Masculinity and Stigma of Psychological Help-Seeking Behaviour among Male College Students at the United States International University – Africa

Masculinity and stigma are the most inhibiting factors to psychological help-seeking behaviour in men and encompasses issues and implications that demand professional psychological interventions which are beyond the scope of male college students’ scope. The aim of the study was to examine the effect of Masculinity and Stigma, and to establish the relationship they had on the psychological help-seeking behaviour among male college students at the United States International University - Africa. The study was quantitative, and the sampling method was purposive sampling technique with 100 male students from - the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, School of Science and Technology, School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, and Chandaria School of Business to represent the male population. Data collection was done using the Demographic Questionnaire, Conformity to Masculinity Inventory – 46, and the Self-Stigma of Seeking Help Scale. The researcher used the Statistical Packaging for Social Sciences IBM Version 24.0 to summarized data into descriptive and inferential statistics. The participants were aged between 18 years and 48 years with an average of 24.2 years (SD = 7.4). The analysis revealed that masculinity messages influenced college male students by decreasing their willingness to seek psychological help from mental health professionals (r = - 0.582, p = 0.001); and stigma among college students significantly decreased their drive to help-seeking behavior (r = - 0.507, p = 0.002). The association between masculinity and stigma decreased the male college students’ willingness of seeking psychological help. The study recommends for male college students and other stakeholders to educate themselves of the implications behavioural manifestations of masculinity and stigma have in the face of seeking professional psychological help. Further comparative studies between male and female students would bring about a better approach to psychoeducation and better treatment modalities.