College men's depression-related help-seeking: a gender analysis.
BACKGROUND
Men's health help-seeking behaviours vary considerably depending on the context. The current empirical literature on the influence of masculinity on college men's attitudes towards mental health-related help-seeking is largely limited to investigations involving psychology students.


OBJECTIVE
To describe the connections between masculinities and college men's depression-related help-seeking.


METHODS
Qualitative interviews with 21 college men who were diagnosed or self-identified as depressed. Constant comparison was used to inductively derive gendered understandings about participants' depression-related help-seeking.


RESULTS
Three themes were identified: (1) denying weakness; (2) limiting self-disclosure and mustering autonomy; and (3) redefining strength.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings demonstrate connections between masculinities and help-seeking that can assist health care providers to understand the practices of college men who experience depression.
School of Nursing, University of British Columbia , Vancouver, British Columbia , Canada and.
May O T
MO
Tang
John L
JL
Oliffe
Paul M
PM
Galdas
Alison
A
Phinney
Christina S
CS
Han
D000328:Adult; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D057228:Masculinity; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D012737:Sex Factors; D055815:Young Adult
Depression; college-men; gender analysis; masculinities