third parties to download, reuse, reprint, modify, distribute and/or copy the content under the condition that the authors are given credit. No permission is required from the authors or the publisher.

This broad license intends to facilitate free access, as well as the unrestricted use of original works of all types. This ensures that the published work is freely and openly available in perpetuity.

By providing open access, the following benefits are brought about:

  • Higher Visibility, Availability and Citations-free and unlimited accessibility of the publication over the internet without any restrictions increases citation of the article.
  • Ease of search-publications are easily searchable in search engines and indexing databases.
  • Rapid Publication – accepted papers are immediately published online.
  • Available for free download immediately after publication at https://esp.as-pub.com/index.php/ESP

 

Copyright Statement

1.The authors certify that the submitted manuscripts are original works, do not infringe the rights of others, are free from academic misconduct and confidentiality issues, and that there are no disputes over the authorship scheme of the collaborative articles. In case of infringement, academic misconduct and confidentiality issues, as well as disputes over the authorship scheme, all responsibilities will be borne by the authors.

2. The author agrees to grant the Editorial Office of Environment and Social Psychology a licence to use the reproduction right, distribution right, information network dissemination right, performance right, translation right, and compilation right of the submitted manuscript, including the work as a whole, as well as the diagrams, tables, abstracts, and any other parts that can be extracted from the work and used in accordance with the characteristics of the journal. The Editorial Board of Environment and Social Psychology has the right to use and sub-licence the above mentioned works for wide dissemination in print, electronic and online versions, and, in accordance with the characteristics of the periodical, for the period of legal protection of the property right of the copyright in the work, and for the territorial scope of the work throughout the world.

3. The authors are entitled to the copyright of their works under the relevant laws of Singapore, provided that they do not exercise their rights in a manner prejudicial to the interests of the Journal.

About Licence

Environment and Social Psychology is an open access journal and all published work is available under the Creative Commons Licence, Authors shall retain copyright of their work and grant the journal/publisher the right of first publication, and their work shall be licensed under the Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).

Under this licence, the author grants permission to third parties to download, reuse, reprint, modify, distribute and/or copy the content with attribution to the author. No permission from the author or publisher is required.

This broad licence is intended to facilitate free access to and unrestricted use of original works of all kinds. This ensures that published works remain free and accessible in perpetuity. Submitted manuscripts, once accepted, are immediately available to the public and permanently accessible free of charge on the journal’s official website (https://esp.as-pub.com/index.php/ESP). Allowing users to read, download, copy, print, search for or link to the full text of the article, or use it for other legal purposes. However, the use of the work must retain the author's signature, be limited to non-commercial purposes, and not be interpretative.

Click to download <Agreement on the Licence for the Use of Copyright on Environmental and Social Psychology>.

How to Cite

Yan, T., Azlizamani Zubir, & Farah Nadia Mohd Faudzi. (2025). Mental Health Stigma and Help-Seeking: A Moderated Regression Analysis of Attachment Styles. Environment and Social Psychology, 10(11), ESP-4168. https://doi.org/10.59429/esp.v10i11.4168

Mental Health Stigma and Help-Seeking: A Moderated Regression Analysis of Attachment Styles

Tingzhen Yan

School of Applied Psychology, Social Work and Policy, Universiti Utara Malaysia,Kedah Darul Aman, 06010, Malaysia ; Neijiang Vocational and Technical College, Neijiang City, Sichuan Province, 641000, China

Azlizamani Zubir

School of Applied Psychology, Social Work and Policy, Universiti Utara Malaysia,Kedah Darul Aman, 06010, Malaysia

Farah Nadia Mohd Faudzi

School of Applied Psychology, Social Work and Policy, Universiti Utara Malaysia,Kedah Darul Aman, 06010, Malaysia; Institute for Psychotherapy, Correctional & Rehabilitation (iPSYCORE), Universiti Utara Malaysia, 06010, Malaysia Tingzhen Yan: yantingzhen93@gmail.com


DOI: https://doi.org/10.59429/esp.v10i11.4168


Keywords: Mental Health Stigma; Help-Seeking Behavior; Attachment Anxiety; Moderated Pathway Analysis; Psychological Treatment

