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Key Words: men's help seeking, health care, strategies to increase men's help-seeking behavior
A greeting card pictures Moses walking in the desert, looking lost. The caption reads: "Why did Moses spend 40 years wandering in the desert? Because he wouldn't ask for directions." Popular images of men who refuse to ask for help for problems abound in U.S. culture. Sadly, research findings validate the popular idea that men do not seek help often enough. In this article, we review the evidence supporting the conventional wisdom that men infrequently seek help. We use case examples to illustrate three bodies of theory and research that are particularly relevant to understanding the problem and suggest strategies to increase men's help seeking.
THE CURRENT STATUS OF MEN'S HELP SEEKING
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (1998), men make fewer contacts with physicians across the lifespan than do women and are twice as likely as women to have gone two years or more since their last contact with a physician (DHHS, 1998). Men suffer higher mortality rates than women (DHHS, 1997; Stillion, 1995; Waldron, 1995) but seek help less often than women for a variety of problems in living including depression, cocaine use, alcohol use, and medical problems (McKay, Rutherford, Cacciola, & Kabaskalian, 1996; Padesky & Hammen, 1981; Thom, 1986; Weissman, & Klerman, 1977; Wills & DePaulo, 1991). In addition, men have suicide rates four to 12 times as high as women, suffer higher levels of substance abuse, and are more likely to suffer chronic conditions and fatal diseases than are women (DHHS, 1997; Kessler, Brown, & Boman, 1981; Robins & Regier, 1991).
Although these findings appear to be robust across age, nationality, and racial/ethnic background (DHHS, 1998; Husaini, Moore, & Cain, 1994; Neighbors & Howard, 1987), it is important to note that underprivileged men are at especially high risk. For example, according to the Department of Health and Human Services (1997), Black men are more likely than White men to die from HIV and diabetes, and they typically receive poorer health care than do White men (Staples, 1995). Similarly, men who do not have citizenship and/or do not speak English are especially disadvantaged regarding health care. Immigrant men may choose not to seek help for...