Showing papers in "Journal of Counseling Psychology in 1988"

Preventing Substance Abuse Among American-Indian Adolescents: A Bicultural Competence Skills Approach

Abstract: Tobacco, alcohol, and drug use are problems for American-Indian people. We reviewed these problems and the explanations for them and described a bicultural competence skills approach for preventing substance abuse with American-Indian adolescents. Data from a study of that approach suggest its efficacy with American-Indian youth. At posttest and a 6-month follow-up, American-Indian subjects who received preventive intervention based on bicultural competence skills concepts improved more than did American-Indian subjects in a no-intervention control condition on measures of substance-use knowledge, attitudes, and interactive skills, and on self-reported rates of tobacco, alcohol, and drug use. Our findings have implications for future substance-abuse prevention research with American-Indian people.

Development of a System for Categorizing Client Reactions to Therapist Interventions.

Abstract: We developed a measure of client reactions to therapist interventions. The 21 categories of the measure were divided into 14 positive and 7 negative reactions, which differed significantly from each other on client helpfulness ratings. Preliminary validity data indicated that therapist intentions were related to client reactions more for successful cases than unsuccessful cases, pretreatment symptomatology was highly predictive of which reactions the clients reported, there were some predictable changes in reactions across time in treatment, and within-case correlations of reactions with client-rated session depth and smoothness indicated some similarities across cases. We discuss the case-specific nature of client reactions, methodological issues, and the need for greater therapist awareness of client reactions. Covert feelings undoubtedly influence a client's behavior in therapy. Rice and Greenberg (1984) noted that "people in therapy are goal-setting beings who actively construe the task and situation and act in terms of their goals and construals. Clients will respond differentially to the same interventions depending on how they perceive the situation and in terms of their own goals and intentions" (p. 13).

Social support and the impact of job loss on older professionals.

