Adult attachment, attachment to the supervisor, and the supervisory alliance: How they relate to novice therapists’ perceived counseling self-efficacy.

Abstract

The supervisory relationship is one of the most important components in training therapists' professional development, and it is a frequent area of training-focused research. The current study explored how 57 training therapists' adult romantic attachments relate to the attachment to the supervisor and the supervisory working alliance. Additionally, we explored how both adult attachment and supervisory attachment relate to trainees' perceptions of their counseling self-efficacy (CSE). Results revealed that therapists with higher levels of fearful attachment to the supervisors and avoidant attachment in adult romantic relationships had less perceived CSE. Hierarchical regression revealed that it was the avoidant adult romantic attachment and the supervisory working alliance that accounted for the most significant variance in CSE, not the attachment to the supervisor. Path analysis using structural equation modeling was used to explore both the direct and indirect paths to CSE. When all variables were explored together, only the path from romantic attachment avoidance to fearful attachment to the supervisor was significant. Adult romantic attachment no longer directly related to CSE when including all the variables in the model. Implications of the findings will be discussed with regard to future research that is needed, the use of attachment-based supervisory interventions, and the application of the findings in clinical training.