Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Help, Personality Traits, and Intentions to Seek Counseling Among Junior High School Students

This study aims to investigate the attitudes of junior high school students regarding the pursuit of professional help, their personality traits, and their intentions to seek counseling. The researcher emphasizes the importance of counseling in enhancing mental health within educational environments, with the goals of promoting positive attitudes, catering to diverse personality types, and encouraging proactive approaches to seeking assistance. The complex relationship between students’ intentions to seek counseling, personality traits, and attitudes was examined using a mixed-methods research approach. The study’s participant pool consisted of 153 junior high school students from two private schools; data were collected through random sampling. As a result of the study, the majority of participants are 13-year-old male students from private schools and mostly from the 9th grade. While respondents show partial agreement towards seeking professional help, they display a neutral disposition concerning personality traits. There were notable correlations discovered between attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help, personality traits, and intentions to seek counseling, especially about agreeableness and emotional stability. The proposed guidance program aims to enhance students’ likelihood of seeking counseling.