TY - JOUR
T1 - Psychological distress and help seeking in rural America
AU - Hoyt, Danny R.
AU - Conger, Rand D.
AU - Valde, Jill Gaffney
AU - Weihs, Karen
N1 - Funding Information:
There is ample evidence that the economic and social dislocations associated with the 1980s farm crisis and related events have fundamentally impacted rural areas of the midwestern United States. Rural villages and 1This article is based on research supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (MH48165). Journal paper No. needed of the Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station. ZA1I correspondence should be addressed to Danny R. Hoyt, Department of Sociology, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50010-82%.
PY - 1997
Y1 - 1997
N2 - The implications of exposure to acute and chronic stressors, and seeking mental health care, for increased psychological distress are examined. Research on economic stress, psychological distress, and rural agrarian values each point to increasing variability within rural areas. Using data from a panel study of 1,487 adults, a model predicting changes in depressive symptoms was specified and tested. Results show effects by size of place for men but not for women. Men living in rural villages of under 2,500 or in small towns of 2,500 to 9,999 people had significantly greater increases in depressive symptoms than men living in the country or in larger towns or cities. Size of place was also related to level of stigma toward mental health care. Persons living in the most rural environments were more likely to hold stigmatized attitudes toward mental health care and these views were strongly predictive of willingness to seek care. The combination of increased risk and less willingness to seek assistance places men living in small towns and villages in particular jeopardy for continuing problems involving depressed mood.
AB - The implications of exposure to acute and chronic stressors, and seeking mental health care, for increased psychological distress are examined. Research on economic stress, psychological distress, and rural agrarian values each point to increasing variability within rural areas. Using data from a panel study of 1,487 adults, a model predicting changes in depressive symptoms was specified and tested. Results show effects by size of place for men but not for women. Men living in rural villages of under 2,500 or in small towns of 2,500 to 9,999 people had significantly greater increases in depressive symptoms than men living in the country or in larger towns or cities. Size of place was also related to level of stigma toward mental health care. Persons living in the most rural environments were more likely to hold stigmatized attitudes toward mental health care and these views were strongly predictive of willingness to seek care. The combination of increased risk and less willingness to seek assistance places men living in small towns and villages in particular jeopardy for continuing problems involving depressed mood.
KW - Psychological distress
KW - Seeking mental health care
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U2 - 10.1023/A:1024655521619
DO - 10.1023/A:1024655521619
M3 - Article
C2 - 9338954
AN - SCOPUS:0031202258
SN - 0091-0562
VL - 25
SP - 449
EP - 470
JO - American Journal of Community Psychology
JF - American Journal of Community Psychology
IS - 4
ER -