Alexis Holguin
McNair Scholar 2025
- Major(s): Psychology
- Classification: Senior
- Anticipated Graduation Date: Spring 2026
- Career Aspirations: I plan to jump straight into the field by working as a case manager. After a few years of experience, I plan to continue my studies in a graduate program centered on counseling psychology or social work.
“The most valuable part of McNair experience was learning what is expected from a graduate student. Not only did McNair prepare me in my search for a graduate program, but it also exposed me to what is expected when conducting research. The research portion was my favorite part of the program; while it was a lot of work, the experience I gained from it is unforgettable."
“Barriers to treatment and ethnic identity effects in college students’ attitudes towards seeking mental health help”
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Kenneth Denton
The current state of mental health for college students is worsening, yet treatment utilization has not increased enough to compensate for the current situation (Lipson et al., 2022). Ethnic identity has been associated with general mental health, and several barriers are known to decrease mental health seeking behavior. This study’s primary focus was to investigate if ethnic identity and barriers to seeking psychological help influence attitudes towards seeking mental health help. A sample of 259 college students were recruited to complete a survey composed of three scales: Barriers to Seeking Psychological Help Scale (BSPHS), Attitudes Towards Seeking Professional Psychological Help- Shortened Form (ATSPPH-SF), and the Ethnic Identity Scale- Brief Form (EIS-BF). After the data was collected, regression analysis demonstrated that ethnic identity did not serve as a predictor of attitudes. However, barriers to seeking psychological help were found to be a significant predictor of attitudes to seeking mental health help. In addition, higher credit hour enrollment is associated with lower ethnic identity endorsement, employment hour status is associated with positive attitudes towards mental health help, and past history of mental health treatment is associated with both positive attitudes towards mental health help and higher ethnic identity endorsement. The results suggest that more present barriers to seeking help can serve as predictors to less favorable attitudes towards mental health services.