Personality Determinants of Attitudes Toward Seeking Mental Health Services
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26623/philanthropy.v9i2.12165Keywords:
cross-sectional, filipino mental health, help-seeking attitudes, mental health services, personality factorsAbstract
Mental health service utilization in the Philippines remains low despite significant psychological distress and recent legislative reforms aimed at improving access. Understanding factors influencing help-seeking attitudes is crucial for addressing this disparity. This study investigated the personality determinants of attitudes toward seeking mental health services. A cross-sectional design was employed with a sample of 294 Filipino adults, and data were analyzed using correlation analysis. Results indicated that Conscientiousness and Extraversion were significantly and positively correlated with psychological openness (r=.155, p< .01) and help-seeking propensity (r=.128, p< .05); while Neuroticism was negatively associated with the attitudes of psychological openness (r =-.209, p < .01) and indifference to stigma (r = -.128, p< .05) and showed Conscientiousness positively correlates with stigma sensitivity (r=.131, p < .05). These findings suggest that certain personality traits can either facilitate or hinder an individual's willingness to seek professional psychological help, highlighting the need for tailored interventions that consider internal personality factors in promoting mental health service utilization.
References
Alnassar, J. Y., Alshutayli, . A. A., Almadhi, . A. Y., Alromaih, . J. D., Almutairi, . D. M. A. & Alhomaid, . T. A. (2024) Impact of stigma on psychological help-seeking behavior in the general population - a systematic review. International Journal of Medicine in Developing Countries, 8 (11), 3376-3386. doi:10.24911/IJMDC.51-1733594831
Angelini, G. (2023). Big five model personality traits and job burnout: a systematic literature review. BMC psychology, 11(1), 49. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-023-01056-y
Bogg, T., & Roberts, B. W. (2013). The case for conscientiousness: evidence and implications for a personality trait marker of health and longevity. Annals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine, 45(3), 278–288. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12160-012-9454-6
Carr, A. (2012). Positive mental health: a research agenda. World psychiatry : official journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA), 11(2), 100. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wpsyc.2012.05.016
Carvalho, P. S., Pombal, N., Gama, J., & Loureiro, M. (2024). Mental Health Awareness: Stigma and Help-Seeking Among Portuguese College Students. Healthcare, 12(24), 2505. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare12242505
Çekici, F. (2019). The Relationships between the Big Five Personality Traits and Attitudes towards Seeking Professional Psychological Help in Mental Health Counselor Candidates: Mediating Effect of Cognitive Flexibility. Educational Research and Reviews, 14(14), 501-511. https://doi.org/10.5897/ERR2019.3706
De Leon, C. (2025). A Qualitative Inquiry on the Active Mental Health Help-Seeking Behavior of Filipino Young Adults. International Journal of Social Science Research and Review, 8(4), 52-64. https://doi.org/10.47814/ijssrr.v8i4.2604
Diaconu-Gherasim, L. R., & Mardari, C. R. (2022). Personality traits and time perspectives: Implications for adolescents’ mental health and mental illness. Journal of Happiness Studies, 23(1), 101-124. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-021-00390-5
Economics Observatory. (2021, December 8). How has personality affected people’s mental health during the pandemic? - Economics Observatory. https://www.economicsobservatory.com/how-has-personality-affected-peoples-mental-health-during-the-pandemic
Henderson, C., Evans-Lacko, S., & Thornicroft, G. (2013). Mental illness stigma, help seeking, and public health programs. American journal of public health, 103(5), 777-780. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2012.301056
Huang, I. C., Lee, J. L., Ketheeswaran, P., Jones, C. M., Revicki, D. A., & Wu, A. W. (2017). Does personality affect health-related quality of life? A systematic review. PloS one, 12(3). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0173806
Husain, W., Haddad, A. J., Husain, M. A., Ghazzawi, H., Trabelsi, K., Ammar, A., ... & Jahrami, H. (2025). Reliability generalization meta-analysis of the internal consistency of the Big Five Inventory (BFI) by comparing BFI (44 items) and BFI-2 (60 items) versions controlling for age, sex, language factors. BMC psychology, 13(1), 20. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-024-02271-x
Kalra, K. & Gautam, S.K. (2024). Investigating The Influence of Stigma Associated with Mental Health on Help-Seeking Behavior in Individuals with Different Personality Traits. International Journal of Indian Psychology, 12(2), 135-141. https://doi.org/10.25215/1202.416
Kang, W., Steffens, F., Pineda, S., Widuch, K., & Malvaso, A. (2023). Personality traits and dimensions of mental health. Scientific Reports, 13(1), 7091. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-33996-1
