Dan Lannin

Illinois State University | ISU · Department of Psychology

An important first step in seeking counseling may involve obtaining information about mental health concerns and treatment options. Researchers have suggested that some people may avoid such information because it is too threatening due to self-stigma and negative attitudes, but the link to actual help-seeking decisions has not been tested. Therefo...

The extent to which individuals prioritize different personal values may be conceptually linked to the perceptions of societal stigma associated with seeking psychological help (public stigma), as well as the extent to which they apply that stigma to themselves (self-stigma). We examined how personal values predicted public stigma and self-stigma o...

Objective: This study utilized best-worst scaling and latent class analysis to assess mental health treatment preferences and identify subgroups of college student help seekers. Method: College students (N = 504; age: M = 20.3, 79.2% female) completed assessments of mental health treatment preferences, self-stigma, and distress. Results: Stude...

An expansive body of research has investigated the adverse consequences of self-stigma of seeking psychological help on help-seeking tendencies. Therefore, this chapter provides a meta-analysis of the extant literature regarding the empirical relationship between self-stigma and help-seeking attitudes and intentions. An exhaustive review of the res...

he current study investigated adolescents’ (N = 213) decision finding processes and affective reactions to interactions on social media via 29 focus groups. as part of a larger study, ado-lescents participated in focus groups at two time-points across an academic year while participating in a school-based inter-vention promoting healthy romantic, i...

Objective The goal was to determine if time spent in specific Healthy Marriage Initiative program components (relationship education courses, supplemental activities, and family support services) was associated with future relationship satisfaction and to examine if effects differed depending on the degree of economic disadvantage. Background Heal...

Grandiosity and vulnerability are distinct dimensions of narcissism that may exhibit differences regarding compliance with COVID‐19 regulations and policies. Although both dimensions reflect entitlement and self‐importance, motivational tendencies diverge. Narcissistic grandiosity reflects bold expressions consistent with approach motivation, where...

Objectives: To mitigate mental health concerns of farmers, research is needed to investigate strategies that encourage help-seeking behavior in this population. This study attempts to identify those help-seeking strategies. Six mental health service options were examined. Methods: A survey, implementing a best-worst scaling choice experiment, wa...

Singular risk factors elicit negative relational outcomes for couples, yet the accumulation of risk factors can be especially detrimental to relationship functioning. Few studies, however, have explored the long-term effects of cumulative risk exposure on intimate relationships as well as examined whether relationship education (RE) protects couple...

The self-stigma (i.e., shame) associated with psychotherapy is a prominent barrier to seeking psychological help, but less is known about its effects after treatment begins. Evidence suggests that self-stigma may interfere with the formation of the therapeutic alliance, but no studies have examined this throughout the course of psychotherapy. Self-...

How well can social scientists predict societal change, and what processes underlie their predictions? To answer these questions, we ran two forecasting tournaments testing the accuracy of predictions of societal change in domains commonly studied in the social sciences: ideological preferences, political polarization, life satisfaction, sentiment...

How well can social scientists predict societal change, and what processes underlie their predictions? To answer these questions, we ran two forecasting tournaments testing the accuracy of predictions of societal change in domains commonly studied in the social sciences: ideological preferences, political polarization, life satisfaction, sentiment...

Lower income couples tend to report more difficulty sustaining high‐quality intimate relationships. As a result, policy initiatives have been enacted to fund relationship education (RE) programs that aim to increase lower income couples' relationship satisfaction. Generally, these programs demonstrate small, albeit statistically significant improve...

How well can social scientists predict societal change, and what processes underlie their predictions? To answer these questions, we ran two forecasting tournaments testing accuracy of predictions of societal change in domains commonly studied in the social sciences: ideological preferences, political polarization, life satisfaction, sentiment on s...

The extent to which individuals prioritize different personal values may be conceptually linked to endorsement of racial colorblindness beliefs as well as orientation toward social justice. The present study examined how personal values predicted racial colorblindness and social justice action orientation in a sample of undergraduates (N = 325; Age...

