This research tested a multicultural competency training model's hypothesis that counseling students' White racial identity development strongly influences their attainment of multicultural counseling competencies (H. B. Sabnani, J. G. Ponterotto, & L. G. Borodovsky, 1991). White counseling graduate students (N = 128) completed measures of White racial identity development and self-reported multicultural counseling competencies. Students' White racial identity development, educational level, and clinical experience demonstrated moderate correlations with multicultural competencies. Regression analyses indicated that racial identity attitudes explained variability in competencies beyond that accounted for by demographic, educational, and clinical variables. Results suggest that racial identity attitude development should be considered an integral component in the planning of multicultural counseling training.

This investigation examined the multicultural counseling competencies of graduate students in counseling and clinical psychology programs. A national sample of 344 students participated. The participants completed the Multicultural Counseling Inventory (G. R. Sodowsky, R. C. Taffe, T. B. Gutkin, & S. L. Wise, 1994) and a demographic questionnaire. Results indicated that counseling psychology students rated themselves as more multiculturally competent than clinical psychology students in three of the four multicultural competency areas. Different educational and clinical variables were predictive of multicultural counseling competencies for the two groups. Findings are discussed in terms of education and training in graduate psychology programs.Over the past three decades, psychology as a profession has increasingly addressed multicultural issues as they relate to diverse populations. These efforts have been promoted and pursued by psychologists and other professionals committed to improving their ability to meet the needs of underserved and underrepresented populations. Recent national conferences,

In this study the multicultural competencies of 141 doctoral interns at university counseling centers were explored. Results indicated that some educational variables were predictive of multicultural competencies. Interns who had received supervision for a multicultural counseling situation, attended more multicultural workshops, or taken more multicultural course work, reported greater multicultural knowledge and skills than did interns who had no such supervision, fewer workshop hours, or less course work. Only supervision provided to interns in a multicultural setting correlated significantly with multicultural awareness, thus accounting for only 3% of the variability in interns' multicultural awareness. No significant relationships were found between multicultural competencies and demographic variables. Implications of these findings are discussed in terms of training for doctoral interns and future research.Researchers have focused increased attention over the past decade on identifying multicultural counseling as a competency in which all psychologists are skilled rather than conceptualizing it as a specialty area (McRae & Johnson, 1991). Sue et al. (1982) identified multicultural counseling competence in terms of multicultural awareness, knowledge, and skills. Multicultural competencies have been defined as an appreciation of and sensitivity to the history, current needs, strengths, and resources of communities and individuals who historically have been underserved and underrepresented by psychologists (Lopez et al., 1989;Sue, Arrendondo, & McDavis, 1992;Sue & Sue, 1990). Specifically, these competencies entail the following: an awareness of one's own biases and cultural assumptions, content knowledge about cultures different from one's own culture, an accurate self-assessment of one's multicultural skills and comfort level, an appropriate application of cultural knowledge to the counseling process, and an awareness of the cultural assumptions underlying the counseling process.As the multicultural counseling competency literature has DONALD B. POPE-DAVIS received his PhD from Stanford University in 1989. He is an associate professor in the

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