Mexican-American acculturation, counselor ethnicity, counseling style, and perceived counselor credibility.

Used a 3?×?2?×?2 factorial design to study the effects of S acculturation (low, medium, or high), counselor ethnicity (Anglo-American or Mexican-American), and counseling style (directive or nondirective) on Mexican-American Ss' perceptions of and willingness to see a counselor. Within acculturation levels, Ss were randomly assigned to view stimulus materials (in which the counselor's ethnicity was varied) and to listen to tape recordings of a simulated counseling session (in which the counseling style was varied). No evidence was found of an acculturation effect for any dependent variable. However, Ss gave higher credibility ratings and were more willing to see a counselor who was Mexican American for personal, academic, and vocational concerns. Also, more positive ratings were given to the directive counseling style than the nondirective counseling style. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Counselor helping model, participant ethnicity and acculturation level, and perceived counselor credibility.

An analogue research design was used to examine the relationships between participant ethnicity, acculturation level, counselor model of helping, and ratings of counselor credibility. A total of 199 community college students (109 Mexican Americans, 90 European Americans) evaluated counselor credibility after being exposed to 1 of 4 counseling vignettes. Evidence was found to support the hypothesis that ethnic background and adherence to cultural norms and behaviors are related to perceptions of counselor expertise and trustworthiness. Results also showed that loss of Mexican culture, rather than the acquisition of North American culture, is associated with less positive perceptions of counselor credibility. Contrary to the cultural barrier theory used to explain underutilization of mental health services among Mexican Americans, these results suggest that aspects of the Mexican culture support the use of counseling services among Mexican Americans. Implications for counselors and suggestions for future research are explored. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mexican-American cultural commitment, preference for counselor ethnicity, and willingness to use counseling.

Mexican-American college students who expressed a strong commitment to the Mexican-American culture (28 Ss), strong commitment to the Anglo-American culture (18 Ss), strong commitment to both cultures (38 Ss), or weak commitment to both cultures (14 Ss) rated their preference for an ethnically similar counselor and completed a willingness to use professional counseling survey. Results show that preference for counselor ethnicity and willingness to self-disclose in counseling were related to cultural commitment. Ss with a strong commitment to the Mexican-American culture expressed the greatest preference for an ethnically similar counselor and the least willingness to self-disclose. The 51 females expressed a greater willingness to use professional counseling services than did males. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Expertness, similarity, and perceived counselor competence.

Tested the effects of 2 levels of counselor similarity and expertness and 2 types of clients' problems on perceptions of the counselor's competence in an analog study. The basis for client-counselor similarity was age and student status; the basis for expertness was experience and training. Ss were 311 18-27 yr old undergraduates. They were given 1 of 8 biographical sketches of the counselor's background to read; then they heard a segment of a single taped interview. Counselor competence was assessed by evaluations on a 16-item Likert scale. It was hypothesized that suggestions of client-counselor similarity would facilitate perceptions of competence for affiliative problems, whereas suggestions of counselor expertness would facilitate perceptions of competence for academic problems. Suggestions of expertness led to higher evaluations of counselors for both problems. Findings support the importance of counselor credentials in determining clients' initial impressions of counselors. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mexican Americans' bilingual ability, counselor bilingualism cues, counselor ethnicity, and perceived counselor credibility.

In a completely crossed, factorial design, 186 Mexican American college students were exposed to a counselor introduction that identified her as either Mexican American or Canadian American, followed by an audiotape-recorded bogus counseling session in which the counselor either spoke English only or English combined with cues of Spanish-speaking ability. After listening to the tape-recorded counseling session, participants rated the counselor's credibility and cross-cultural competence. No effect was found on ratings for counselor language or counselor ethnicity. However, ratings of both counselor credibility and cross-cultural competence were found to be a function of participants' bilingual ability. Combined with evidence of a similar relationship between generation since immigration and ratings of the counselor, these findings suggest that, as Mexican Americans acculturate, their perceptions of counselor credibility and cross-cultural competence diminish. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of counselor technique on Mexican-American and Anglo-American self-disclosure and counselor perception.

