A Study on Self-Concealment, Perceived Social Support and Mental Health Help Seeking Behaviour among Young Adults

Abstract

Self-concealment is a psychological term that describes people's propensity to keep their emotions, thoughts, and sentiments hidden from others, even while they are dealing with serious difficulties. Another crucial element of young adults' experiences with mental health is perceived social support. Young individuals' self-concealment, perceptions of social support, and activity in search of mental health assistance all interact in complicated and nuanced ways. On one hand, self- concealment encourages an environment of emotional isolation and self-reliance, which may discourage people from seeking out professional assistance. On the other hand, a sense of social support can be a strong motivator for getting assistance by offering a safety net of comprehension and compassion. The present study aimed to investigate the correlations and gender differences in self-concealment, perceived social support and mental health help seeking behaviour among young adults (30 males and 30 females). Standardised tools were used such as Self-Concealment Scale (Larson & Chastain, 1990), Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) (Zimet et al., 1988) and Mental Help Seeking Attitude Scale (MHSAS) (Hammer et al., 2018). No significant correlations were found among self-concealment, perceived social support and mental health help seeking behaviour. However, significant gender differences were found in mental health help seeking behaviour among males and females. The study recommends that by creating supporting and open environments helps in building strong relationships which are helpful in reducing self-concealment tendencies and by promoting mental health education and awareness among young adults helps in declining stigma related mental health and normalising seeking mental help.