Mediation analyses of culture, alexithymia, masculine ideology, and help-seeking

This study was an examination of whether alexithymia and masculine ideology mediate separately the relationship between culture and help-seeking. To investigate this mediation, I analyzed pre-collected data gathered from a much bigger research project. One hundred and fifty Taiwanese college students and another 150 American college students were recruited for the prior study. Participants were given a demographic questionnaire, Toronto Alexithymia Scale, Male Role Norms Inventory, and Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help-Revised to examine their endorsement of alexithymia, masculine ideology, and attitudes toward help-seeking. Mediation analyses were used to examine the mediation effect of alexithymia and masculine ideology on the relationship between culture and help-seeking. Hierarchical regression was used during the mediation analysis in order to explore whether culture has more shared variance on help-seeking than alexithymia and masculine ideology. No mediation effect of alexithymia or masculine ideology on the relationship between culture and help-seeking was found. However, primary results demonstrated that Taiwanese participants reported more positive attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help, which contradicts findings in the literature. Furthermore, culture was found to be a significant predictor of help-seeking but not of alexithymia or masculine ideology. Limitations of the current study and implications for future study are discussed.