Intention to seek help among three categories of substance-using college students: which factors matter?

Background: The current study examined which promising help-seeking factors accounted for unique variance in help-seeking intention among substance-using college students. Participants included 8,416 substance-using college students from a USA national sample. Methods: Three separate logistic regressions were conducted to predict help-seeking intention among varying categories (i.e., marijuana, alcohol, and polysubstance) of substance-using college students. Results: Tests of the full models against constant only models were statistically significant for all models, which indicated that the predictors collectively distinguished between substance-using college students who intended to seek help and those who did not. Wald criteria indicated that perceived treatment effectiveness, perceived need for psychological help, and perceived knowledge of mental illness made significant unique contributions to help-seeking intention for all three groups. Perceived public stigma was not a significant predictor of help-seeking intention in all models and personal stigma was not a significant predictor among the alcohol-using college students. Conclusion: These findings provide evidenced-based rationale for prioritizing these factors among substance-using college students.