Language Switching and Mexican Americans' Emotional Expression

This study examined the effects of counselor language switching and counselor ethnicity on bilingual Mexican American participants' emotional self‐disclosure. Counselor language (English only and Spanish with English) was crossed with counselor ethnicity (Mexican American and European American) to produce 4 treatment conditions. Judges' observations revealed that the European American counselor who language switched elicited the most emotional expression from participants. Este estudio examinó los efectos que un cambio de idioma por parte del consejero y la etnicidad del consejero tienen sobre la auto‐revelación emocional de los participantes México Americanos bilingües. El idioma del consejero (sólo inglés, y español con inglés) se combinó con su etnicidad (México Americano y Euro Americano) para generar 4 condiciones de tratamiento. Las observaciones de los jueces revelaron que el consejero Euro Americano que cambió de idioma obtuvo el mayor número de expresiones emocionales de los participantes.     

Counselor Ethnicity,Counselor Nonverbal Behavior,and Session Outcome With Asian American Clients: Initial Findings

Five Asian American and 5 European American female counselors each saw 3 Asian American volunteer clients for 1 session of career‐focused individual counseling. Examination of counselor nonverbal behaviors revealed that European American counselors displayed significantly greater frequency of adaptors, postural shifts, and smiles than did Asian American counselors. The frequency of smiles was significantly positively correlated with client‐rated session positivity and session arousal, and the frequency of postural shifts was significantly positively correlated with client‐rated session arousal. Limitations and implications of the findings are described.     

Sexual Health Counselor Preferences of African American and European American Women: A Brief Report

African American women (n = 42) and European American women (n = 46) were queried regarding their comfort level discussing various sexual health topics with hypothetical counselors who were varied by race (African American vs. European American) or counseling value (culturally sensitive vs. knowledgeable). Contrary to hypotheses, European American participants were more comfortable with the knowledgeable African American counselor and the culturally sensitive European American counselor, while African American women showed no preference. Implications are discussed for improving sexual health counseling services for African American and European American women with consideration of client sexual attitude and race of counselor in order to reduce disparities in sexual health.     

Counseling Expectations Among Mexican American College Students: The Role of Counselor Ethnicity

Sixty‐five Mexican American undergraduates completed a battery of tests, including the Expectations About Counseling‐Brief Form B and the Marlowe‐Crown Social Desirability Scale‐Form XX. Statistical analyses showed significant counselor ethnicity and participant gender main and interaction effects on EAC‐B ratings related to client attitudes and behaviors, counselor attitudes and behaviors, counselor characteristics, and counseling process.     

Effect of Client and Counselor Ethnicity on Preference for Counselor Disclosure

Preferences for counselor self‐disclosure based on the ethnicity of both the respondent and the counselor were examined for African American and Caucasian students. Results suggested that respondent ethnicity affected preferences for certain types of information about the counselor (personal feelings, sexual issues, professional issues, and success/failure) and that there were interaction (respondent by counselor ethnicity) effects on preference for disclosure in other areas (interpersonal relationships and success/failure). Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Preparing Culturally Effective Counselors

The preparation of culturally effective counselors is a familiar topic in the counseling literature. Counselor educators and practitioners have regularly discussed cultural barriers in the counseling process and have proposed models for working more effectively with multicultural populations. Still, there is no counselor education program in the United States that trains students in the special problems and advantages of counseling culturally different clients. Now more than ever, there are many compelling reasons to prepare culturally effective counselors. They include (a) the multicultural overtones of the American population; (b) the growing number of new immigrants and refugees; (c) the expressed and perceived needs of counselors working with multicultural groups; and (d) the naming of counselors as “necessary” recipients of federal training funds to develop better bilingual programs. The authors propose a counselor training program with a specialization in bilingual-multicultural education. This requires specific attitudes, skills, and competencies based on the interdisciplinary philosophies of counseling, bilingual education, and multicultural education.     