Abstract

The stigma is a very important obstacle to a psychological rescue and is an obvious excuse, which engulfs individuals in an attempt to obtain a professional help. In general, although the role of stigma is thoroughly studied, little has been done to investigate the individual difference in the nature of functioning of emotions and interpersonal relationships or even the issue of attachment styles. The paper has covered the relationship between the moderating role of the attachment anxiety to the mental health stigma and the help-seeking behaviour. The paper is regarding the impact of the internal relational schema of the people on their attitude to seek support with stigmatising attitude. The sample of 300 students of the university who had to take the standardised test of their attitudes to the mental health stigma, attitudes to the style of attachment (with the emphasis on the attachment anxiety) and attitudes to professional help was surveyed. The moderate indices of stigmatization in making a help seeking behavior was regressed through a regression analysis that involved the use of a PROCESS macro (Model 1) that revealed that the negative stigma effect on a help seeking behavior was stronger with an increase in the level of attachment anxiety. This was most paramount among the individuals that were highly attached in the aspect of anxiety. The other negative effect of stigma was noted among individuals who had greater levels of attachment anxiety and the desire to receive help was taken into account. The implications of such findings include the outstanding high attachment styles between individuals in the area of mental health stigma.

References

[1]. 1.Golberstein E, Eisenberg D, Gollust SE. Perceived stigma and mental health care seeking. Psychiatric services. 2008 Apr;59(4):392-9.

[2]. 2.Wijeratne C, Johnco C, Draper B, Earl J. Doctors’ reporting of mental health stigma and barriers to help-seeking. Occupational Medicine. 2021 Nov 1;71(8):366-74.

[3]. 3.Bowlby J, Ainsworth M, Bretherton I. The origins of attachment theory. Developmental Psychology. 1992;28(5):759-75.

[4]. 4.Mikulincer M, Florian V. Attachment style and affect regulation: Implications for coping with stress and mental health. Blackwell handbook of social psychology: Interpersonal processes. 2003 Jan 1:535-57.

[5]. 5.Arathy VS. The Moderating Role of Emotional Regulation on the Relationship between Attachment Style and Rejection Sensitivity (Doctoral dissertation, St. Teresa's College (Autonomous) Ernakulam).

[6]. 6.Mikulincer M, Shaver PR, Cassidy J, Berant E. Attachment-related defensive processes. Attachment theory and research in clinical work with adults. 2009:293-327.

[7]. 7.Taubman‐Ben‐Ari O, Findler L, Mikulincer M. The effects of mortality salience on relationship strivings and beliefs: The moderating role of attachment style. British journal of social psychology. 2002 Sep;41(3):419-41.

[8]. 8.Omondi K. Mental Health Stigma and its Impact on Help-Seeking Behavior. International Journal of Humanity and Social Sciences. 2024 Jul 12;3(3):15-29.

[9]. 9.Link BG, Struening EL, Neese-Todd S, Asmussen S, Phelan JC. Stigma as a barrier to recovery: The consequences of stigma for the self-esteem of people with mental illnesses. Psychiatric services. 2001 Dec;52(12):1621-6.

[10]. 10.Fernández D, Grandón P, López-Angulo Y, Vladimir-Vielma A, Peñate W, Díaz-Pérez G. Internalized stigma and self-stigma in people diagnosed with a mental disorder. One concept or two? A scoping review. International Journal of Social Psychiatry. 2023 Dec;69(8):1869-81.

[11]. 11.Dubreucq J, Plasse J, Franck N. Self-stigma in serious mental illness: A systematic review of frequency, correlates, and consequences. Schizophrenia bulletin. 2021 Sep 1;47(5):1261-87.

[12]. 12.Mitchell UA, Nishida A, Fletcher FE, Molina Y. The long arm of oppression: How structural stigma against marginalized communities perpetuates within-group health disparities. Health Education & Behavior. 2021 Jun;48(3):342-51.

[13]. 13.Grosselli L, Baumgärtel J, Böhm H, Hoyer J, Knappe S. When Knowledge Falls Short: A Systematic Review on the Correlation of Mental Health Knowledge With Stigma and Help‐Seeking. Mental Health Science. 2025 Jun;3(2):e70022.

[14]. 14.Link BG, Cullen FT, Frank J, Wozniak JF. The social rejection of former mental patients: Understanding why labels matter. American journal of Sociology. 1987 May 1;92(6):1461-500.

[15]. 15.Holmes J. John Bowlby and attachment theory. Routledge; 2014 Jan 10.

[16]. 16.Gencoglu C, Topkaya N, Sahin E, Kaya L. Attachment styles as predictors of stigma tendency in adults. Educational Process: International Journal. 2016;5(1):7-21.

