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Identifying the Initial Mental Health Messages of Army ROTC Students and Exploring Their Connection to Mental Health Stigma and Help-Seeking Behaviors

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Identifying the Initial Mental Health Messages of Army ROTC Students and Exploring Their Connection to Mental Health Stigma and Help-Seeking Behaviors University of Central Florida STARS Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 2014 Identifying the Initial Mental Health Messages of Army ROTC Students and Exploring Their Connection to Mental Health Stigma and Help-Seeking Behaviors Kristopher Hall University of Central Florida Part of the Counselor Education Commons, and the Education Commons Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Doctoral Dissertation (Open Access) is brought to you for free and open access by STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STARS Citation Hall, Kristopher, "Identifying the Initial Mental Health Messages of Army ROTC Students and Exploring Their Connection to Mental Health Stigma and Help-Seeking Behaviors" (2014). Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019. 4552. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd/4552 IDENTIFYING THE INITIAL MENTAL HEALTH MESSAGES OF ARMY ROTC STUDENTS AND EXPLORING THEIR CONNECTION TO MENTAL HEALTH STIGMA AND HELP-SEEKING BEHAVIORS by KRISTOPHER GREGORY HALL B.A. St. Augustine’s College, 2005 M.A. Seton Hall University, 2008 Ed.S. Seton Hall University, 2009 A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Education and Human Performance at the University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Summer Term 2014 Major Professor: W. Bryce Hagedorn ABSTRACT Mental health stigma among military service members has been recognized as a significant barrier to mental health treatment as researchers (Greenberg, Langston, & Gould, 2007; Greene-Shortridge, Britt, & Castro, 2007; Hoge et al., 2004; Pietrzak, Johnson, Goldstein, Malley, & Southwick, 2009) have concluded that military service members are reluctant to engage in help seeking behaviors to avoid negative labeling in the form of stereotyping. Additionally, links have been made between leadership and stigma, acknowledging that military service members are more likely to seek mental health treatment if they perceive that their leadership is supportive (Britt, Wright, & Moore, 2012; Hoge et al., 2004; Wright et al., 2009). Each of the aforementioned authors has advocated for an increased attention on those military service members with mental health issues by offering new programs and providing leadership support. The military has attempted to address both of these suggestions with the introduction of resilience training and increased screening for mental health issues. Unfortunately, despite such interventions, prevalence rates for diagnoses such as PTSD remain at high levels. A reason for this may be due to a lack of attention to the origins of the messages that future leaders receive regarding mental health. The purpose of this study was to investigate the thoughts, feelings, and beliefs of US Army ROTC students and the possible presence of mental health stigma at their level of military involvement (i.e. pre-commission). The author sought to understand how biases against mental health are formed at one of the earliest points of cultural indoctrination within the military structure. This dissertation will contain an overview of the identified mental health beliefs of US Army ROTC students at a large southern university. How these beliefs relate to mental health stigma and help seeking behaviors will also be explored. ii If my dumb ass can get a PhD, anyone can. -Anthony Warrick, PhD iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I’m guessing the best way to do this would be to go chronologically, working backwards. First, I need to thank God for bringing me to this point. There have been days, nights, weeks, and months where only consistent prayer and thanksgiving has got me through. I know that I could not have done this without some divine intervention and I owe all of my past, present, and future success to Him. Next, I would like to thank my amazing committee. Drs. Carolyn Walker-Hopp, S. Kent Butler, and Sejal Barden have made this a challenging, eye opening, and worthwhile learning experience. Thank you to my chair, Dr. W. Bryce Hagedorn for being supportive and open every step of the way. You took something that filled me with anxiety and kept me calm in rough waters. Thank you to my Dirties, my cohort, thank you for being a friend. I have learned so much from being with you during this process and I could not have done it without you. I pray for your continued success and thank you for supporting me and learning to accept me for me while helping me grow into a better person. A very special thank you also to the cohorts above and below me, your support, guidance, and friendship helped keep me afloat. To the Holmes Scholars, your support over these three years has been amazing. It is my sincere hope that the bonds I’ve formed with you are for a lifetime and that you emerge from your programs ready to take on the world. Thank you for everything. Thank you to the Hudson County Child Abuse Prevention Center for giving me my start in counseling. I went from a novice masters student taking online classes to a confident counselor thanks to your support. The foundations of my counseling experience were built iv thanks to you allowing me to work in so many areas and the experience could not be replaced by anything. To my NJ/NY crew: Erin, Krystal, Tameka, Johnique, Aliann, Damien, and Sam, you are beyond appreciated. Thank you for allowing me into your lives and continuing to keep me in your hearts beyond distance and time. There are no words to express the appreciation I have for Robert A. J. Hill, who has been a true friend and confidant from our first meeting. You have made yourself available to me in almost every way I’ve needed and I could not be more thankful to God for your presence. You have been, and I hope that you will continue to be, a positive influence in my life. Thank you to “The Serve,” especially Sheldon White and his wife Jen, you have helped make my life transitions so much easier with laughter and fellowship. Sheldon and Jen, you’ve treated me like family for the three years I’ve been here and you have no idea how much that means to me. I pray that God will continue to bless your amazing hearts. Speaking of the Nupes, I need to show appreciation to my chapter, Gamma Omicron. Thank you for accepting me as I am and giving me so much joy since Fall 2001. Contact with you was my refuge during this process and you’ve managed to inject laughter into days where I really wanted to cry. There are too many of you to name, so I won’t name anyone but thank you to my St. Aug family, each and every one of you. Your well wishes, texts, Facebook posts, and congratulatory messages during this time meant the world to me. I came to college alone and left with a family that has supported me for over a decade. I love you all. An immense thank you to the Addison family who took me in as a college freshman and helped me to develop into an adult during my time in North Carolina. You have my undying v gratitude for your generosity and love throughout the various stages of my life. You were there for my first post high-school graduation and you’re in my heart as I go into my last. Thank you to the UMBC Classic Upward Bound program for exposing me to experiences and universities outside of my immediate comfort zone. I was already on my way to something great, but your help made it that much greater. Think, edit, speak has never left me. A sincere thank you to my family and friends of family who are again too immense to name. You have watched me grow from a little boy to what I am now. Through hardships and happiness, your presence in my life has made me into who I am and I have taken you with me everywhere I’ve gone. Mary G. and Sam Hall. I love you with every part of me and I thank God that at least one of my sharecropping grandparents is alive to see their legacy come to fruition. When I think of my success, I think about it in context of where you’ve come from and I thank God for allowing him to use me if it means that you get to see things beyond what you had dreamed. Finally, I need to thank my parents Carroll Wilson-Holmes, Miki Holmes, George Hall, and Lenora Hall. Thank you for teaching me that just because you did your best doesn’t mean it was the best that you could do. Thank you for instilling a standard of excellence from day one and putting education at the forefront of my life. I would not be where I am if not for your love and support. Sometimes things don’t work out the way we plan, they work out better. To anyone I forgot; please blame it on the head and not my heart. I just wrote a damn dissertation. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................................... xiv CHAPTER I .................................................................................................................................... 1 Overview ..................................................................................................................................... 1 Service Members and Mental Health Statistics........................................................................... 2 Overall Mental Health Prevalence ........................................................................................... 3 Specific Illnesses ....................................................................................................................
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