Acculturation and attitudes toward psychotherapy among American immigrants from the former Soviet Union

The present study explored the effects of acculturation and gender on psychological help-seeking attitudes of Russian Americans. Based on data from 179 individuals of Russian descent (116 women, 63 men), results indicated that higher scores on the Russian subscale of the Language Identity Behavior Acculturation Measure did not predict negative attitudes on the Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help scale-short form (ATS-SF) as hypothesized. However, prior experience with psychotherapy was a significant independent predictor of negative attitudes towards seeking psychological services among Russian Americans. Gender differences were also found on attitudes toward psychotherapy. Specifically, Russian American women expressed more positive attitudes toward seeking psychological services than Russian American men. Both findings have implications on how Russian Americans view the counseling process and potential outreach programs that could be devised to facilitate psychological help-seeking within this specific American immigrant population from the Former Soviet Union Republics.