[17]. 17.Schomerus G, Stolzenburg S, Freitag S, Speerforck S, Janowitz D, Evans-Lacko S, Muehlan H, Schmidt S. Stigma as a barrier to recognizing personal mental illness and seeking help: a prospective study among untreated persons with mental illness. European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience. 2019 Jun 1;269(4):469-79.

[18]. 18.Simpson JA, Rholes WS, Nelligan JS. Support seeking and support giving within couples in an anxiety-provoking situation: The role of attachment styles. Journal of personality and social psychology. 1992 Mar;62(3):434.

[19]. 19.Kelly KM. Reactions to Rejection. Interpersonal rejection. 2001 May 3:291.

[20]. 20.Papadaki A. The self-stigma of seeking professional psychological help among undergraduate students and associations with attachment style.

[21]. 21.Zhao W, Young RE, Breslow L, Michel NM, Flett GL, Goldberg JO. Attachment style, relationship factors, and mental health stigma among adolescents. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science/Revue canadienne des sciences du comportement. 2015 Oct;47(4):263.

[22]. 22.Papadaki A. The self-stigma of seeking professional psychological help among undergraduate students and associations with attachment style.

[23]. 23.Link BG, Struening EL, Neese-Todd S, Asmussen S, Phelan JC. Stigma as a barrier to recovery: The consequences of stigma for the self-esteem of people with mental illnesses. Psychiatric services. 2001 Dec;52(12):1621-6.

[24]. 24.Fraley RC, Heffernan ME, Vicary AM, Brumbaugh CC. The experiences in close relationships—Relationship Structures Questionnaire: A method for assessing attachment orientations across relationships. Psychological assessment. 2011 Sep;23(3):615.

[25]. 25.Rickwood D, Deane FP, Wilson CJ, Ciarrochi J. Young people’s help-seeking for mental health problems. Australian e-journal for the Advancement of Mental health. 2005 Jan 1;4(3):218-51.

[26]. 26.Link BG, Struening EL, Neese-Todd S, Asmussen S, Phelan JC. Stigma as a barrier to recovery: The consequences of stigma for the self-esteem of people with mental illnesses. Psychiatr Serv. 2001 Dec;52(12):1621-6.

[27]. 27.Fraley RC, Heffernan ME, Vicary AM, Brumbaugh CC. The experiences in close relationships—Relationship Structures Questionnaire: A method for assessing attachment orientations across relationships. Psychol Assess. 2011 Sep;23(3):615-25.

[28]. 28.Ong HL, Vaingankar JA, Abdin E, Sambasivam R, Fauziana R, Tan ME, Chong SA, Goveas RR, Chiam PC, Subramaniam M. Resilience and burden in caregivers of older adults: moderating and mediating effects of perceived social support. BMC psychiatry. 2018 Jan 31;18(1):27.

[29]. 29.Abu-Bader S, Jones TV. Statistical mediation analysis using the sobel test and hayes SPSS process macro. International Journal of Quantitative and Qualitative Research Methods. 2021 Mar 6.

[30]. 30.Downey G, Feldman SI. Implications of rejection sensitivity for intimate relationships. Journal of personality and social psychology. 1996 Jun;70(6):1327.

[31]. 31.Shih M. Positive stigma: Examining resilience and empowerment in overcoming stigma. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. 2004 Jan;591(1):175-85.

[32]. 32.Dempster R, Wildman B, Keating A. The role of stigma in parental help-seeking for child behavior problems. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology. 2013 Jan 1;42(1):56-67.

[33]. 33.Jinyao Y, Xiongzhao Z, Auerbach RP, Gardiner CK, Lin C, Yuping W, Shuqiao Y. Insecure attachment as a predictor of depressive and anxious symptomology. Depression and anxiety. 2012 Sep;29(9):789-96.

[34]. 34.Ishaq M, Haque MA. Attachment styles, self-esteem and rejection sensitivity among university students. Pakistan Journal of Psychology. 2015 Dec 1;46(2).

[35]. 35.Corrigan PW, Larson JE, Rüsch N. Self-stigma and the “why try” effect: impact on life goals and evidence-based practices. World psychiatry. 2009 Jun;8(2):75.



21 Woodlands Close #02-10, Primz Bizhub,Postal 737854, Singapore

Email:editorial_office@as-pub.com