Does the Optimism Bias Affect Help-Seeking Intentions for Depressive Symptoms in Young People?

Abstract

Help-seeking is an adaptive means to address mental health difficulties, but sufferers often fail to seek assistance. This inaction may reflect optimism bias--that is, believing one is less susceptible to negative events than others. In the present study, the authors investigate optimism bias by presenting depressive symptoms in vignette form to 263 undergraduate participants. Participants were asked to imagine oneself or a peer-group friend suffering from presented symptoms and provide ratings of problem seriousness, help-seeking importance, and prognosis. Results supported the optimism bias hypothesis in that participants reported lower levels of seriousness, lower need for help, and anticipated a more favorable prognosis for themselves compared to others on equivalent sets of symptoms. A contextual effect may exist and influence the evaluation of medium-severity symptoms when symptoms were presented from most to least severe. As symptom severity increased, females were less optimistic than males about prognosis and placed greater importance on help-seeking. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Association Between School Engagement and Disclosure of Suicidal Ideation to Adults Among Latino Adolescents

“…Females tend to be more likely to disclose to others their distress resulting from a mood disorder (Kalafat & Elias, 1992; Zimmerman, 1991) and access multiple forms of treatment more often than males (Milner & De Leo, 2010). As symptom severity increases, females have also reported more positive opinions of the benefits of getting help (Spendelow & Jose, 2010). The literature is limited regarding the types of adults Latino adolescents turn to in times of distress, especially involving SI.…”

Predictors of Mental Health Service Use by Young Adults: A Systematic Review

“…Fourth, this study examined only independent relationships between the identified variables, whereas researchers have outlined dynamic and bidirectional interactions between predisposing, enabling, and need factors associated with service use (14,15,69,77). This includes an interactive effect between sociodemographic variables and psychological distress in the prediction of service use (69).…”

Optimistic Bias, Sexual Assault, and Fear

“…In terms of gender, women tend to be less optimistic than men across a number of research contexts, including depression (Hampson, Andrews, Lee, Foster, Glasgow, & Lichtenstein, 1998;Spendelow & Jose, 2010), unplanned pregnancy (Chapin, 1999), and cancer (Hampson et al, 1998). Others find no significant gender difference in optimistic bias (Fontaine & Smith, 1995;Weinstein, 1987).…”