Is Help-Seeking Stigma Influenced by Adolescents' Orientation to Different Life Goals?

The present research utilized a cross-lagged model over a 4-month period to explore relationships between adolescents' life goals and anticipated help-seeking stigma in a sample of adolescents coming from low socioeconomic households. We hypothesized a directional relationship wherein prioritizing intrinsic life goals such as personal growth and relationships over extrinsic life goals such as money and fame would decrease anticipated self-stigma of seeking psychological help. Time 1 data were collected from 119 ethnically diverse adolescents in fall 2018. and Time 2 data were collected in spring 2019. Cross-lagged models supported the hypothesis. Orientation toward intrinsic, rather than extrinsic, life goals at Time 1 was associated with lower self-stigma 4 months later (beta = -.18, p = .030), but self-stigma at Time 1 did not predict changes in how adolescents prioritized their life goals 4 months later. Results support the conceptualization that prioritizing intrinsic life goals over extrinsic life goals leads to decreases in anticipated self-stigma of seeking psychological help over time. Findings highlight that social systems (e.g., families, schools, neighborhoods) that promote intrinsic, rather than extrinsic. life goals may buffer against the stigmatization of psychological help-seeking among adolescents coming from low socioeconomic households.