A counseling analog study examined the effects of 3 interviewing techniques on 124 Mexican-American and Anglo-American undergraduates' willingness to self-disclose and perception of the counselor. The interviewing techniques manipulated were probing, disclosing, and reflecting. No differences across intervention techniques were found on the total scores of the disclosure questionnaire. Females disclosed less than males on the Body subscale of the disclosure questionnaire, but no ethnic differences in willingness to disclose were found. There were no differences in scores on the Barrett-Lennard Relationship Inventory (BLRI). Significantly more Ss in the probing than the reflecting condition indicated they would return for a 2nd interview. A positive correlation between willingness to disclose and scores on the BLRI was found. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Supervising international students: Relationship between acculturation, supervisor multicultural competence, cultural discussions, and supervision satisfaction.

The purpose of this study was twofold: (a) to explore the relationship between international trainees' acculturation level and cultural discussion on supervision satisfaction and (b) to examine the mediating effect of cultural discussions on the relationship between perceived supervisor multicultural competence and trainee satisfaction with supervision. One hundred and four international students from several clinical programs who have received clinical supervision participated in the study. Results revealed that students who had lower acculturation levels but greater cultural discussion showed more satisfaction with supervision. Furthermore, cultural discussion partially mediated the relationship between the perceived supervisor cultural competence and satisfaction with supervision. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Impact of counselor gender and counselor sex role orientation on perceived counselor characteristics.

Assessed the influence of counselor (C) gender (male or female), C sex role orientation (traditional or egalitarian), S's sex role orientation (masculine, feminine, or androgynous), and client problem type (sex role related or not sex role related) on female Ss' judgments of their comfort with disclosing to Cs and their perceptions of the C's attractiveness, expertness, and trustworthiness. Results show that (a) S's ratings of comfort in disclosing was greater with female rather than male and with egalitarian rather than traditional Cs; (b) female egalitarian Cs were perceived as most expert, whereas female traditional Cs were perceived as least expert, and (c) male traditional Cs were perceived as least trustworthy. The presence of C gender and C sex role effects and the absence of effects as a function of problem type and Ss' sex role orientation are discussed. Suggestions are made concerning the need for more consistent definition of sex role orientation and designation of problem type. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Asian-American acculturation, severity of concerns, and willingness to see a counselor.

Asian Americans at a major West Coast university were surveyed to determine how severe each of 24 problems was for them and to assess their willingness to see a counselor for each problem. Factor analysis reduced the 24 problems to 8 areas of concern. A repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that severity ratings for the 8 concerns were related to acculturation and ethnicity. With severity ratings as covariates, a repeated measures analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was computed for willingness to see a counselor ratings. Willingness to see a counselor was found to be related to both acculturation and gender across all 8 concerns. Women expressed greater willingness to see the counselor than did men and low-medium acculturated students expressed greater willingness to see a counselor than did high-acculturated students. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Counselor and client ethnicity and counselor intake judgments.

Used archival research to compare intake judgments made by women counselors about women clients seen for an initial intake interview. Sociopsychological variables, which have been shown to influence counselor judgments, were controlled for in the research design. 41 African-American and 41 White female clients (aged 17–38 yrs), matched on demographic and pretreatment variables, were seen by African-American and White female counselors. Chi-square analysis and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) showed no significant differences in counselor judgments for the matched client groups. Results support the need to control for sociopsychological variables that may influence counselor judgments when examining potential bias as a function of ethnicity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A prestigious introduction, psychological jargon, and perceived counselor credibility.

3 groups of 32 Ss from a community college, county mental health clinic, and drug abuse programs in a federal correctional facility rated a counselor's performance on 2 videotapes which were identical except for the level of professional jargon employed by the counselor. Each videotape was preceded by either a high- or low-prestige introduction. The counselor's knowledge of psychology was rated higher when he employed abstract, psychological jargon than when he used concrete, laymen's language. Ss were more likely to rate the counselor as someone they would see for counseling if they were given the high-prestige introduction than if they received the low-prestige introduction. Interaction effects suggest that not all populations were equally impressed by jargon or by prestige. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Nonverbal behavior and perceived counselor attractiveness and persuasiveness.

Investigated the perception of counselor attractiveness and persuasiveness through the expression of nonverbal behavior. Ss were 20 male and 20 female psychology undergraduates. 2 male and female counselors were trained to portray "affiliative" manner and "unaffiliative" manner. In a repeated measures design, Ss saw 4 different counselors and then rated them on scales measuring perceived attractiveness and persuasiveness. Results indicate that counselors in the affiliative manner condition were perceived as significantly more attractive and persuasive than counselors in the unaffiliative condition. Ss attributed greater attractiveness and persuasiveness to the same nonverbal cues encoded into the roles. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of diplomas, awards, and counselor sex on perceived expertness.

