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Two studies examined how perceiving a stigma and barriers to care for psychological treatment moderate the relationships between stressors and psychological symptoms. One study utilized a sample of college students and the other a sample of U.S. Army soldiers. Factor analytic results from the two samples supported stigma and barriers to care being separate constructs. In the student sample, perceived stigma interacted with subjective stress to predict depression, such that the relationship between stress and depression was stronger when perceived stigma was high. In the military sample, barriers to care interacted with work overload to predict depression, such that the relationship between overload and depression was stronger when perceived barriers to care were high. Results reveal the importance of examining both stigma and barriers to care as moderators of the stressor-strain relationship, and reinforce the need to develop interventions to address stigma and remove barriers to care.

Military spouses must contend with unique issues such as a mobile lifestyle, rules and regulations of military life, and frequent family separations including peacekeeping and combat deployments. These issues may have an adverse effect on the health of military spouses. This study examined the mental health status, rates of care utilization, source of care, as well as barriers and stigma of mental health care utilization among military spouses who were seeking care in military primary care clinics. The data show spouses have similar rates of mental health problems compared to soldiers. Spouses were more likely to seek care for their mental health problems and were less concerned with the stigma of mental health care than were soldiers. Services were most often received from primary care physicians, rather than specialty mental health professionals, which may relate to the lack of availability of mental health services for spouses on military installations.