The Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Affirmative Counseling Self-Efficacy Inventory (LGB-CSI): Development, validation, and training implications.

Five studies on the development of the Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Affirmative Counseling Self-Efficacy Inventory (LGB-CSI) were conducted. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of an initial pool of 64 items yielded 5 factors that assess counselor self-efficacy to perform lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) affirmative counseling behaviors (Application of Knowledge, Advocacy Skills, Self-Awareness, Relationship, and Assessment Skills). The LGB-CSI evidenced high internal consistency; however, low test-retest reliability was found over a 2-week period. Convergent validity was supported by correlations with measures of general counseling self-efficacy and attitudes toward LGB individuals. Discriminant validity was evidenced by an absence of relations between the LGB-CSI and measures of social desirability, self-deceptive positivity, and impression management. Construct validity was supported by findings indicating varying levels of self-efficacy commensurate with status in the field. Recommendations for training interventions are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Career decision-making and career search activities: Relative effects of career search self-efficacy and human agency.

The nature of the relationship between 3 human agency indices (assertiveness, instrumentality, and interpersonal facility), career search self-efficacy, and 3 career indices (vocational identity, career decision needs, and career activities performed) is examined. Data from 426 college men and women were analyzed using hierarchical regression to assess whether career search self-efficacy was able to mediate the relationship between human agency and each career index. For all 3 career indices, the mediator hypothesis was supported. No support was found for human agency mediating the relationship between career search self-efficacy and the career indices, nor for human agency moderating the relationship between career search self-efficacy and career indices. Implications for conducting counseling intervention programs focusing on development of career search self-efficacy expectations are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship of trainee self-efficacy to the process and outcome of career counseling.

This investigation examined the role of counselor trainees' self-efficacy on measures of career counseling process, "small o" outcome, and outcome with actual clients. Twenty-four counselor trainees saw 55 clients in 3 to 12 individual sessions. Results indicated that (a) career counseling self-efficacy increased by a standard deviation from prepracticum to postpracticum; (b) client scores significantly improved from pretest to posttest across multiple career outcome measures; (c) clients' working alliance, goal attainment, and decidedness indicated significant growth; (d) the significant growth on the process variable and small o outcome variables did not appear to be related to career counseling self-efficacy; and (e) career counseling self-efficacy apparently related to certain career counseling outcome measures in a manner suggesting much greater complexity than the "more self-efficacy is better" philosophy would imply. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fostering scholarly productivity through academic and internship research training environments.

How can training programs foster counseling and clinical psychologists' scholarly productivity? This study examined the impact of academic and internship research training environments (RTEs) on the scholarly activity of 223 early career professionals. Results supported the construct validity of the Internship Research Training Environment scale through cross-validation and confirmatory factor analysis. Findings revealed differences in perceptions of the internship RTE and scholarly productivity as a function of academic training philosophy and internship training philosophy. Finally, results suggested that academic and internship RTEs could influence research interest and scholarly productivity indirectly by enhancing research self-efficacy and research outcome expectations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development and validation of the Counseling Self-Estimate Inventory.

Describes the development of the Counseling Self-Estimate Inventory through 5 studies. A factor analysis (N?=?213) yielded 5 factors that reflect counselor trainees' confidences in using microskills, attending to process, dealing with difficult client behaviors, behaving in a culturally competent way, and being aware of one's values. Reliability estimates indicate that the items are internally consistent (α?=?.93) and stable over time. Initial validity estimates show that the instrument is (1) positively related to counselor performance, self-concept, problem-solving appraisal, performance expectations, and class satisfaction; (2) negatively related to state and trait anxiety; (3) minimally related to aptitude, achievement, personality type, and defensiveness; and (4) sensitive to change over the course of master's practicum and across different levels of counselors. Also, trait anxiety and counseling self-efficacy were significant predictors of counselor trainee performance. The development of a reliable and valid counseling self-efficacy instrument has training and research implications. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Career self-efficacy expectations and perceived range of career options in community college students.

The first purpose of the present study was to explore the relation of socioeconomic status (SES), race, gender, career self-efficacy, career interests, and sex role orientation to career-choice range in female–male, and non-gender-dominated careers. The second purpose was to determine the relation of SES, race, sex role orientation, gender, and career interests to career self-efficacy. Results indicated that career interest and career self-efficacy expectations significantly predicted range of perceived career options above and beyond the contributions of the other dependent variables. Similarly, career interest and sex role orientation predicted self-efficacy expectations. Recommendations for future investigations of the career self-efficacy model of occupational choice as well as some possible applications of the findings to career counseling are made. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Overcoming opposition and resistance: Differential functions of expertness and attractiveness in career counseling.

