The effects of counselor race and training upon counseling process with Negro clients in initial interviews

Abstract

PROBLEMThe retarding effects of counselor race upon the responses of Negroes have been hypothesized in the areas of counseling and psychotherapy(6, '), test-examination(aB 6, and education(*). This study attempted to determine the effects upon eight Negroes in initial clinical interviews of an inexperienced Negro counselor and three white counselors of varying degrees of experience and types of training. METHODFour counselors were involved : Counselor A, an inexperienced 20-year old Negro senior undergraduate student who had taken only an undergraduate course in "Counseling Theory and Practice" oriented toward counseling as a communication process between two parties to a relationship(2); Counselor B, a relatively inexperienced 25-year old white second-year graduate student who had previously seen several clients in a counseling psychology program oriented in the same manner; Counselor C, a relatively experienced, 25-year old white third-year graduate student in a separate guidance counselor education program of a differing orientation who had had a year of experience in guidance activities but who also had taken the same undergraduate course as the Negro counselor; and Counselor D, a 32-year old white Ph.D. with eight years' experience from a nationally prominent program with a traditional trait-and-factor counseling system not oriented toward counselorclient differences. The three white counselors were selected by two experienced clinicians to match the personal attractiveness, intelligence, politeness, quietness, and apparent sincerity of the Negro counselor. The Negro counselees included four male and four female undergraduate students at the University of Massachusetts.I n a counterbalanced design, during consecutive weeks, each counselee saw each counselor for an initial clinical interview. Each counselee was given the following instructions: "All of us, in the present or during the past year or so, have had a number of experiences or problems which have been difficult for us. If you feel that the person you will be seeing is helpful, please feel free to discuss these experiences." Most of the problems discussed involved the difficulties in making an adjustment in the educational setting. The counselors were instructed to be aa helpful aa they could with the counselees. The interviews were recorded, and following each interview the counselees filled out inventories on each counselor and following all interviews answered questions concerning all of the counselors.Random excerpts were taken from the tapes and rated by trained raters on five 5-point scales (4) assessing the following dimensions of interpersonal functioning which have been related to constructive client changes in counseling and psychotherapy: Counselor empathy (E) ; counselor respect ( R ) ; counselor genuineness (G) ; counselor concreteness or specificity of expression (C) ; client depth of self-exploration (Ex) (4). E ranges from level 1, where the counselor is unaware or ignorant of even the most conspicuous surface feelings of the counsele...

The Relationship of Counselor Characteristics and Counseling Effectiveness

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Models of Culture and School Counselors: The Predicament of Black youth

“…A number of empirical studies under laboratory type conditions confirmed a retarding effect of ethnic differences between counselor and counselee (Banks, Berenson, and Carkhuff 1967). Banks (1972) sought to interpret the findings as a function of the construct "assumed similarity."…”

Race and the Counseling Process: An Overview

“…Jerome Sattler (1970) , a psychologist at San Diego State College, reviewed studies concerned with effects of the experimenter's race on experimentation, testing, interviewing, and psychotherapy and concluded that there was a scarcity of research regarding the racial variable in counseling. I n his review, he identified only three studies that he considered relevant to the issues of therapist-client interaction: Banks, Berenson, andCarkhuff (1967, Carkhuff andPierce (1967), and Yamamoto and others (1967) . Sattler concluded that Negro clients preferred Negro counselors and that more positive relationships result when clients and therapists are of the same race.…”