A "Self-Milieux" perspective on help-seeking: examining the impact of a person's sociocultural background on help-seeking in people with untreated depressive symptoms.

Thomas McLaren, Lina-Jolien Peter, Samuel Tomczyk, Holger Muehlan, Georg Schomerus, Silke Schmidt

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Article in Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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5 · Who and what money

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6 authors.

Thomas McLarenDepartment of Health and Prevention, Institute of Psychology, University of Greifswald, Robert-Blum Str. 13, 17489, Greifswald, Germany. thomas.mclaren@uni-greifswald.de.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8899-5476

Lina-Jolien PeterDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical Faculty, University Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0635-6687

Samuel TomczykDepartment of Health and Prevention, Institute of Psychology, University of Greifswald, Robert-Blum Str. 13, 17489, Greifswald, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2846-5489

Holger MuehlanDepartment of Health and Prevention, Institute of Psychology, University of Greifswald, Robert-Blum Str. 13, 17489, Greifswald, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8048-5682

Georg SchomerusDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical Faculty, University Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6752-463X

Silke SchmidtDepartment of Health and Prevention, Institute of Psychology, University of Greifswald, Robert-Blum Str. 13, 17489, Greifswald, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4194-1937

Funding

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft SCHM 2683/4-2Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft SCHO 1337/4-2

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundMental illness is a global concern and the leading cause of years lived with disability. Research on help-seeking behaviour has focused on individual factors, but there is still much unexplained variance. Suggesting complex interactions between determinants of human behaviour a new framework called Self-Milieux is proposed to represent a person's sociocultural background. The article introduces a statistical approach to determine Self-Milieux and exemplarily examines its predictive validity for health-related research.

methodsSelf-Milieux are determined through a two-stage clustering method based on the determinants socioeconomic status and self-construal profile. Descriptive analyses are used to compare Self-Milieux characteristics. Hierarchical binary logistic regression models test the association between Self-Milieux and help-seeking behaviour, while controlling for socioeconomic status as an established predictor.

resultsThe sample size was N = 1535 (M DISCUSSION: The study's strengths and limitations, as well as the cluster methodology, are discussed. The comparative results for the six Self-Milieux are interpreted based on current research. For example, participants from some milieux follow a help-seeking process proposed in previous research, while participants from other milieux seem to show a different process, one that ends in informal help-seeking.

Indexed as

DepressionHelp-Seeking BehaviorPatient Acceptance of Health CareSelf ConceptAdultFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedSocial ClassSocioeconomic FactorsCluster analysisHelp-seeking behaviourSelf-construal theorySelf-MilieuxSociocultural backgroundSocioeconomic status

Identifiers

PMID39097559

DOI10.1007/s00127-024-02720-3

PMCPMC11870981

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