{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,13]],"date-time":"2026-10-13T16:59:50Z","timestamp":1791910790357,"version":"4.3.4"},"reference-count":98,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,2]],"date-time":"2026-09-02T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1788307200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Eur. J. Investig. Health Psychol. Educ.","EJIHPE"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: Perceived social support is consistently associated with lower psychological distress among university students, but the strength of this association may vary. We examined whether help-seeking self-stigma modifies it. Methods: In a cross-sectional online survey, 507 Kuwait University students completed the Patient Health Questionnaire-4 (PHQ-4), the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) and the Self-Stigma of Seeking Help Scale (SSOSH). Hierarchical linear regression tested the perceived support \u00d7 self-stigma interaction, adjusting for age, sex, nationality and year of study; SSOSH structure was examined by confirmatory factor analysis. Results: Of 507 eligible students (80.9% female; mean age = 21.4 years, SD = 4.4), 458 had complete PHQ-4 data. The inverse association between perceived support and distress weakened as self-stigma increased (B = 0.003, 95% CI 0.001\u20130.005, p = 0.007; p = 0.040 with heteroscedasticity-consistent standard errors; \u0394R2 = 0.015) and was not detectable at high self-stigma. The Arabic SSOSH was not unidimensional: positively and reverse-worded items formed uncorrelated factors (r = \u22120.01), and the interaction was carried by the reverse-worded items. Conclusions: Help-seeking self-stigma may index variation in this association, but the finding is exploratory and constrained by the measurement properties of the SSOSH in this population.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ejihpe16090133","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,2]],"date-time":"2026-09-02T14:35:29Z","timestamp":1788359729000},"page":"133","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Help-Seeking Self-Stigma and the Association Between Perceived Social Support and Psychological Distress Among Kuwait University Students: An Exploratory Cross-Sectional Moderation Analysis"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1959-3817","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Fatima","family":"Al-Ghadban","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Public Health Practice, College of Public Health, Kuwait University, Kuwait City, Safat 13110, Kuwait"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2204-3565","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ahmad","family":"Salman","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Public Health Practice, College of Public Health, Kuwait University, Kuwait City, Safat 13110, Kuwait"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,2]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"94","DOI":"10.1037\/0021-9010.90.1.94","article-title":"Effect size and power in assessing moderating effects of categorical variables using multiple regression: A 30-year review","volume":"90","author":"Aguinis","year":"2005","journal-title":"Journal of Applied Psychology"},{"key":"ref_2","unstructured":"Aiken, L. 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