Abstract
There was no national certification for psychologists in Japan until recently. However, nearly 30,000 licensed psychologists have registered since the Licensed Psychologists Law was promulgated in 2015. Nevertheless, it remains challenging to consult a psychologist, possibly because psychologists lack recognition as consultants, despite societies' recognition of the need for their services. We compared the intention to seek help from psychologists, family members, or friends for problems related to family relationships, interpersonal relationships, personality, mental and physical health, or future careers. A questionnaire survey was conducted with university students (N = 228). The results of a three-factor analysis of variance with gender, subject of consultation, and the type of problem as independent variables indicated that the main effects of the subject of consultation and type of problem were significant, suggesting that the intention to seek help from a psychologist was significantly less than from family members, or friends. Moreover, the interaction between the subject of consultation and the type of problem was significant. A simple main effects test indicated a significant main effect of the subject of consultation for problems related to interpersonal relationships, personality, and future careers. The intention to seek help from a psychologist was the lowest for each of these problems. Furthermore, the interaction between gender and subject of the consultation was significant; however, both men and women had the least intention to seek help from a psychologist. These results indicate that Japanese university students have a relatively low intention to consult a psychologist.
Author Information
Yoshikazu Fukui, Konan University, Japan
Takashi Hori, Graduate School of Humanities of Konan University, Japan
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