Whereas adolescents' intrinsic aspirations are indicative of attending to internal need-satisfaction and may motivate mutually beneficial compromise and conflict-resolution, extrinsic aspirations focus on attaining more concrete external rewards and may exacerbate relational conflict. The present study examined an indirect association between aspir...

Whistleblowers are individuals who witness a moral infraction committed within their organization and report this infraction publicly to hold the group accountable. Whistleblowers often face ridicule, vilification, and exclusion both within their group and sometimes within broader society. Thus, whistleblowers put themselves at personal risk to adh...

The current study examined associations of intersectional social identities on Black women’s (N = 126) career self-efficacy and interests at a Historically Black College and University (HBCU). Structural models examined associations of different aspects of gender and racial identity on Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) predictors (i.e., learnin...

Objective To estimate the overall effect between positive and negative communication behaviors and later relationship quality and dissolution. Background Behavioral models of relationship development argue that the quality of couples' communication is key to understanding later relational outcomes. However, longitudinal studies have yielded incons...

Intergenerational poverty and scarce financial resources can create and sustain detrimental behaviors and outcomes among adolescents. Efforts to increase financial literacy and job-related skills, however, can offer youth from low-income households knowledge, skills, and opportunities otherwise unavailable to them. Targeted interventions that combi...

Social media rumination – the tendency to repetitively think about one’s social media posts, related situational factors, and consequences of those posts – may be a salient reason explaining why social media use is linked to greater distress among adolescents. In the USA, 171 adolescents from low socioeconomic households completed surveys, and 199...

Although therapy, relationship education, and online relationship resources may help alleviate relational distress, many adolescents and adults eschew help. Deciding to seek help for relationship concerns involves mental processes that reflect behavioral intentions and information-seeking behaviors. The present paper examines the prevalence of adol...

Expressive writing is an effective way to facilitate the emotional recovery from a stressor, but little is known about how adopting a first-person versus third-person perspective while writing affects the disclosure and experience of emotion. The purpose of this study was to empirically examine whether using first-person versus third-person pronoun...

The present research utilized a cross-lagged model over a four-month period to explore relationships between self-affirmation and self-esteem in a sample of adolescents from low-income households. We hypothesized a directional relationship wherein greater self-affirmation at Wave 1 would be associated with increased self-esteem four months later at...

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of a youth relationship education program (YREP) on psychological functioning and to understand the mechanisms associated with change in distress. Background: Successfully (or unsuccessfully) navigating romantic relationships is a robust predictor of adolescent mental health. Youth relationship education pro...

Emerging trends online and in social network sites have created an environment where transparency is increasingly unavoidable for psychologists, and online issues are increasingly salient issues for adult and child clients. Psychologists may increasingly have to apply ethical principles to the increasingly interconnected and transparent online worl...

Previous research suggests that ruminating on social media content is associated with greater mental distress (Yang et al., 2018). This study examined whether materialistic value orientation (MVO)—prioritizing values and goals related to consumerism, consumption, and social status—predicted social media rumination in a sample of diverse adolescents...

In this study, we examined students’ perceptions of peer aggression occurring within their school environment and how these perceptions are interconnected with both social media rumination and distress. Social media usage is associated with a range of negative mental health and interpersonal outcomes for adolescents. Social media use can increase y...

Many adolescents avoid seeking psychological help despite the increasing prevalence of mental disorders. The current study investigated whether distress and stigma exhibit differential relationships to decisions to seek online mental health information among a sample of predominantly racial/ethnic minority U.S. adolescents. In this investigation, 1...

Empathy toward one’s offender has been identified as an important variable in the forgiveness process, but elements of the empathy—forgiveness connection have yet to be explored. The current study experimentally examined both direct and indirect methods of promoting general empathy (i.e., empathy not connected specifically to the offense) toward a...

