Preferences for counselor gender: Students' sex role, other characteristics, and type of problem.

Abstract

A total of 169 students drawn from a large urban university rated their preferences for counselor gender for nine client concerns and completed a sex role inventory and a demographic questionnaire. The preponderance of people who expressed a preference for counselor gender preferred male counselors over female ones for all concerns other than problems with sexual issues.Preferences for male counselors were expressed more often, however, for vocational/academic and social/interpersonal concerns than for personal/intimate problems. Discriminant analyses revealed profiles of persons who preferred male counselors or had no preference. Variables such as subject sex role. age. and race were found to be particularly useful in predicting gender preferences. Results were interpreted in terms of Bern's (1981 b) gender-schema theory.

Counselor preference and anticipated comfort ratings for a clinic sample of sexually abused versus non-abused girls

“…Support for the effect of age comes from Davidson (1976), who found that older clients tended to prefer male counselors. These results are consistent with those of Bernstein et al (1987), who reported that younger African-American college students preferred female counselors.…”

“…A presenting problem that is of particular interest to the present study is sex-of-counselor preference for issues related to sexual concerns. Results reported by Bernstein et al (1987), Boulware and Holmes (1970) and Yanico and Hardin (1985) suggest that female counselors are the clear preference in these cases.…”

“…Various authors (Bernstein et al, 1987;Boulware & Holmes, 1970;Yanico & Hardin, 1985) have found that clients' preference is influenced by the nature of the presenting problem. Specifically, male counselors tend to be preferred for vocational concerns while female counselors are preferred for personal problems (Boulware & Holmes, 1970;Yanico & Hardin, 1985).…”

“…This apparent discrepancy may be due to a number of factors. Bernstein, Hofmann, and Wade (1987) reported that clients' sex-ofcounselor preference was influenced by a number of factors, including the client's sex-role, age and race. Support for the effect of age comes from Davidson (1976), who found that older clients tended to prefer male counselors.…”

Caractéristiques perçues du conseiller d’orientation et intentions de consultation dans deux pays de la communauté européenne

“…Analysant cette fois le niveau de préférence pour une catégorie sociale, Bernstein, Hofmann et Wade (1987) ont indiqué que les données relatives à cette question apparaissaient contradictoires, avec des préférences, selon les cas, pour les hommes, pour les femmes ou pour les professionnels de même sexe que le client. Dans leur recherche, impliquant 169 étudiants adultes, majoritairement féminins et non demandeurs a priori d'une relation d'aide, les auteurs demandent d'évaluer les préférences pour le sexe de l'aidant dans trois types de situations fictives : des questions vocationnelles et scolaires, des problèmes interpersonnels (qui se produisent dans les relations à autrui) et des problèmes personnels (comme des difficultés sexuelles ou un sentiment de solitude).…”