Ethnic and racial differences between client and therapist affect therapy processes and outcomes, but little is known about the extent to which therapists have dialogues about their differences in therapy. A survey on this topic was completed by 689 APA-licensed psychologists with experience conducting cross-cultural therapy. Most psychologists reported having such discussions, but with less than half of their cross-ethnic/racial clients. Therapists and clients were equally likely to initiate discussions. Reasons for discussing differences varied greatly. Therapists consistently described themselves as comfortable with and skilled at these discussions, and reported that discussions facilitated therapy. Therapists who were female, older, nonminority, less experienced with diverse clients, and viewed training as an important factor were more likely to have discussions about differences. Results point to the need to better understand if, when, and how ethnic and racial differences should be addressed in therapy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved).

Cultural differences have been understood through three distinct perspectives: universalism, particularism, and transcendism (Se-MARTIN J. LA ROCHE received his PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Massachusetts at Boston. He is currently an instructor in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School at the Children's Hospital Boston/Martha Eliot Health Center and is in independent practice in the Cambridge, MA, area. His current areas of research are multicultural psychotherapy and health psychology. APRILE MAXIE received her PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Psychiatry at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, CA. Her current area of research is cross-cultural psychotherapy and treatment-seeking in ethnic minority populations.

Objective: The objectives of the study were to assess the stress of early adolescents and to describe the role perceptions of mothers and teachers in addressing adolescent stress. Materials and Methods: This quantitative descriptive survey was conducted in two phases in Thiruvananthapuram district, Kerala. Data were collected from early adolescent children (959), their teachers (61) and mothers (136). In the first phase, level of stress and source of stress among early adolescent children and teachers' role perception in addressing adolescent stress were measured. In the second phase, role perception in addressing their adolescent's stress was assessed among mothers of adolescents with high stress. Result: A total of 97 (10.1%) adolescents had severe stress. Majority of adolescents have cited mothers' and fathers' parenting role as their major stressor (56.5% and 53.5% respectively). Mothers reported that over watching of television is a major cause of lack of interest in studies and that is the main reason for stress at home. 37.7% of the teachers felt that school is giving a lot of academic stress to the child. Conclusion: The study finding calls for collective actions of student-teacher-parent associations to reduce stress of adolescents.

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