Theory of Planned Behavior and Stigma in Predicting Help-Seeking Intention Among Thai Undergraduates

Abstract

The high prevalence of psychological distress among undergraduates highlights the need to investigate help-seeking intention in this population. This study applied the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), with social stigma and self-stigma incorporated as extended factors, to predict help-seeking intention. Help-seeking intention was operationalized as the intention to use free mental health services provided by the university. A total of 105 undergraduates (17 males, 88 females) from Chulalongkorn University, including 68 students from the Faculty of Psychology and 37 students from other faculties, completed self-report measures assessing help-seeking intention, attitudes toward help-seeking, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control (PBC), self-stigma, social stigma, prior help-seeking experience, and informal help-seeking. Hierarchical regression analysis indicated that attitudes toward help-seeking, subjective norms, and PBC significantly predicted help-seeking intention (p<0.05), whereas self-stigma and social stigma were not significant predictors (p>0.05) after controlling for the core TPB variables. Additionally, PBC and prior help-seeking experience emerged as the strongest predictors. Overall, the findings support TPB as a robust model for predicting help-seeking intention. The non-significant effects of social stigma and self-stigma may be partly explained by their shared variance with TPB components, particularly attitudes toward help-seeking,subjective norms, and PBC. However, the results should be interpreted with caution due to the cross-sectional design of the study. Implications for future research and intervention are discussed.