An Exploratory Study of Counselor Judgments in Multicultural Research

Archival data were used to explore intake judgments made by 45 counselors about 344 African-American and White clients seen at a counseling center during a 2-year period. Counselor gender was significantly associated with ratings of client severity of current condition. Neither ethnicity nor counselor experience were predictive of intake judgments.     

Relationship Between Humor Appreciation and Counselor Self-Perceptions

This study examined the relationship between humor appreciation and self-perceptions of high school guidance counselors. Results indicated that humor appreciation was unrelated to self-perceived counselor effectiveness, and that male and female counselors enjoyed similar types of humor. Counselors described their humor preferences as being extroverted, realistic, intelligent, and enjoying lighthearted and offbeat humor. Finally, counselors with more education perceived themselves as having less of a sense of humor.     

Relationship styles of self-focused autonomy, other-focused connection, and mutuality among Mexican American and European American college students

The author examined relationship styles of self-focused autonomy (SFA), other-focused connection (OFC), and mutuality among 415 European and Mexican American young adults in 2 U.S. colleges. Mutuality was the most commonly reported style for both ethnic groups, although Mexican American men were more likely than the others to indicate that they had the SFA style. Mexican American participants perceived their fathers' styles as SFA more often than did the others regarding either of their parents' styles. Mutuality was associated with the best mental-health outcomes regardless of gender or ethnicity. The present results indicate that the cultural influences on autonomy and connection are complex and that collectivistic cultural contexts may sometimes promote autonomy concerns in men.     

The Ethics of Bias in Counselor Terminology

Mental health counselors (MHCs) are generally perceived as empathic, caring professionals. However, the terms that mental health counselors use to describe their clients sometimes contribute little to the valid assessment and treatment of psychological problems and are disrespectful to clients. This article reviews the literature on counselor terminology with foci on the types of terms used, the effects such terminology has on clients, the corresponding ethical responsibilities of MHCs, and the implications for practice.     

Counselor Bias and Women

Counselors are biased against girls and women. Several recent studies examining counselor's sex biases are reviewed. Research indicates that attitudes of counselor trainees, school counselors at all levels, counselor educators and supervisors, and clinicians are sexist. The Attitude Toward Women Scale was administered to 80 employment counselors. Male counselor attitudes were more sexist than female counselor attitudes. Suggestions for dealing with counselor bias are reviewed. Counselors must first battle their own biases. They should also be sensitive to the developmental stages of a person's life, as well as to job requirements and employer attitudes. Occupational literature should be nonsexist and nontraditional.     

The Inclusion of Spiritual Process in Counseling and Perceived Counselor Effectiveness

In this study, client level of spirituality was examined as a potential moderater for the effectiveness of including spiritual process in the counseling process. Using an analogue design, participants were crossed on self‐reported level of spirituality and randomly assigned to 1 of 2 analogue conditions. Results suggested that a spiritual intervention was perceived similarly to a cognitive‐behavioral intervention for all respondents. Those respondents who self‐reported higher levels of spirituality rated the counselor on the analogue as more expert and more trustworthy, regardless of which of the 2 analogue conditions they evaluated. Implications for counselors are provided.     

A Survey of Counselor Educators' Ethical Concerns

This survey examined counselor educators' ethical concerns. Responding to a series of vignettes, respondents considered unethical those behaviors that are self-serving (e.g., dating a client or a student and not fulfilling work responsibilities) while perceiving ethical those practices that raise the question of dual relationship. Respondents were also in favor of allowing students with serious mental health problems to become counselors as long as their problems are under control. A significant gender difference was observed in their response to one vignette. The majority of respondents expressed satisfaction with the current ethical standards of the American Counseling Association, although slightly over half indicated that ethical standards specifically applicable to counselor education would be helpful.     