Relationship education (RE) has been linked to several short- and longterm benefits; however, less is known about its effects on adolescents' overarching life-goals. This study utilized a multi-method approach to examine whether RE was linked to increases in the relative importance of intrinsic, as opposed to extrinsic, life-goals. Results demonstr...

The present research utilized a cross-lagged model over a 4-month period to explore relationships between adolescents’ life goals and anticipated help-seeking stigma in a sample of adolescents coming from low socioeconomic households. We hypothesized a directional relationship wherein prioritizing intrinsic life goals such as personal growth and re...

This research tested whether the perception of threat during a police interrogation mobilizes suspects to cope with interrogation demands and bolsters their resistance to self-incrimination pressures. Experimental procedures led university undergraduates (N = 296) to engage in misconduct or not, thereby making them guilty or innocent. An experiment...

Grandiose and vulnerable aspects of narcissism have been examined as a function of the five-factor model (FFM), but given narcissism's strong theoretical link to self-centered, self-enhancing motivation, personal values may be relevant predictors of both grandiose and vulnerable narcissism. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to examine...

The help-seeking literature identifies a model wherein public stigma of seeking help is internalized as self-stigma of seeking help, which, in turn, decreases help-seeking outcomes. The current study considered whether experiential avoidance, or a tendency to avoid painful thoughts or emotions, moderates how strongly these stigmata relate to help-s...

Theory: Despite high rates of psychiatric illnesses, medical students and medical professionals often avoid psychological help. Stigma may prevent medical students from seeking psychological help when experiencing distress, which may hinder their job performance and mental health. Compassionate values-preferred principles that guide attitudes and...

Testing self-affirmation writing against well-established alternatives is an important step in validating self-affirmation writing as an empirically informed clinical exercise. Therefore, this multi-wave study examined the effects of two theoretically distinct writing exercises: self-affirmation and emotionally expressive writing. It was hypothesiz...

The current study (N = 404) used a moderated moderation model to examine how gender, religious commitment, and self-stigma toward seeking psychological help may interact in the prediction of help-seeking attitudes. Bivariate zero-order correlations indicated that help-seeking attitudes was negatively associated with self-stigma of seeking help (r =...

This research was an examination of the effects of two types of self-affirmation interventions in reducing threat responses associated with receiving help-seeking information. Help-seeking information can be threatening to one’s positive self-perceptions and people may avoid seeking such information to protect themselves. There is evidence that ref...

Student veterans experiencing mental health concerns could benefit from seeking counseling (Rudd, Goulding, & Bryan, 2011), though they often avoid these services. Self-affirmation interventions have been developed to increase openness to health-related behaviors (Sherman & Cohen, 2006), and may also help promote psychological help-seeking intentio...

As an individual takes concrete steps toward psychotherapy (e.g., attending an intake) and the salience of becoming a help seeker increases, he or she may experience heightened levels of self-stigma and view self-disclosing personal information to a counselor as a risk. There is evidence that eliciting self-affirmation, a psychological process that...

Contemplating seeking therapy may evoke threats to self-integrity that lead to avoidance of treatment, but eliciting self-affirmation, a psychological process that temporarily bolsters self-integrity, may forestall those threats. The present study utilized a randomized experimental design to test the effectiveness of contemplating seeking therapy a...

The current research tested a theoretical model of self-relating that examined the unique relationships of self-compassion and self-coldness with distress and well-being. Self-coldness has recently been identified as theoretically distinct from self-compassion, rather than part of a unitary self-compassion construct. As such, the incremental value...

Help-seeking stigma is considered a major barrier that keeps people from seeking out psychological help. Self-compassion, or the act of treating oneself with kindness and non-judgment, is a possible protective factor that could be associated with diminished stigma. However, this possibility has yet to be studied. The present research (N = 369) exam...

