Determinants of perceived mental health status and help-seeking behavior: preliminary testing of a conceptual model

This paper presents a preliminary test of the conceptual model of cognitive determinants of the perception of mental health status. Path analysis was used to examine the causal relationships between education, awareness of higher level needs, one's definition of mental health, and self-rating of mental health status. Discriminant analyses was used to evaluate these variables and others as predictors of help-seeking behavior. Results indicate the importance of cognitive factors in the perception of mental health status and support a direct causal interpretation of model variables. Symptom checklist scores and path variables were found to be the best predictors of help-seeking behavior.