Understanding Chinese College Students’ Professional Help-Seeking Intention: A Moderated Integrated Behavioral Model

Increasing professional mental health help-seeking among college students in China is vital amid rising post COVID-19 pandemic stressors. Guided by the integrated behavioral model of mental health help-seeking (IBM-HS), this study examined the relationship between five mechanisms—attitude, perceived norm (injunctive and descriptive), personal agency (autonomy and capacity)—and help-seeking intention among 2,203 Chinese students, as well as whether psychological distress moderates these effects. Structural equation modeling revealed that intention was not significantly associated with attitude but was linked to perceived norm: injunctive (β = .725, p < .001) and personal agency: capacity (β = .411, p < .001). Distress amplified the effect of capacity on intention (β = .264, p < .001) while weakening the effects of injunctive (β = −.145, p < .001) and descriptive norms (β = −.075, p = .016). Findings support that IBM-HS constructs predict intention and vary in salience with distress, informing distress-tailored interventions. 摘要 在新冠疫情后压力源增加的背景下,促进中国大学生寻求专业心理健康服务具有重要意义。本研究以心理健康求助整合行为模型 (IBM-HS) 为指导,考察了五种机制——态度、感知规范 (指令性规范和描述性) 以及个人能动性 (自主感和能力感)——与求助意向之间的关系,并检验心理困扰是否调节这些关系。研究对象为2,203名中国大学生。结构方程模型结果显示,意向与态度之间的关联不显著,但与指令规范 (β = .725, p < .001)和能力感 (β = .411, p < .001)显著相关。心理困扰增强了能力感对意向的影响 (β = .264, p < .001),同时削弱了指令性规范 (β = −.145, p < .001)和描述性规范 (β = −.075, p = .016)对意向的影响。研究结果表明,IBM-HS构念能够预测专业心理健康求助意向,并且这些构念的重要性会随心理困扰水平而变化。这些发现可为根据心理困扰程度量身定制的干预提供参考。