This study tested whether high counseling self-efficacy was associated with less physiologic stress for student helpers facing difficult helping situations. A total of 225 students completed a counseling self-efficacy measure before providing supportive help. During this time, participants’ blood pressure and heart rate were evaluated. Between the...

Stigma is an important barrier to seeking psychological services worldwide. Two types of stigma exist: public stigma and self-stigma. Scholars have argued that public stigma leads to self-stigma, and then self-stigma is the primary predictor of attitudes toward seeking psychological services. However, this assertion is largely limited to U.S. sampl...

Although positive religious coping is generally viewed as an adaptive, functional coping pattern, some studies have actually found positive religious coping to be associated with more distress in military populations. In the current study, we examined the role of positive religious coping on distress across 2 time points. Participants in this study...

This study integrated Holland’s themes within a modified social cognitive career theory (SCCT) model, exploring whether gender-related personality variables account for the relations between gender and vocational interests. Undergraduates (N = 452) completed expressiveness, instrumentality, and realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprisi...

This research developed and tested an online values-affirmation exercise to attenuate threat and enhance positive beliefs about counseling among individuals struggling with mental health concerns. There is evidence that reflecting on personal values (values-affirmation) is an effective approach to eliciting self-affirmation—a psychological process...

Less than 1/3 of college men seek psychological help per year when experiencing mental health concerns. Many believe this is because socialized masculine norms are incongruent with help-seeking decisions. In line with this, adherence to masculine norms, like emotional control and self-reliance, is consistently linked to factors associated with lowe...

We conducted two experiments to test whether police interrogation elicits a biphasic process of resistance from suspects. According to this process, the initial threat of police interrogation mobilizes suspects to resist interrogative influence in a manner akin to a fight or flight response, but suspects’ protracted self-regulation of their behavio...

The purpose of this study was to explore the mechanism by which counselor trainees' mindfulness and psychological flexibility are positively associated with counseling self-efficacy. First, it was hypothesized that having fewer experiences of hindering self-focused attention (i.e., counselor trainees' awareness of their own anxiety and distracting...

Objective: This study tested the relationship between popularity and early adolescent alcohol use and examined whether popularity moderated the influence of several risk processes. Method: Longitudinal data provided by 1,196 youth (590 girls) were analyzed to assess main and interactive effects of popularity, friends' alcohol use attitudes, own...

This investigation introduced the Internalized Stigma Model to test the mechanisms by which the stigma of mental illness and of seeking psychological help affect self-esteem and intentions to seek counseling. We hypothesized that both stigmas would predict decreased self-esteem, but only stigma of seeking psychological help would predict decreased...

Maladaptive communication may often undermine the long-term stability of romantic relationships. We hypothesized that defensive denial may be a salient type of maladaptive communication that erodes relationship stability over time because it may lead to more caustic conflict-escalating behaviors. Additionally, we hypothesized that defensive denial...

a b s t r a c t Grandiosity and vulnerability are distinct dimensions of narcissism, but little research has examined their differences regarding prosocial behavior. This investigation is the first to test the hypotheses that gran-diose narcissism predicts withholding help under high social pressure, whereas vulnerable narcissism predicts withholdi...

Psychotherapy may be underutilized because people experience self-stigma-the internalization of public stigma associated with seeking psychotherapy. The purpose of this study was to experimentally test whether the self-stigma associated with seeking psychotherapy could be reduced by a self-affirmation intervention wherein participants reflected on...

Innocent suspects may not adequately protect themselves during interrogation because they fail to fully appreciate the danger of the situation. This experiment tested whether innocent suspects experience less stress during interrogation than guilty suspects, and whether refusing to confess expends physiologic resources. After experimentally manipul...

Emerging trends online, and especially in social network sites, may be creating an environment for psychologists where transparency is increasingly unavoidable. Thus, most psychological practitioners may now have to engage in small world ethics—ethical acuity that requires an application of ethical principles to the increasingly interconnected and...