Follow‐Up of Doctoral Graduates in Counseling

Abstract

The national population of persons who graduated from doctoral programs in counselor preparation during 1984-1985 was surveyed to discern their demographic, work history, current job status, productivity, and future employment plans. The 270 responses revealed a high level of preparation-related employment, with work being performed in very diverse settings. Today's graduates are older than those who graduated 15 years ago and are relatively experienced in counseling and human development services. Private practice has emerged as a significant employment setting and is projected to increase even more. Productivity in terms of contributions to the profession is substantial. Conclusions and implications are drawn for practitioners and counselor preparation institutions. RESULTSData on demographics, education, work history, current employment, credentials, productivity, and professional plans are presented. Comparisons with other available statistics are then made. Demographic DataOf the 270 respondents, 116 (42.8%) were men and 154 (57%) were women. The modal age for men and women alike was 35. The mean age at graduation for the total group was 36.7. The mean for men was 36.0 ( SD = 5.81 ); for women, 37.2 ( SD = 7.63 ). There was a rather flat age distribution curve for women, whereas for men it was much more peaked.As of late 1985, 265 respondents were located in the United States, and 5 were overseas. About one-third of the total lived in the midwest region, as defined by the American Association for Counseling and Development (AACD), and another third in the southern region. The rest were distributed about equally between the North Atlantic and western regions.Ethnic identity data revealed that 242 were Caucasian, 13 were Black, 4 Asian or Pacific, 2 Hispanic, and 2 Native American or Alaskan; 7 did not respond.

Five‐Year Follow‐Up of Doctoral Graduates in Counseling

“…Many of these respondents had been on graduate assts-tantships, however. and were using loans or famtlyftnanctal support right up to graduation (Zimpfer & DeTrude. 1990); this tended to depress the amount of previous-year personal earnings reported durtng the 1985-1986 time period.…”

“…The doctoral graduates were asked via mailed questionnaire to update information they had provided origtnally. A more complete description of the questionnaire and its development can be found in Zimpfer and DeTrude (1990 To ensure equivalence of the data over time. only the 226 persons who responded to both the early and the later questionnaire were used.…”

“…The population for this study consisted of 270 doctoral graduates in counseling whose data were originally reported by Zimpfer and DeTrude (1990). The benchmark for that study was that the graduate had completed the degree during 1984-1985. and the data were collected rather soon after graduation (no more than 1112 years later).…”

The Doctorate in Counselor Education

“…In three studies exploring post-graduate occupations, professional behavior, and salary among counselor education and psychology doctoral graduates, Zimpfer (1993Zimpfer ( , 1996 and Zimpfer and DeTrude 1990 found that across most outcomes (i.e., salary, professional activities, and future goals) counselor education and counseling psychology graduates were more similar than different. Both groups were found to be comparable in number of publications, involvement in professional organizations, number of professional presentations and salary, as well as number of licenses and certifications.…”

Noncompetition Agreements and the Counseling Profession: An Unrecognized Reality for Private Practitioners

“…A survey by Zimpfer and DeTrude (1990) found private practice to be the preferred employment setting for 1984 to 1985 graduates of counselor programs. A follow-up study by Zimpfer (1996) showed that graduates of counseling programs continued to prefer practice-oriented careers.…”