Socio-Cultural Stigma, Parental Anxiety, and Mental Health Crises Among Male University Students in Southern Nigeria

Abstract

Mental-health difficulties among university students in Nigeria occur within social, family and institutional environments that can shape how distress is recognized, expressed and addressed. This study examines the relationship between socio-cultural stigma, masculine role expectations, family emotional strain and parental anxiety in relation to mental-health experiences among male university students in Southern Nigeria. The study used a cross-sectional mixed-methods design involving 330 quantitative participants: 200 male undergraduates and 130 parents of male undergraduates experiencing academic or behavioural difficulties. In addition, 20 key informants were interviewed qualitatively. Data were collected using the Male Student Mental Health and Social Behaviour Questionnaire (MSMHSBQ), an adapted Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) for parental anxiety symptoms, and the Family Emotional Frustration Scale (FEFS). Quantitative data were summarized using descriptive statistics and, where the analytic sample was appropriate, Pearson correlation and multiple regression. Qualitative material was organized thematically. The descriptive results show substantial levels of reported substance-related problems, depressive symptoms, antisocial or cult-related behaviour, and academic anxiety among the student subgroup, alongside moderate or severe anxiety symptoms among many parents. The manuscript's original inferential results reported positive associations among student dysfunction, family frustration and parental anxiety; however, because the original statistical output was not supplied with the manuscript and the parent and student subsamples were reported separately, those inferential coefficients require verification against the original dataset before they are treated as definitive. The findings support a cautious interpretation in which stigma, masculine expectations and family strain may be associated with help-seeking and psychological distress. The paper recommends culturally responsive counselling, mental-health literacy, confidential male-friendly services, family psychoeducation, early identification of distress and stronger collaboration between universities, families and mental-health professionals.