Relationship between racial identity development and multicultural counseling competency : a longitudinal analysis

73 Pages·2000·2.7 MB·English

by  Vinson, Teraesa

THEI^LATIONSHIPBETWEENRACIALIDENTITYDEVELOPMENTAND
MULTICULTURALCOUNSELINGCOMPETENCY:
ALONGITUDINALANALYSIS
By
TERAESAVINSON
ADISSERTATIONPRESENTEDTOTHEGRADUATESCHOOL
OFTHEUNIVERSITYOFFLORIDAINPARTIALFULFILLMENT
OFTHEREQUIREMENTSFORTHEDEGREEOF
DOCTOROFPHILOSOPHY
UNIVERSITYOFFLORIDA
2000
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
. .
FirstandforemostIwouldliketothankmychair,GregNeimeyer,forhis
continuoussupportandassistanceinthisproject. Iwouldalsoliketoacknowledgemy
committeemembersfortheirhelpfulinputandguidance;LisaBrown,MonteBein,David
Suchman,andMichaelHerkov. IwouldalsoliketothankCeciliaBibby,thecounseling
psychologysecretary,forallofherhelp. Finally,Iwouldliketothankmyother
classmatesfortheirsupportduringthistime.
TABLEOFCONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS u
LISTOFTABLES v
ABSTRACT
vi
INTRODUCTION
1
LITERATUREREVIEW 9
MulticulturalCounselingCompetency 9
RacialIdentityDevelopment 15
METHOD
27
Sampling 27
Instrumentation 28
RESULTS 33
DescriptiveAnalysis 33
LongitudinalStabilityofRacialIdentityandMulticulturalCounseling
CompetencyMeasures 35
LongitudinalChangesinRacialIdentityDevelopmentandMulticultural
CounselingCompetency 36
ComparisonofWhiteandNon-WhiteTrainees 38
ComparisonoftheRelationshipBetweenRacialIdentityDevelopment
andMulticulturalCounselingCompetency 40
OtherVariables 44
iii
DISCUSSION 46
REFERENCES 55
APPENDIXAPARTICIPANTLETTER 61
APPENDIXBINFORMEDCONSENT 62
APPENDIXCDEMOGRAPHICQUESTIONNAIRE 63
APPENDIXDSOCIALCONTACTQUESTIONNAIRE 64
BIOGRAPHICALSKETCH 65
iv
LISTOFTABLES
1.Helms'ModelsofRacialIdentityDevelopment 22
2.DescriptiveInformationforWhiteandNon-WhiteTrainees 33
3.MeanScoresforWhiteandNon-WhiteTrainees 34
4.PearsonCorrelationsBetweenTime1andTime2 36
5.T-TestComparisonofOriginalandFollow-UpGroupsofWhite
Trainees(N=31) 37
6.T-TestComparisonofOriginalandFollow-UpGroupsof
Non-WhiteTrainees(N=13) 38
7.RepeatedMeasuresANOVAResultsforAwarenessandKnowledge 40
8.PearsonCorrelationsforWhiteTrainees(N=31) 41
9.PearsonCorrelationsforNon-WhiteTrainees(N=13) 42
V
AbstractofDissertationPresentedtotheGraduateSchool
oftheUniversityofFloridainPartialFulfillmentofthe
RequirementsfortheDegreeofDoctorofPhilosophy
THERELATIONSHIPBETWEENRACIALIDENTITYDEVELOPMENTAND
MULTICULTURALCOUNSELINGCOMPETENCY:
ALONGITUDINALANALYSIS
By
TeraesaVinson
August2000
Chair:GregJ.Neimeyer
MajorDepartment:Psychology
Previously,VinsonandNeimeyerdocumentedasignificantrelationshipbetween
racialidentitydevelopmentandmulticulturalcounselingcompetency. Thisstudy
examinedthestatusofthatrelationshipaftertwoyears. Participantsweresolicitedfi-om
thesampleofcounselingpsychologygraduatestudentsfi-omseveraluniversitieswho
completedthepreviousstudy. Eachtraineecompletedaracialidentitymeasure(White
RacialIdentityAttitudesScaleorPeopleofColorRacialIdentityAttitudesScale),a
multiculturalcounselingcompetencymeasure(MulticulturalCounselingAwareness
Scale),asocialdesirabilitymeasure(MotivationtoControlPrejudicedReactionsScale),a
socialnetworkquestionnaireanddemographicquestionnaire. Resuhsindicatedthat
studentsoverallincreasedtheirmulticulturalcounselingcompetency,andmovedtoward
vi
moresophisticatedlevelsofracialidentitydevelopment. AlthoughWhitetrainees
continuedtoexhibitasimilarrelationshippatterntheoreticallyconsistentwiththe
literature,Non-Whitetraineesresuhs'wereincongruent. Finally,analyseswereconducted
onthestabilityofracialidentitydevelopmentandmulticulturalcounselingcompetency
overtime. Resultsindicatedthatthemulticulturalcounselingcompetencymeasure
demonstratedsignificantreliabilityoverthetwo-yeartimeperiod,whilebothracial
identitydevelopmentmeasuresdidnot. Possibleexplanationsfortheseresuhs,limitations
tothestudy,andfuturedirectionsforresearchwerediscussed.
vii
INTRODUCTION
Therelationshipbetweenracialidentitydevelopmentandmulticukuralcounseling
competencyhasreceivedincreasedattentioninrecentyears. Studieshaveshownthat
moreadvancedlevelsofracialidentitydevelopmentarepositivelycorrelatedwithhigher
