Associations among economic need, self-esteem, and Israeli Arab women's attitudes toward and use of professional services.
This study examines the effects of economic need and self-esteem on the attitudes toward and use of professional (instrumental and psychotherapeutic) services by Arab women living in the mixed Arab-Jewish town of Jaffa, Israel. Findings show that self-esteem was associated with the women's help-seeking behavior but not their attitudes only when economic need was not taken into account. When economic need was included in the analyses, the effect of self-esteem disappeared altogether. These findings point to the importance of economic need in actual help seeking and cast doubt on the adequacy of the "threat to self-esteem" model to explain underutilization of professional services.
Savaya
R
R
School of Social Work, Tel Aviv University, Israel. savaya@post.tav.ac.il
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D018912:Arabs / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012649:Self Concept; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors