Abstract:
Past research has shown that ROTC students have fewer intentions to seek help and less
favorable attitudes towards help seeking than students in the general college population, which
may stem from ROTC cadets having a unique constellation of beliefs towards counseling due to
their dual roles as both college students and service members. The present study sought to
identify which determinant of the Theory of Planned Behavior (attitudes, subjective norms, PBC)
most strongly influenced intentions to seek help, and the salient beliefs contributing to the three
determinants. A total of 128 ROTC cadets completed a series of newly developed and previously
established quantitative and qualitative measures. Results of a hierarchical multiple regression
analysis indicated that the TPB model accounted for 62% of the variance in ROTC participants’
intentions to seek help. Subjective norms (ß = .44), was found to be a stronger predictor of
intentions than either attitudes (ß = .38) or PBC (ß = .16). A content analysis of ROTC
participants’ responses to a series of open-ended questions identified a unique constellation of
salient beliefs. These findings highlight the need for the development of an ROTC specific
intervention. Clinical implications and directions for future research are discussed.