Employed a 2 * 2 factorial design in a counseling-analog investigation to evaluate the effects of environmental cues of competence (such as diplomas and awards) and the sex of the counselor on perceived expertness. 64 undergraduates were interviewed and subsequently completed a semantic-differential questionnaire which contained a 6-item scale of perceived expertness. Results indicate that diplomas and awards significantly influenced the S's initial perception of counselor expertness. Contrary to previous research, the sex of the counselor did not influence the initial perceptions of the Ss. It is suggested that further research is needed on the duration of the effects of the diplomas, the sex of the counselor, and the existence of such effects in additional populations and settings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An analogue study of the effects of asian cultural values and counselor multicultural competence on counseling process.

One-hundred-and-sixteen Asian American college students viewed analogue videotapes in which an actress portraying a European American female "counselor" expressed cultural values that were either consistent or inconsistent with Asian culture to an actress portraying an Asian American female "client." In addition, the counselor either acknowledged racial differences or did not acknowledge racial differences with the client. The results showed that when the counselor expressed values that were inconsistent with Asian culture, the counselor who acknowledged racial differences was perceived to be more cross-culturally competent than the counselor who did not acknowledge racial differences. Also, the results showed that observer-participants' adherence to the value of conformity to norms was positively associated with their ratings of counselor credibility and crosscultural counseling competence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Counselor affective reactions to termination: Impact of counselor loss history and perceived client sensitivity to loss.

Licensed-to-practice psychologists (61 men and 56 women) participated in a study of affective reactions to termination as a function of counselor loss history and perceived client sensitivity to loss. Counselor loss history (age at time of most significant loss, past grief reactions, and present grief reactions) was a significant predictor of counselor anxiety and depression during termination. Perceived client sensitivity to loss (sensitivity to loss and experiencing of other losses at time of termination) was a significant predictor of counselor anxiety during termination when the effect of counselor loss history was partialed out. Neither counselor loss history nor perceived client sensitivity to loss was predictive of counselor task satisfaction during termination. Results support the view that the termination process is affected by both counselor and client variables related to loss. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender and credibility introduction effects on perceived counselor characteristics.

Explored the effects of counselor gender, participant gender, and high or low credibility introduction on 8th graders' perceptions of counselor expertness, attractiveness, trustworthiness, and confidence in the counselor. 240 male and female Ss listened to an audiotape of a high or low credibility introduction and to a counseling session with a male or female counselor and then completed a modified Counselor Rating Form and the Help with Specific Problems Scale. Multivariate and univariate ANOVAs yielded significant main effects for Participant Gender and Credibility Introduction and a significant interaction effect for Counselor Gender?×?Credibility Introduction. Results are compared with studies of adult Ss, and a new scheme for classifying types of credibility cues is proposed. (39 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Expectations about counseling in relation to acculturation in Mexican-American and Anglo-American student samples.

A rationale for the role of client expectations in counseling theory and practice with Mexican Americans is set forth. The Expectations About Counseling-Brief form questionnaire (K. Washington and H. E. Tinsley, 1982) and the Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans (I. Cuellar et al; see record 1981-27035-001) were administered to 213 Mexican-American and 137 Anglo-American subjects. Data from questionnaires were augmented through semi-structured interviews with each group. Levels of acculturation, gender, and previous experience with counseling were evaluated for their influence on expressed expectations in each ethnic group. Although no significant group effects were noted, expectations did significantly vary with acculturation categories. Implications of these results for counseling theory and practice with Mexican Americans are briefly discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Immigrants' adaptation in Canada: Assimilation, acculturation, and orthogonal cultural identification.

Reviews the predominant models developed by researchers to assess the psychological adaptation of immigrants in the host society. The use of the terms assimilation and acculturation to reflect the process of change undergone by immigrants is discussed. Although these terms have been used interchangeably, the outcome of change is very different in each. The difference between assimilation and acculturation is reflected in the models of adaptation regrouped under linear and bidimensional models. A 3rd model, called orthogonal cultural identification, is presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)