Identifying Reference Groups in Social Norms Campaigns Intended to Promote College Students’ Mental Health Help-Seeking in South Korea

This study examines which types of perceived social norms are strongly associated with professional mental health help-seeking (PMHS), and whether and how such associations are moderated by evaluative identification among college students. We conducted an online survey with 638 Korean adults. Results show that general college students' perceived injunctive norms (<i>β = </i>.37, <i>p <</i> .001) have the strongest associations with intentions, followed by close friends' perceived descriptive norms (<i>β =</i> .22, <i>p < </i>.001). Also, there was a significant positive interaction between perceived injunctive norms among general college students and evaluative identification (<i>β</i> = .18, <i>p</i> < .001), between friends' perceived descriptive norms and evaluative identification (<i>β</i> = .07, <i>p</i> < .001), as well as between family perceived injunctive norms and evaluative identification (<i>β</i> = .13, <i>p</i> < .01). The findings suggest that distal reference group norms and evaluative identification are crucial in promoting PMHS.