Social network stigma of seeking help: influences on psychological distress and flourishing and the role of psychological flexibility

It is important that mental health research supports and addresses the needs of ethnically and racially minoritized students. Specifically, self-stigma is associated with psychological distress through weakened mindfulness. This study extends past research by examining the influence of a different stigma construct, social network stigma of seeking help, on both psychological distress (combined anxiety and depression), and flourishing. It also examines the added influence of psychological flexibility components on the associations between the stigma construct and psychological distress and flourishing. Psychological flexibility extends past literature involving mindfulness by also assessing awareness of values. Secondary data was utilized with 128 participants who were undergraduate or graduate students. Higher levels of the psychological flexibility components cognitive defusion and committed action were associated with lower anxiety and depression and higher flourishing in regression analyses. Social network stigma of seeking help was also a significant predictor in both regression models. Future work should replicate these analyses with larger samples over the course of time to further determine specific pathways of influence.