Abstract: University of Maryland Unemployment presents important psychological problems for all age groups, but the impact of job loss may be particularly severe for older workers. Participants in our study were 35 members of a self-help organization for unemployed professionals over the age of 40. Three types of variables were measured, (a) stressors, which were length of unemployment, financial concerns, and six functionally different types of social support; (b) stress symptoms, which were self-esteem, depression, physical health symptoms, psychological symptoms, and locus of control; and (c)job seeking behaviors. Our results indicated that financial concerns and social support stressors significantly predicted a number of the stress symptoms. Specific types of social support exhibited varied patterns of relations to these stress symptoms. The perceived availability of "reassurance of worth" support, provided in other contexts frequently by work colleagues, seemed to be most strongly related to positive self-esteem, internal locus of control, and more job-seeking efforts. The October 1986 unemployment rate of 6.8% represented nearly 8 million people ("Jobless Rate," 1986). The devastat- ing impact of job loss on physical and mental health has been summarized in several reviews of empirical investigations (Dooley & Catalano, 1980; Gordus, Jarley, & Ferman, 1981). Job loss has been linked to increased rates of suicide (Ham- mermesh & Soss, 1974; Pierce, 1967); diagnosed cases of mental illnesses; or increases in both inpatient and outpatient use of mental health services (Barling & Handal, 1980; Bren- ner, 1973; Frank, 1981), increased alcohol abuse (Pearlin & Radabaugh, 1976; Smart, 1979), more external locus of con- trol (Parnes & King, 1977), lowered self-esteem (Perfetti & Bingham, 1983), and severe depression (Landau, Neal, Meis- ner, & Prudic, 1980). Some unemployed workers, depending on their attributional style, respond to the uncontrollable aversive event of job loss with learned helplessness behaviors, namely, depression and a lowered self-concept, that can im- mobilize job seeking efforts (Cohn, 1978; Feather & Daven- port, 1981). Job loss may be a particularly severe problem for older workers, who, when compared with younger colleagues in a study of an extensive layoff, were without jobs for nearly twice as long before securing new employment, despite the fact that the older workers were, in general, better educated and trained (Turner & Whitaker, 1973). Ideally, workers in their 40s have completed the tasks Levinson (1978) describes as "settling down," namely, establishing a secure niche in the occupa- tional world and attaining some measure of advancement. This article is based on the doctoral dissertation of Brent Mallin- ckrodt under the supervision of Bruce R. Fretz. We gratefully ac- knowledge the members of 40-Plus for their cooperation, Linn C. Towbes for her help in data collection, Linda Ahuna and Craig Mallinckrodt for their assistance in data coding, and Elizabeth Alt- maier for her review of an earlier draft of this manuscript. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Brent Mallinckrodt, who is now at the Division of Counseling and Educational Psychology, College of Education, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403-1215. 281 Typical developmental tasks of workers in their 40s, the time of "mid-life transition," involve the reappraisal of one's life goals and accomplishments as well as a recognition--perhaps for the first time--of one's own mortality. Still older workers may be concerned with meeting "generativity" needs by serv- ing as mentors to younger colleagues (Erickson, 1963; Lev- inson, 1978). Job loss may seriously interfere with the suc- cessful completion of these developmental tasks. In addition, establishing occupational security is a task not appropriate for workers in their 40s or older and, therefore, may be particu- larly stressful because it is "off time" (Schlossberg, 1981, 1984). Several studies have highlighted the importance of social support in facilitating the adjustment of older persons to life stresses (Norris & Morrell, 1984; Oppegard, 1984), including the stress associated with transition to retirement (Cassidy, 1985; Hornstein & Wagner, 1984). Although no previous study could be located that specifically examined social sup- port and job loss in older workers, social support has been related to significantly lower levels of stress symptoms in general samples of unemployed persons (Gore, 1978; Romero, 1984). In addition to these direct effects, social support may also have "buffering" effects by moderating the impact of other stressors (Kasl, Cobb, & Gore, 1975). Functionally different types of social support may be related to the negative effects of job loss in different ways (Friesen, 1985). Our study examined participants in a self-help group of unemployed former professional workers over the age of 40. Three different sources of stress were investigated, (a) length of time unemployed, (b) extent of perceived financial con- cerns, and (c) level of perceived social support. The study investigated the relation between these "stressor" variables and several "stress symptoms," including depression, lowered self-esteem, physical illness, and changes in locus of control. Most central to our study was an examination of the relation of six functionally different types of support to the specific stress symptoms. The overall level of social support was hypothesized to have both a direct relation stress symptoms, and an interactive or buffering relation such that

Factor Structure of the Counselor Rating Form-Short.

Abstract: The relative goodness of fit of four competing factor models of the Counselor Rating FormShort was examined across client (N = 191) and nonclient (N = 111) samples by confirmatory factor analysis. The four models tested were (a) the single, general, positive-evaluation factor, (b) the three orthogonal factors (expertness, trustworthiness, and attractiveness); (c) the three oblique factors; and (d) a two-step hierarchical-factor model consisting of the three independent firstorder factors and an independent second-order general factor. Results of the confirmatory factor analyses supported the validity of the two-step hierarchical-factor model for both the client and nonclient samples. The factor structure of this two-step hierarchical-factor model was found to be invariant across the two samples.

Perceptions of counselor supervision: An examination of Stoltenberg's model from the perspectives of supervisor and supervisee.

Abstract: We used Stoltenberg's (1981) developmental model of counselor supervision in an examination of relational consequences of supervisors' and supervisees' disagreements about a supervisee's counseling sophistication. We also sought support for Stoltenberg's proposed optimal supervision environments. Eight-seven supervisors and 77 supervisees from 31 randomly selected university counseling and clinical psychology programs around the United States categorized supervisees as belonging to one of four developmental levels. They also provided demographic information, estimated supervisory behavior frequencies, and made satisfaction and impact ratings. Results indicated that (a) supervisors perceived themselves as varying their behavior with supervisees of different developmental levels in a manner that accorded with Stoltenberg's model, (b) supervisees did not perceive the differences reported in supervisors' behaviors, and (c) supervisees reported significantly less satisfaction and impact when they were in mismatched pairs with supervisors, although supervisors did not. In subsequent analyses, we found that supervisees preferred supervision that was characterized by a collegial relation with a focus on trainee personal development and self-understanding.