It is essential to explore barriers that inhibit African American college women in seeking mental health services. The purpose of this study is to examine how attitudes toward mental health services, mental health stigma, and racial centrality influence African-American college women’s intentions to seek professional counseling on campus. African-American college women (N=87) enrolled at a historically Black college or university (HBCU) completed an online survey regarding their attitudes towards seeking mental health services, personal and public stigma about mental health issues, racial centrality, and their intention to seek professional counseling on campus. The results showed that attitudes towards mental health services, personal stigma, and public stigma influence African-American college women’s intentions to seek professional counseling on campus. Attitudes towards seeking mental health services had the most influence on intention to seek out counseling on campus, however racial centrality was not significantly related to intention to seek professional counseling on campus. This study can provide insight to help develop intervention programs to motivate African American college women to engage in positive help-seeking behaviors such as seeking out professional counseling.