Lally, J., Tully, J., & Samaniego, R M. (2019). Mental health services in the Philippines. Cambridge University Press, 16(03), 62-64. https://doi.org/10.1192/bji.2018.34
Lannin, D. G., & Bible, J. (2022). Self-Stigma of seeking help. In Cambridge University Press eBooks (pp. 111–142). https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108920995.009
Mackenzie, C. S., Knox, V. J., Gekoski, W. L., & Macaulay, H. L. (2004). Inventory of Attitudes toward Seeking Mental Health Services. Journal of Applied Social Psychology. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/t05528-000
Malolos, G. Z. C., Baron, M. B. C., Apat, F. A. J., Sagsagat, H. A. A., Pasco, P. B. M., Aportadera, E. T. C. L., Tan, R. J. D., Gacutno-Evardone, A. J., & Lucero-Prisno Iii, D. E. (2021). Mental health and well-being of children in the Philippine setting during the COVID-19 pandemic. Health promotion perspectives, 11(3), 267–270. https://doi.org/10.34172/hpp.2021.34
Maresca, G., Corallo, F., Catanese, G., Formica, C., & Lo Buono, V. (2022). Coping strategies of healthcare professionals with burnout syndrome: a systematic review. Medicina, 58(2), 327. https://doi.org/10.3390/medicina58020327
Martinez, A. B., Co, M., Lau, J., & Brown, J. S. (2020). Filipino help-seeking for mental health problems and associated barriers and facilitators: a systematic review. Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology, 55, 1397-1413. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-020-01937-2
Mojaverian, T., Hashimoto, T., & Kim, H. S. (2013). Cultural differences in professional help seeking: A comparison of Japan and the US. Frontiers in psychology, 3, 615. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00615
Mostowik, J., Mielimąka, M., Rutkowski, K., & Ostrowski, T. (2022). Time in the mental health context: Neurotic symptomatology, defense mechanisms and the perception of time perspective among patients diagnosed with neurotic and personality disorders – a clinical study. Psychological Reports, 125(1), 232–255. https://doi.org/10.1177/0033294120978164
Murphy, D. J., & Mackenzie, C. S. (2024). The impact of the Big Five personality traits on help-seeking stigmas, attitudes, and intentions. Stigma and Health. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/sah0000547
Puyat, J. H., Gastardo-Conaco, M. C., Natividad, J., & Banal, M. A. (2021). Depressive symptoms among young adults in the Philippines: Results from a nationwide cross-sectional survey. Journal of Affective Disorders Reports, 3. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadr.2020.100073
Reyes, C. M. (2024). The relationship of public stigma, self-stigma, & hiya on professional psychological help-seeking intentions of Filipino emerging adults.
Samuel, D. B., Bucher, M. A., & Suzuki, T. (2018). A preliminary probe of personality predicting psychotherapy outcomes: Perspectives from therapists and their clients. Psychopathology, 51(2), 122-129. https://doi.org/10.1159/000487362
Shabrina, A., Siswadi, A. G. P., & Ninin, R. H. (2022). Mental health help-seeking intentions: The role of personality traits in a sample of college students. Psikohumaniora: Jurnal Penelitian Psikologi, 7(2), 169–182. https://doi.org/10.21580/pjpp.v7i2.11784
Tomas Smigura, M. M. A. (2020). The impact of contact experiences on personality and mental illness stigma in the UAE. Scholarworks@UAEU. https://scholarworks.uaeu.ac.ae/psych_theses/5
Szücs, A., Lam, R. H. X., Tang, W. S. W., Zhou, L., Lazarus, M., Maier, A. B., & Valderas, J. M. (2025). Personality and help-seeking for psychological distress: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 15. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1405167
Tokarek, J., Kapuścik, A., Kućmierz, J., Kowalczyk, E., & Karbownik, M. S. (2023). Personality traits and health-related behaviors in medical students facing a stressful event. Frontiers in public health, 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1256883
Tomas Smigura, M. M. A. (2020). The Impact of Contact Experiences on Personality and Mental Illness Stigma in the UAE. Psychology Theses. https://scholarworks.uaeu.ac.ae/psych_theses/5/
Widiger, T. A., & Oltmanns, J. R. (2017). Neuroticism is a fundamental domain of personality with enormous public health implications. World psychiatry: official journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA), 16(2), 144–145. https://doi.org/10.1002/wps.20411
Yelpaze, İ., & Ceyhan, A. A. (2020). The prediction of personality, culture and coping strategies on university students’ psychological help seeking attitudes. Turkish Journal of Education, 9(2), 134-153. https://doi.org/10.19128/turje.611402
Zhang, Z., & Yu, L. (2020, July). Research on Countermeasures of Mental Health Education Based on Personality Deviation of Secondary Vocational Students. In 2020 International Conference on Advanced Education, Management and Information Technology (AEMIT 2020) (pp. 6-10). Atlantis Press. https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.200727.002
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Camille V. De Leon, Maria Zharina Sanchez
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
The author who will publish the manuscript at Philanthropy: Journal of Psychology, agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
