Afro-American preferences for counselor characteristics: A replication and extension.

This study replicates and extends the Atkinson, Furlong, and Poston (1986) investigation that examined Black subjects' preferences for salient similar and dissimilar counselor characteristics within a disconfirmatory hypothesis-testing strategy framework. Using a markedly different Black college student sample and replicating the paired-comparison technique of Atkinson et al. (1986), the present study found a generally high rank-order correlation (p?=?.91) between the two respective samples on preferences for counselor characteristics. Despite the global rank-order stability across samples, a number of important rank differentials are noted and discussed. We caution against generalizing the results of cross-cultural studies to geographically displaced samples and highlight suggestions for cross-cultural research using the paired-comparison technique. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)