Predictors of Client Preferences for Counselor Roles

Abstract

This study examined 152 undergraduate clients' interpersonal styles as they relate t o preferences for counselor roles. The results indicated a moderate positive association between clients' interpersonal styles and their preferences for counselor roles. Moreover, beginning clients were found t o prefer advice giving to active listening. Counselors can promote continuation and improve the quality of the working relationship by adapting their initial approach to match the preference of the client.

The Relative Effectiveness of Active Listening in Initial Interactions

“…Although active listening resulted in greater conversational satisfaction and social attraction than simple acknowledgements, active listening and advice giving produced statistically equivalent levels. These findings bear some similarity to other studies comparing active listening and advice (e.g., Libow & Doty, 1976;Scholl, 2002). Given the similarity in results for hypotheses 2 and 3, taken together, research is beginning to suggest that people respond to listeners' overall level of responsiveness regardless of the form it takes.…”

“…In one study, volunteer telephone crisis counselors offering advice were rated more helpful and likeable than counselors responding with empathic (or active) listening (Libow & Doty, 1976). In a second study, Scholl (2002) reports college academic counseling clients preferred receiving advice rather than active listening responses early in counselor-client relationships. Additional research points to the possibility that people either prefer advice to active listening in initial interactions, or simply do not favor one over the other.…”

“…To date, only four studies directly compare participants' judgments of interaction outcomes following confederates deployment of active listening versus another type of listening response. Three studies compare active listening to giving advice (i.e., D'Augelli & Levy, 1978;Libow & Doty, 1976;Scholl, 2002). One limitation of these studies is that participants were seeking out professional or volunteer counselors, so the reception of advice may have been a more goal-relevant outcome than validation communicated through active listening.…”

Humanistic Counseling Process, Outcomes, and Research

“…Bohart () asserted that in humanistic counseling, the therapist, rather than having the answers, “must be a process expert” (p. 131). Process‐oriented counselors often strive to provide clients with an interpersonal style that accommodates the client's preference or process of development (Scholl, ). For example, some clients might prefer or respond better to a more structured, directive interpersonal style early in the counseling relationship than they would later in the process of counseling (Howard, Nance, & Myers, ).…”

Development of the Preferences for College Counseling Inventory

“…In the absence of such an instrument, several researchers have attempted to measure counseling preferences by modifying inventories originally designed to measure counseling expectations, most commonly by altering the wording of test items from expect to prefer . Scholl (), Torres (), and Tracey and Dundon () used this strategy with the PEI‐R, and Jacobs () adopted a similar procedure with the EAC‐B. Although these modifications may seem reasonable, neither the EAC‐B nor the PEI‐R has been validated as a measure of counseling preferences, thus calling into question any conclusions drawn from these studies about college students' preferences for counseling.…”