Depression, Help-Seeking Perceptions, and Perceived Family Functioning Among Spanish-Dominant Hispanics and Non-Hispanic Whites

Guided by Beck’s (1967) cognitive theory of depression, two studies were conducted to explore the relationship between perceived family functioning (PFF) and perceived barriers of help-seeking in order to explore a potential means to increase help-seeking for depression. Further, Study 2 evaluated whether PFF can be manipulated to aid future interventions. Study 1 included 130 Spanish-Dominant Hispanics and Study 2 included 124 Non-Hispanic Whites. Both samples were obtained using online crowd sourcing. Participants completed measures for depressive symptomatology, PFF, familial help-seeking utility, help-seeking self-efficacy, perceived behavioral capabilities of their family (whether family could and whether they would help assuming no barriers [e.g., time, money]), and perceived consequences of help-seeking (personal and family stigma). Results from both studies revealed associations between increased elevated depressive symptomatology, reduced PFF, and reduced help-seeking inclinations as well as positive associations between greater PFF and greater help-seeking inclinations. Further, both studies found PFF mediates the relationship between depressive symptomatology and the following: familial help-seeking utility, help-seeking self-efficacy, perceived behavioral capabilities (could and would help), and perceived consequences of help-seeking (personal and family). Study 2 expanded upon Study 1 by adding in a experiment: Participants completed a autobiographical memory task inquiring about a time they felt especially loved or betrayed/frustrated by their family followed by a second PFF inquiry. The results of the two-way interaction found that among non-depressed individuals, PFF were increased by the positive manipulation; however, among participants with greater depressive symptomatology, writing about a positive family experience decreased PFF. The correlations indicate that negative bias plays a role in reducing help-seeking inclinations as well as PFF. The mediations offer preliminary support that increasing PFF can potentially increase help-seeking behaviors of Hispanic and Non-Hispanic White individuals with depression. The results of the interaction analysis, especially the unexpected boomerang effect for individuals with elevated depression symptomatology in the loved condition, illustrate the many challenges of persuading people with depression due to negative bias. It will be vital for future studies to explore the mechanism(s) responsible for the boomerang effect found as well as to extensively pilot test any interventions prior to being put into place.