Hypothesized that counselor expertness would be effective in overcoming opposition to the content of counseling, whereas counselor attractiveness would be effective in overcoming resistance to the counseling process. Two studies of career counseling were conducted: a laboratory analog with 36 vocationally undecided undergraduates and a field study with 45 high school sophomores taking a career planning course. In both studies, counselor role (expert or attractive) was crossed with Ss' initial level of resistance in a repeated measures design. Pre- and postmeasures of Ss' attitudes toward vocational exploration (the content of counseling) and attitudes toward counseling were used to assess change in opposition and resistance, respectively. A behavioral compliance measure of opposition was added in Study 2. Study 1 supported only the resistance hypothesis. Study 2 supported both the opposition and resistance hypotheses and thus demonstrated the differential functioning of expertness and attractiveness. Implications for interpersonal influence research and for the practice of career counseling are discussed. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of the Attitudes Toward Career Counseling Scale.

This article reports on 5 studies that addressed the development and validation of a measure of attitudes toward career counseling. Factor analyses of the Attitudes Toward Career Counseling Scale (ATCCS) yielded 2 factors that measured perceived value and stigma related to career counseling. Internal consistency estimates and test–retest reliability estimates across studies were moderate to high. As evidence of convergent validity, the Value and Stigma scales correlated in the expected directions with general help-seeking attitudes, decision-making styles, satisfaction with a career exploration course, and intentions of seeking help for different psychological problems including career counseling. A discussion of how this scale adds to the help-seeking literature and suggestions for future research are provided. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship of ethnic identity and gender role attitudes to the development of career choice goals among black and Latina girls.

This study is a preliminary exploration of how individual differences in gender role attitudes and ethnic identity might be related to career decision self-efficacy and the gender traditionality of career choice goals in a sample of 102 9th-grade Black and Latina girls. Extending social-cognitive career theory, the authors examined 2 path models in which career decision self-efficacy mediated the effects of gender role attitudes and ethnic identity on the traditionality of the participants' career choice goals. Models depicting full and partial mediation were considered. The results of the path analyses provided confirmation for an extension of the social- cognitive career theory model, indicating that for this sample, career decision self-efficacy fully mediated the influence of egalitarian gender role attitudes and ethnic identity on gender traditionality in career choice goals. These findings offer support for consideration of the role of gender role attitudes and ethnic identity in career self-exploration and vocational guidance with Black and Latina girls. Limitations, implications for counseling, and suggestions for future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Integrated Developmental Model of supervison: Scale development and validation procedures.

Despite the growing empirical evidence for developmental models of supervision, the need for reliable, valid assessment procedures for identifying a trainee's level of development exists. This study sought to address this need by administering an instrument designed to assess constructs relevant to C. D. Stoltenberg and U. Delworth's (1987) Integrated Development Model (IDM) to counseling and clinical psychology trainees of varying levels of graduate education, counseling, and supervision experience. Primary data provided support for the IDM and suggested construct validity for the Supervisee Levels Questionnaire—Revised because scores on the instrument differed for certain trainee groups who varied in amount of previous training and experience. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

High sensory-processing sensitivity at work.

In this study, the construct validity of an instrument for the measurement of sensory-processing sensitivity (SPS), the Highly Sensitive Person Scale (HSPS), was examined. Among the outcomes, first, the results confirm an earlier conclusion of researchers that the HSPS does not measure a one-dimensional construct. Most hypotheses concerning relationships with the personality variables sense of coherence, alienation, self-efficacy, and negative affectivity were supported. Second, the SPS-construct was introduced into the field of work stress. Positive relationships with work stress facets pertaining to the second stage of stress were found. Third, the user-friendliness of the HSPS was addressed by shortening the instrument without affecting its reliability and validity. Implications for interventions are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predicting the scholarly activity of counseling psychology students: A refinement and extension.

J. H. Kahn and N. A. Scott's (1997) model of scholarly activity was refined by integrating the mentoring relationship as an element of the research training environment and research outcome expectations as an additional mediator, as guided by social-cognitive career theory (SCCT). A national survey of 149 counseling psychology students was used to test the refined model. Results supported an indirect effect of the research training environment on scholarly activity through research interest and research self-efficacy; the student's relationship with his or her mentor did not predict these outcomes. In accord with SCCT, research self-efficacy and research outcome expectations mediated the relationships between students' investigative interests and perceptions of the research training environment (predictors) on research interest and scholarly activity (criteria). This model extends Kahn and Scott's work and suggests the value of integrating SCCT into models of student scholarly activity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognition, anxiety, and performance on a career-related oral examination.

