The current research examined whether making static and trending norms salient through persuasive messaging could increase help-seeking inclinations (i.e., attitudes, expectations, and intentions) among people with depression. Study 1 indicated that people with depressive symptomatology significantly underestimated the number of people who seek help for depression. Although approximately 66% of U.S. adults with depression met with professionals for help in 2020, on average, participants believed this rate was 35%. Most associations between norm perceptions and help-seeking inclinations were nonsignificant (e.g., perceived static norms were not significantly associated with help-seeking attitudes or outcome expectations; trending norm perceptions did not significantly relate to help-seeking outcome expectations, attitudes, or intentions, nor did depressive symptomatology) or weak (e.g., there was a significant association between a perceived past static norm and help-seeking intentions, r = .12). In Study 2, participants with heightened depressive symptomatology were exposed to one of three messages: a static norm message, a trending norm message, or a comparison message containing no information about norms. Even though the static and trending norms message resulted in significantly greater perceptions of help-seeking prevalence, they did not directly affect help-seeking attitudes, outcome expectations, or intentions. However, relative to the comparison message, the static and trending norm messages had small indirect effects on help-seeking intentions through increased norm perceptions. Results underscore the challenge of persuading people with depression to seek help and indicate that a campaign focusing primarily on reporting descriptive norms of help-seeking may not be the most effective way to increase help-seeking among people with depression.
","abstract_html":"<p>The current research examined whether making static and trending norms salient through persuasive messaging could increase help-seeking inclinations (i.e., attitudes, expectations, and intentions) among people with depression. Study 1 indicated that people with depressive symptomatology significantly underestimated the number of people who seek help for depression. Although approximately 66% of U.S. adults with depression met with professionals for help in 2020, on average, participants believed this rate was 35%. Most associations between norm perceptions and help-seeking inclinations were nonsignificant (e.g., perceived static norms were not significantly associated with help-seeking attitudes or outcome expectations; trending norm perceptions did not significantly relate to help-seeking outcome expectations, attitudes, or intentions, nor did depressive symptomatology) or weak (e.g., there was a significant association between a perceived past static norm and help-seeking intentions, r = .12). In Study 2, participants with heightened depressive symptomatology were exposed to one of three messages: a static norm message, a trending norm message, or a comparison message containing no information about norms. Even though the static and trending norms message resulted in significantly greater perceptions of help-seeking prevalence, they did not directly affect help-seeking attitudes, outcome expectations, or intentions. However, relative to the comparison message, the static and trending norm messages had small indirect effects on help-seeking intentions through increased norm perceptions. Results underscore the challenge of persuading people with depression to seek help and indicate that a campaign focusing primarily on reporting descriptive norms of help-seeking may not be the most effective way to increase help-seeking among people with depression.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Falco, Christopher"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Psychology, MA","degree_level":"Open Access Master's Thesis","degree_discipline":"School of Social Science, Politics, and Evaluation","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["P. Wesley Schultz"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2024,"date_issued":"2024-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2024-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:40:49Z","subjects":["depression","help-seeking","social norms","social norms approach","Psychology"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/860","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["P. Wesley Schultz"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Falco, Christopher"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2025-11-14T08:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["School of Social Science, Politics, and Evaluation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Open Access Master's Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Psychology, MA"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["depression","help-seeking","social norms","social norms approach","Psychology"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/860"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The current research examined whether making static and trending norms salient through persuasive messaging could increase help-seeking inclinations (i.e., attitudes, expectations, and intentions) among people with depression. Study 1 indicated that people with depressive symptomatology significantly underestimated the number of people who seek help for depression. Although approximately 66% of U.S. adults with depression met with professionals for help in 2020, on average, participants believed this rate was 35%. Most associations between norm perceptions and help-seeking inclinations were nonsignificant (e.g., perceived static norms were not significantly associated with help-seeking attitudes or outcome expectations; trending norm perceptions did not significantly relate to help-seeking outcome expectations, attitudes, or intentions, nor did depressive symptomatology) or weak (e.g., there was a significant association between a perceived past static norm and help-seeking intentions, r = .12). In Study 2, participants with heightened depressive symptomatology were exposed to one of three messages: a static norm message, a trending norm message, or a comparison message containing no information about norms. Even though the static and trending norms message resulted in significantly greater perceptions of help-seeking prevalence, they did not directly affect help-seeking attitudes, outcome expectations, or intentions. However, relative to the comparison message, the static and trending norm messages had small indirect effects on help-seeking intentions through increased norm perceptions. Results underscore the challenge of persuading people with depression to seek help and indicate that a campaign focusing primarily on reporting descriptive norms of help-seeking may not be the most effective way to increase help-seeking among people with depression.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Increasing Help-Seeking Among People with Depression: An Empirical Assessment of a Static and Trending Norms Approach"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["P. Wesley Schultz"],"dc:creator":["Falco, Christopher"],"dc:date.available":["2025-11-14T08:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["The current research examined whether making static and trending norms salient through persuasive messaging could increase help-seeking inclinations (i.e., attitudes, expectations, and intentions) among people with depression. Study 1 indicated that people with depressive symptomatology significantly underestimated the number of people who seek help for depression. Although approximately 66% of U.S. adults with depression met with professionals for help in 2020, on average, participants believed this rate was 35%. Most associations between norm perceptions and help-seeking inclinations were nonsignificant (e.g., perceived static norms were not significantly associated with help-seeking attitudes or outcome expectations; trending norm perceptions did not significantly relate to help-seeking outcome expectations, attitudes, or intentions, nor did depressive symptomatology) or weak (e.g., there was a significant association between a perceived past static norm and help-seeking intentions, r = .12). In Study 2, participants with heightened depressive symptomatology were exposed to one of three messages: a static norm message, a trending norm message, or a comparison message containing no information about norms. Even though the static and trending norms message resulted in significantly greater perceptions of help-seeking prevalence, they did not directly affect help-seeking attitudes, outcome expectations, or intentions. However, relative to the comparison message, the static and trending norm messages had small indirect effects on help-seeking intentions through increased norm perceptions. Results underscore the challenge of persuading people with depression to seek help and indicate that a campaign focusing primarily on reporting descriptive norms of help-seeking may not be the most effective way to increase help-seeking among people with depression.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/860"],"dc:subject":["depression","help-seeking","social norms","social norms approach","Psychology"],"dc:title":["Increasing Help-Seeking Among People with Depression: An Empirical Assessment of a Static and Trending Norms Approach"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["School of Social Science, Politics, and Evaluation"],"thesis:degree_level":["Open Access Master's Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Psychology, MA"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:40:49Z"}