degreesofmuhiculturalknowledge,awareness,andskills(Ottavietal.,1994;Nevilleet
al.,1996;Vinson&Neimeyer,Inpress). However,questionsstillremainaboutthe
stabilityofthisrelationshipovertime. Theprimarypurposeofthispaperistoprovidethe
firstlongitudinalinvestigationoftherelationshipbetweenmulticulturalcounseling
competencyandracialidentitydevelopment.
Multiculturalcounselingcompetencyandracialidentitydevelopmenthavebeen
thoughttoberelatedsincethestirringsofthemulticulturalcounseUngmovementinthe
1950sand1960s. Jackson(1995)surveyedarticlesincounselingjournalsfi-omthe1950s
thatemphasizedtheimportanceoftherecognitionofone'sovmcultureincounseling.
Beforethe1950s,thecounselingprofessionwaslargelyethnocentric,withthe
White/Anglo-Americancuhurebeingthenormandotherculturesbeingviewedasdeviant.
AtleastsincethetimeofWrenn(1962),however, counselorshavebeenaskedto
recognizetheir"culturalencapsulation"andworktoovercomeit. Withthisemphasis
cametherecognitionofcultureasanintegralpartofone'sperson-nodoubthelpedalong
1
2
bytheCivilRightsMovement. Multiculturalcounselingdevelopedinrelationtothis
recognition,quicklyevolvingtooccupyapositionofprominenceandcentralitywithinthe
fieldofcounselingandcounselingpsychology(Heath,Neimeyer,&Pedersen,1988;
Neimeyer&Norcross,1997;Vinson&Neimeyer,Inpress). Consequently,withthis
camethedesiretoquantifymulticulturalcounselingcompetency. Sueetal.(1982)were
amongthefirsttooutlinethecomponentsofmuUiculturalcounselingcompetency,
includingcuhuralawareness,knowledge,andskills. Culturalawarenessinvolvesa
therapist'smovetowardcognizanceofhis/herownculturalbackgroundandsensitivity
towardothers'differences. Knowledgeinvolvesanunderstandingofthebackgroundof
his/herclients,andtherelevantinformationthatcouldaffectthetherapeuticrelationship.
Finally,skillsconsistsoftheabilitytousestrategiestoworkwithincUents'cultures
eflFectively.Thus,thedirectionformulticulturalcounselingassessmentwasestablished,
eventuallyleadingtothedevelopmentofinstrumentssuchastheMulticulturalCounseling
Inventory(MCI;Sodowsky,TafFe,Gutkin&Wise,1994),theMuUiculturalAwareness-
Knowledge-and-SkillsSurvey(MAKSS;D'Andrea,Daniels&Heck,1991),andthe
MulticulturalAwarenessScale(MCAS,Ponterotto,Sanchez&Magids,1991),among
others.
Jackson(1995)definesmulticulturalcounselingas"counselingthattakesplace
betweenoramongindividualsfromdifferentculturalbackgrounds"(p.3). Giventhis
definition,multiculturalcounselingcompetencyiscommonplacesince,asSueetal.(1982)
noted,"everycounseling/therapyinteractionisslightlycross-cultural"(p.47). Jackson
(1995)alsostatesthatmulticulturalcompetencyisimperativetothecollaborative
'5
3
relationshipbetweentherapistandclientbecauseitenhancestherapeuticunderstanding
andempathy. Inessence,onecanmoreeffectivelyunderstandanotherifheorshe
possessesknowledgeoftheirbackgroundandsubsequentexperiences.
Anotherfactorleadingtotheimportanceofmulticulturalcounselingistherapid
changeinthiscountry'sdemographics,withthepopulationofethnicminoritiesgreatly
increasing(Fox,Kovacs,&.Graham,1985). Sueetal.(1982)predictedthatmorethan
onethirdoftheUnitedStatespopulationwouldberacialorethnicminoritiesbytheyear
2000.Additionally,theUSBureauofCensus(1992)hasreportedthatracialminorities
willbecomeanumericalmajoritybytheyear2050. Thesedrasticchangesinthe
demographiccompositionofthissocietyindicatethatworkwithminoritieswillbecome
increasinglymorecommon.
Inadditiontoitspresumedrelationshiptothetherapeuticalliance,multicultural
counselingcompetencyisalsoassociatedwithotherpositivevariables. Althoughtherole
ofcross-culturalfactorsintherapeuticoutcomeisnotyetclear(Neimeyer&Gonzales,
1983),greatercross-culturalcompetencehasbeenrelatedtohigherlevelsofclient
diversity(Sodowsky,Taflfe,&Gutkin,1991),greaterculturalsensitivity(Pomales,
Claibom,&LaFromboise,1986),andmoreadvancedlevelsofracialidentity
development,or,culturalself-knowledge(Vinson&Neimeyer,Inpress;Neville,Heppner,
Louie,Thompson,Brooks&Baker,1996;Ottavi,Pope-Davis,&Dings,1994)-whichis
thefocusofthepresentstudy.
IntheSueetal.(1982)paperoutliningmulticulturalcounselingcompetency,the
firstcharacteristicofthecuhurallyskilledcounselorwas"onewhohasmovedfrombeing