A 4-stage model of evaluation anxiety incorporating ability, affective, cognitive, and performance variables was tested in the context of a career-related oral examination among enlisted personnel in the US Army. A path analysis supported the stage model for the most part, showing the influence of dispositional anxiety, preexamination anxiety, self-efficacy, and negative thoughts before and during the examination on participants' oral examination performance. The nature of the examination-stage cognitive variable appears to be important, because in the path analysis negative thoughts were predictive of performance, but state of mind (the ratio of positive to positive-plus-negative thoughts) was not. Results have implications for career counseling and suggest that cognitive-behavioral interventions may be effective for individuals with anxiety related to job evaluations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Client preferences and anticipations in career counseling: A preliminary investigation.

Client expectations have been studied infrequently in career counseling. This study provides preliminary data about precounseling expectations, which were conceptualized as preferences and anticipations. 92 university students (22 men and 70 women) who sought career counseling completed an open-ended questionnaire. Results suggested the following conclusions: (1) Clients have fairly clear ideas about what they want (preferences) from career counseling and about what the experience should be like; (2) clients are somewhat less certain about what the career counseling experience will actually be like (anticipations) and less optimistic about it; (3) a number of mismatches exist between clients' preferences and anticipations; (4) clients do not have well-developed expectations about their dislikes in career counseling; and (5) few differences are evident between clients who have had previous counseling and those who have not. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects on teachers' self-efficacy and job satisfaction: Teacher gender, years of experience, and job stress.

The authors of this study sought to examine the relationships among teachers' years of experience, teacher characteristics (gender and teaching level), three domains of self-efficacy (instructional strategies, classroom management, and student engagement), two types of job stress (workload and classroom stress), and job satisfaction with a sample of 1,430 practicing teachers using factor analysis, item response modeling, systems of equations, and a structural equation model. Teachers' years of experience showed nonlinear relationships with all three self-efficacy factors, increasing from early career to mid-career and then falling afterwards. Female teachers had greater workload stress, greater classroom stress from student behaviors, and lower classroom management self-efficacy. Teachers with greater workload stress had greater classroom management self-efficacy, whereas teachers with greater classroom stress had lower self-efficacy and lower job satisfaction. Those teaching young children (in elementary grades and kindergarten) had higher levels of self-efficacy for classroom management and student engagement. Lastly, teachers with greater classroom management self-efficacy or greater instructional strategies self-efficacy had greater job satisfaction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The adult self expression scale: validation by the multitrait-multimethod procedure

The present studies were designed to provide further validation of the Adult Self Expression Scale as a measure of assertive behavior for adults in general. Validation was approached by the Campbell and Fiske multitrait-multimethod procedure and was concerned with the convergent relationship of assertion as measured by the Scale with measures of dominance and abasement as well as the discriminant capability of the instrument in terms of its relationship to various types of aggression, both verbal and physical. A variety of self-report, peer-rating, and unobtrusive measures were obtained from four distinct samples: participants in avocational interest classes at a technical institute, adults enrolled in an evening course in counseling theories at a state university, psychiatric inpatients, and convicted male felons. The results indicated that the Adult Self Expression Scale exhibits moderately strong convergent validity and moderate discriminant validity. The utility of the scale as a measure of assertive behavior for use with adults in general was supported.     

Effects of self-efficacy-enhancing interventions on the math/science self-efficacy and career interests, goals, and actions of career undecided college students.

This investigation evaluated the effects of both performance accomplishment and vicarious learning experiences on the math/science self-efficacy and career interests, goals (i.e., aspirations), and actions (i.e., choice of major and enrollment in courses) of career undecided college students. Undergraduates who possessed at least a moderate level of math ability and who self-reported at least a moderate level of career undecidedness were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 treatment conditions: performance accomplishment only, vicarious learning only, combined treatment (performance accomplishment and vicarious learning), or the control group. Pre- and posttreatment assessments of participants' math/science self-efficacy, vocational interests, career aspirations, and career choice actions (i.e., choice of major and courses) revealed significant effects of the performance accomplishment and combined treatments on several of the dependent variables. Theoretical and counseling implications of the results are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ethical knowledge exhibited by clients and nonclients.

Two studies were conducted to explore the relation between (a) experience in counseling and psychotherapy and (b) ethical knowledge. In Study 1, 77 college students reported their experience as clients in a variety of settings and then completed a questionnaire concerning their knowledge of ethical issues. The hypothesis that clients (subjects who had counseling experience) would demonstrate ethical knowledge superior to that of nonclients (those with no such experience) was not supported. Ethical knowledge did not differ as a function of counseling experience, the setting in which counseling was received, or the number of sessions. However, though overall ethical knowledge was high across groups, knowledge with respect to each ethical issue was incomplete. In Study 2, following the same procedure, we compared 17 current psychotherapy clients at a Veterans Administration medical center with 15 nonclients, patients in the hypertension clinic who had never received psychological services. These clients demonstrated superior ethical knowledge on specific issues (.008?ps?