Men’s Mental Health Help-Seeking Behaviors: An Intersectional Analysis

Abstract

Men seek mental health treatment less often than women. The present study sought to elucidate identities and individual difference characteristics that are associated with enhanced or decreased mental health help-seeking in a large national sample of U.S. men. Using data from 4,825 U.S. men aged 20 to 59 years, main effects of race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, income–poverty ratio, relationship status, depression symptoms, and body mass index were explored within the sample of men as well as intersections of these predictors with racial/ethnic group identity. While the results of main effects testing generally supported prior research (i.e., greater mental health care help-seeking among White men, nonheterosexual men, men not in relationships, older men, and more depressed men), when examined associations across racial/ethnic groups, the direction and strength of these associations showed notable variation—variation unaccounted for in prior research. These findings highlight the need for future theory building and research that accounts for this variation at the intersection of race/ethnicity and these specific predictors of help-seeking behavior among men.