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Psychological Help-Seeking among Latin American Immigrants in Canada: Testing a Culturally-Expanded Model of the Theory of Reasoned Action Using Path Analysis

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Abstract

The current study investigated the psychosocial and cultural predictors of psychological help-seeking based on the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA: Ajzen and Fishbein 1980) in a sample of 223 adult Latin American immigrants living in Canada. Using path analysis, the results provided empirical support for the TRA, as both help-seeking attitudes and subjective norms were found to influence participants’ help-seeking intentions. Moreover, the re-specified culturally-expanded model showed a good fit to the data and revealed the direct and indirect effects that bi-directional acculturation (Latino and Canadian Cultural orientations), familism, and collective coping had on help-seeking intentions. The results point to the integral roles familism and subjective norms of social referents (e.g., parents, siblings) play in the help-seeking decision process among Latin Americans. Limitations, future research directions and clinical implications are considered and discussed.

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Notes

  1. Given that “Latin American” is the official descriptor used by Statistics Canada in collecting national census data, this term is used throughout this paper. Furthermore, the term “Latino” is used in the article as a generic term to denote both “Latino” and “Latina”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Windsor, 401 Sunset Ave., Chrysler Hall South, Windsor, Ontario, N9B 3P4, Canada

    Ben C. H. Kuo & Alma Roldan-Bau

  2. Bluefield State College, Bluefield, WV, USA

    Robert Lowinger

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  1. Ben C. H. Kuo
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  2. Alma Roldan-Bau
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  3. Robert Lowinger
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Correspondence to Ben C. H. Kuo.

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Kuo, B.C.H., Roldan-Bau, A. & Lowinger, R. Psychological Help-Seeking among Latin American Immigrants in Canada: Testing a Culturally-Expanded Model of the Theory of Reasoned Action Using Path Analysis. Int J Adv Counselling 37, 179–197 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10447-015-9236-5

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