Perceived racial/ethnic discrimination, posttraumatic stress symptoms, and health risk behaviors among Mexican American adolescents

Utilizing the concept of race-based traumatic stress, this study tested whether posttraumatic stress symptoms explain the process by which perceived discrimination is related to health risk behaviors among Mexican American adolescents. One hundred ten participants were recruited from a large health maintenance organization in Northern California. Mediational analyses indicated that adolescents who perceived more discrimination reported worse posttraumatic stress symptoms, controlling for covariates. In turn, adolescents who experienced heightened posttraumatic stress symptoms reported more alcohol use, more other drug use, involvement in more fights, and more sexual partners. Perceived discrimination was also directly related to involvement in more fights. Results provide support for the notion of race-based traumatic stress, specifically, that perceived discrimination may be traumatizing for Mexican American adolescents. Counseling psychologists and counselors in schools and community settings should assess Mexican American adolescents for the effects of discrimination and provide appropriate interventions to reduce its negative emotional impact.     

College Freshmen View Counselor Help in College Selection

Little attention has been paid to the role performance of counselors in the college decision process. This study surveyed 270 college freshmen at a northeastern university in an attempt to explore the activities of their high school counselors in college admissions. The students came from 233 institutions of secondary education. Among the findings were: (1) the high school counselor has increased in importance and in potential influence in the college-choice process; (2) the helping activities of counselors were for the most part active and direct; (3) the expectations of the students for the counselor were for active involvement by the counselor; and (4) in some cases, the counselor played a restricting role in the process of college selection.     

Minnesota Employment Counselor Activities

Employment counselors, counselor supervisors, managers, and counselor educators were surveyed in Minnesota concerning the amounts of time that are now spent and should be spent in eleven employment counselor activities. All respondents generally agreed on the amounts of time that are now spent and should be spent in the activities. They also agreed that there should be significant increases (p > .05) in the amounts of time that should be spent in counseling, teaching, and research/follow-up, and decreases in the amounts of time that should be spent in selection/intake and records/clerical activities. Employment counselors in main offices indicated that they now spend significantly less time than counselors in subordinate offices in counseling, consulting, and staff activities, and significantly more time in testing.     

An Investigation of Client and Counselor Variables That Influence Likelihood of Counselor Self-Disclosure

Selected client and counselor variables affecting reported likelihood of self-disclosure by 120 experienced clinicians in relation to four scenarios were examined. Variables included client age and diagnosis and counselor gender, experience, and exposure to disclosing counselors in their own experience of counseling. Disclosure likelihood was greatest for high ego-strength diagnoses and for respondents who reported positive disclosures from counselors in their own counseling experiences. Reasons for and against using self-disclosure also were examined. Reasons for disclosing included promoting universality, giving encouragement, modeling, rapport-building, and offering alternatives. Reasons against disclosing included boundary blurring, concern about counselor welfare, merging, and premature closure. Implications for practice and research are discussed.     

Ethics and Values as Major Factors Related to Multicultural Aspects of Counselor Preparation

Counselors and future counselors face a variety of challenges as society becomes more diverse and laden with differing value systems. As the Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice (American Counseling Association, 1995) is changed to become more inclusive of the values held in a diverse society, changes in counselor preparation to incorporate these changing values are necessary. The authors discuss how values and ethics inform counselor preparation and recommend the application of J. A. Banks's (1981, 1988) multicultural educational pedagogy to counselor preparation programs.     

The Counselor Is a Psychologist

School counselors are anxious about their status and identity as professional workers. They are criticized by other helping professions for their superficiality, and they are being dispossessed of their basic helping functions by school psychologists and social workers. Solutions proposed are abandonment of the guidance model for counselors, and adoption of the counseling psychologist model geared to a two-year master's degree level. Counselors are being called upon increasingly to function as psychological specialists in behavior change and their training has become firmly based in the psychological aspects of behavioral science. Statements by the American School Counselors Association and a growing number of counselor educators emphasize the psychological base of counseling practice.