Citation

McLaren T, Peter LJ, Tomczyk S, Muehlan H, Schomerus G, Schmidt S. Soc. Psychiatry Psychiatr. Epidemiol. 2024; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2024, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s00127-024-02720-3

PMID

39097559

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Mental illness is a global concern and the leading cause of years lived with disability. Research on help-seeking behaviour has focused on individual factors, but there is still much unexplained variance. Suggesting complex interactions between determinants of human behaviour a new framework called Self-Milieux is proposed to represent a person's sociocultural background. The article introduces a statistical approach to determine Self-Milieux and exemplarily examines its predictive validity for health-related research.

METHODS: Self-Milieux are determined through a two-stage clustering method based on the determinants socioeconomic status and self-construal profile. Descriptive analyses are used to compare Self-Milieux characteristics. Hierarchical binary logistic regression models test the association between Self-Milieux and help-seeking behaviour, while controlling for socioeconomic status as an established predictor.

RESULTS: The sample size was N = 1535 (M(age) = 43.17 and 64.89% female participants). Average depression severity was M = 12.22, indicating mild to moderate symptoms. Six Self-Milieux were determined and named. Participants from privileged (aOR = 0.38) and self-sufficient (aOR = 0.37) milieux were less likely to seek help from a general practitioner than those from the entitled milieu. Participants from privileged (aOR = 0.30), collaborators (aOR = 0.50), disadvantaged (aOR = 0.33), and self-sufficient (aOR = 0.21) milieux were less likely to seek help from family members than those from the entitled and family-bound milieux.

DISCUSSION: The study's strengths and limitations, as well as the cluster methodology, are discussed. The comparative results for the six Self-Milieux are interpreted based on current research. For example, participants from some milieux follow a help-seeking process proposed in previous research, while participants from other milieux seem to show a different process, one that ends in informal help-seeking.

Language: en

Keywords

Socioeconomic status; Cluster analysis; Help-seeking behaviour; Self-construal theory; Self-Milieux; Sociocultural background