Clinical psychologists in the 2010s: 50 years of the APA division of clinical psychology.

Abstract

The American Psychological Association's Division of Clinical Psychology constitutes one of the oldest, largest, and most active organizations of clinical psychologists in the world. For 50 years, beginning with E. Lowell Kelly in 1960, researchers have chronicled the evolution of its membership and the transformation of clinical psychology in the United States. In this article, we highlight the continuity and change in clinical psychologists’ demographics, educations, theories, employment, activities, and satisfactions over a 50-year span. Results from the most recent, 2010 study (N = 588, 46% return rate) are summarized in both contemporary and historical contexts. Among the prominent trends are steady increases in the proportion of female and ethnic minority psychologists, the rise of Psy.D. graduates, the domination of the cognitive orientation, a relative decline in psychological assessment in general and projective testing in particular, the ascendancy of independent practice, and a pattern of high career satisfaction.