Minority status stress, racial centrality, and racial socialization as predictors of Black Americans’ preference for counselor race in a United States sample

Abstract

In the United States, Black Americans’ counseling experiences are associated with concerns that are unique to their racialized status. Understanding the range of cultural factors that influence Black Americans’ preferences in the context of counseling remains an important topic in marketing and providing high-quality counseling services to this population. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the role of racial centrality, affirming socialization around race, and minority status stress on counselor racial preference among Black college students (N = 139) in the United States. Results from a hierarchical multiple regression revealed that racial centrality and minority stress independently predicted preference for a racially similar counselor in this sample of respondents. A significant interaction between minority stress and affirming racial socialization revealed that the effect of minority status stress on counselor racial preference was attenuated at high levels of affirming racial socialization. Findings are discussed in the context of racial identity and racial socialization theories, with emphasis on implications for counseling practice and clinical training.