Mental Health Utilization Among College Aged Men and Women: A Dual-Site Comparison

1
Mental Health Utilization Among College Aged Men
and Women A Dual-Site Comparison

• Sean Stickney
• Soc. 574
• 4/28/05

2
Overview

• Introduction
• Gender is a critical determinant of health
  behavior including mental health.
• Exploration of gender differences in use of
  mental health-related services (MHS) has
  blossomed in recent years.
• (SAMHSA) 1987 women 60 more likely to use
  mental health services than men.
• (SAMHSA) 2000 66 of mental health users were
  women.
• Men had higher average spending levels when using
  mental health care services (gt 80).

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Background

• Why gender disparities exist in seeking mental
  health care?
• Women have higher prevalence rates of psychiatric
  /psychological disorders than do men.
• Emotional problems are more distressing to women.
• Women differ in their propensity to use services.
• Arguments dont explain how men and women differ
• Need acted upon differently by men/women
• Receptivity contextual appropriateness

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Background (cont.)

• Receptivity
• Mental health care in still stigmatized in the
  U.S.
• Men are socially conditioned to minimize mental
  health needs. (i.e. unmanly)
• What about socio-cultural or regional
  differences?
• Mental health use tied to social and political
  climates, financial resources, accessibility
• California versus Indiana (divergent mental
  health ideologies of receptivity)

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Present research

• Aim
• To explore gender differences in the mental
  health utilization practices of college-aged men
  and women within different academic settings.
• Study objectives
• Describe the statistical trends regarding mental
  health use for both UCLA and Purdue.
• Compare/contrast utilization rates among both
  schools.
• Compare/contrast utilization rates among and
  across genders within each university.

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Research

• Hypotheses
• 1. College-aged individuals from UCLA would
  utilize MHS in greater amounts than people from
  Purdue.
• 2. Women would utilize proportionately greater
  amounts of MHS when compared to men.

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Methods

• Descriptive analysis (proportions/percentages)
• Mental health utilization statistics within most
  recent academic year stratified by types of
  services used gender.
• Coding rubric
• Collapsed all treatment categories into
• A. Depression/anxiety conditions
• B. Body image / disordered eating
• C. Psychiatric services
• D. Family / child support services
• E. Other group counseling, referrals, mental
  health education / promotion
• efforts.

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Results

• Utilization trends
• UCLA 460/ 38598 (1.2) used MHS
• 297 women (64)
• 163 men (35)
• When substance use/abuse factored out 71
  women, 29 men used more traditional MHS.
• Purdue 335 / 38847 (.86) used MHS
• 186 women (55)
• 149 men (44)

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Results
64
55
44
35
10
Results

• 29 of male MHS users at UCLA sought more
  traditional types of counseling.
• 24.4 of male MHS users at Purdue sought care for
  more traditional mental health services.

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Results

• Women
• Women at UCLA used proportionately more MH care
  services than did women from Purdue.

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Results

• Comparisons of MHS use use among genders
• Across most categories women used more MHS than
  men.

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Conclusions / Limitations

• MH use UCLA gt Purdue men from Purdue utilized
  proportionately higher amounts of MHC for
  substance use/abuse than both UCLA men and women
  generally.
• Women used more MH care than men
• Regional differences existed
• Could have explored individual psycho-social
  perceptions of mental health service utilization
  among/within genders.