Stigma, attitudes, and intentions to seek mental health services in college student-athletes.

To investigate predictors of mental health help-seeking as well as identify topics for which college student-athletes are most likely to seek help. Student-athletes ( = 328) from three Division II and III universities. Participants completed a survey packet on stigma, attitudes, and intentions toward seeking mental health services as well as willingness to seek help for specific topics. Structural equation modeling indicated public stigma was significantly related to self-stigma, self-stigma was related to attitudes, and attitudes were related to intentions. Using logistic regression analysis, self-stigma and attitudes were associated with an increased likelihood of having sought mental health services in the past. These results can be used to help sport psychologists and other mental health staff develop programing that might increase service use among student-athletes. Using a multifaceted approach that decreases stigma and improves attitudes could have the most meaningful effect on encouraging service use.