Asian-American acculturation, counselor ethnicity and cultural sensitivity, and ratings of counselors.

Abstract

Examined the effects of counselor ethnicity and cultural sensitivity and participant sex and acculturation on perceptions of counselor credibility and cultural competence. Asian Americans attending a major west coast university listened to a tape recorded counseling session in which the counselor was described as either Asian-American or Caucasian-American and portrayed as either culture-sensitive or culture-blind. The counselor was rated as more credible and culturally competent under the culture-sensitive portrayal than under the culture-blind portrayal and when introduced as Asian-American than when introduced as Caucasian-American. Although no main effect was found for participant sex or level of acculturation, both variable contributed to several significant interactions. Possible explanations and implications of these results are discussed. In recent years there has been an increase in research examining mental health issues among Asian Americans. Leong (1986) reviewed the research on counseling and psychotherapy with Asian Americans and found that this population underuses mental health services, despite evidence that their need for services is high. Further, a study by Sue and McKinney (1975) found that up to 50% of the Asian clients failed to return to a mental health clinic after the initial contact, as compared to 30% of the Caucasian clients. One explanation for Asian Americans' underuse of mental health services and their high dropout rate is the lack of ethnically or racially similar counselors. A study by Wu and Windle (1980) examining the use rates of community mental health centers by Asian Americans found that there was a direct relationship between the number of Asian-American staff members and the number of Asian-America n clients. Asian Americans may not perceive non-Asian Americans as credible sources of help. Atkinson, Maruyama, and Matsui (1978) reported two studies in which preferences for counselor ethnicity were examined among Asian Americans. One study involving members of a university Asian-American rap group revealed that an ethnically similar counselor was rated as being more credible than the Caucasian-American counselor. However, a second study involving Japanese-American members of the Young Buddhist Association found no evidence that the Asian-American counselor was rated differently from the Caucasian-American counselor. These mixed findings suggest there are other factors that affect Asian Americans' perceptions of counselor credibility.