(PS8-50) Gender Role Conflict Predicting Mental Health Treatment Seeking in Gay Men

Abstract Text: Gay men continue to suffer adverse mental health outcomes as a result of minority stress processes in their lives. However, there continues to be a lack of gay men accessing mental health care and addressing these mental health concerns. Public health messaging involving testimonials from others with similar identities and experiences stands as a potentially useful method for improving engagement and readiness to seek mental health treatment for gay men. This messaging, though, might be significantly impacted by the role of gender role conflict, which has demonstrated significant correlations between men and help-seeking, though to date, there has been little research examining gender role conflict impacts on gay men specifically. This study sought to test whether measured gender role conflict could predict variance in willingness to seek mental health treatment after viewing vignettes of a man seeking mental health services. Under a randomized experimental design, 222 participants were randomly assigned to a control (no vignette), or one of two vignette conditions of a man seeking mental health services and were subsequently assessed on their willingness to seek mental health services, as well as their level of gender role conflict. Formal measures included: the Mental Health Seeking Attitudes Scale (MHSAS) and Gender Role Conflict Scale – Short Form (GRCS-SF). A hierarchical regression analysis was conducted, where the following variables were entered: Step 1 including prior history of seeking therapy, Step 2 adding the first vignette condition, Step 3 adding the second vignette condition, Step 4 adding the GRCS-SF Restrictive Emotionality subscale, Step 5 adding the GRCS-SF Affectionate Behavior Between Men subscale, Step 6 adding the GRCS-SF Success, Power, and Competition subscale, and Step 7 adding the GRCS-SF Conflict Between Work and Leisure subscale. Results indicated a significant change in variance due to the addition of the second vignette condition, R² change = .03, F (1, 218) = 6.29, p = .01, as well as the GRCS-SF subscales related to Restrictive Emotionality, R² change = .05, F (1, 217) = 11.60, p < .001 and Affectionate Behavior Between Men, R² change = .07, F (1, 216) = 18.59, p < .001. These factors significantly accounted for much of the predicted variance between measures when added to the hierarchical regression. Implications of this data involve the potential need to consider nuanced representation of gender and sexual orientation when using public health messaging to better address the treatment gap for gay men’s mental health needs and get more gay men into cognitive mental health treatment.