The Relationships Among Self-Compassion, Stigma, and Attitudes Toward Counseling in Student-Athletes

Although factors involved with help-seeking have been widely studied in the general college population, college student-athletes have received less attention. The purpose of this study was to examine the moderating role of self-compassion on the relationship between public and self-stigma, and how s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of clinical sport psychology 2019-09, Vol.13 (3), p.374-389
Main Authors: Hilliard, Robert C., Redmond, Lorenzo A., Watson, Jack C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Athletes
Attitudes
College students
Counseling
Self compassion
Stigma
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Summary:Although factors involved with help-seeking have been widely studied in the general college population, college student-athletes have received less attention. The purpose of this study was to examine the moderating role of self-compassion on the relationship between public and self-stigma, and how self-stigma was associated with attitudes toward seeking counseling. A sample of 243 student-athletes from NCAA Divisions I and III participated in the study. Using structural equation modeling, self-compassion was not found to moderate the relationship between public and self-stigma. However, public stigma was positively associated with self-stigma, and self-stigma was negatively associated with attitudes toward counseling. A multigroup analysis did not find differences between males and females for the model. The results of this study have implications for professionals who work with college student-athletes and suggest that efforts should aim to reduce stigma and examine alternative factors that might improve attitudes toward mental health help-seeking.
ISSN:1932-9261
1932-927X
DOI:10.1123/jcsp.2018-0027