Counseling Psychology Research Research Articles

Traumatic events among undergraduate students: Prevalence and associated symptoms.

This multisite study assessed the prevalence of exposure to traumatic events and associated symptoms among undergraduate students (N = 1,528) using online surveys. Most students (85%) reported having experienced a traumatic event in their lifetime (Time 1) and 21% reported experiencing an event over a 2-month period during college (Time 2). The most common event reported at both time points was the unexpected death of a loved one. Lifetime exposures to family violence, unwanted sexual attention, and sexual assault were associated with higher current distress levels. When nominated as a worst event, sexual assault was associated with the most posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms. Events that caused intense fear, helplessness, or horror and those that were intentionally caused were associated with higher distress levels. Total number of lifetime traumas consistently had the highest associations with distress levels. Implications for counseling psychology practice, training, and research are discussed.

Keyes's model of mental health with personal growth initiative as a parsimonious predictor.

This research addressed issues at the heart of counseling psychology: operationalizing mental health and identifying parsimonious ways of predicting levels of mental health. The primary purpose of the study was to investigate the replicability of the structure of C. L. M. Keyes's (2002) model of mental health in 2 samples of college students (total N = 244 women and 223 men). Results of confirmatory factor analyses supported this 3-factor model of psychological, social, and emotional well-being, consisting of 14 subdimensions. Furthermore, this model was found to be invariant for men and women in both samples. The secondary purpose was to assess the effectiveness of personal growth initiative (PGI; C. Robitschek, 1998) as a parsimonious predictor (i.e., 1 predictor for many outcomes) of these multiple dimensions of mental health. Results of structural equation modeling supported PGI as a parsimonious predictor of Keyes's multidimensional mental health model for men and women in both groups. Limitations are discussed, and implications for research and practice in counseling psychology are presented.

Counseling psychology research on sexual (orientation) minority issues: Conceptual and methodological challenges and opportunities.

This lead article of the special issue discusses conceptual and methodological considerations in studying sexual minority issues, particularly in research conducted by counseling psychologists (including the work represented in this special issue). First, the overarching challenge of conceptualizing and defining sexual minority populations is described. Second, the importance and value of scholarship about sexual minority issues are highlighted. Third, challenges in sexual minority research are outlined, using the articles in this special issue for illustrative purposes, and suggestions are offered for consideration in future research. Finally, the article concludes with a discussion of the ways in which counseling psychologists are uniquely positioned to advance knowledge, practice, and social justice through research on sexual minority issues.

Survey Response Rates and Survey Administration in Counseling and Clinical Psychology

This article reports results of a meta-analysis of survey response rates in published research in counseling and clinical psychology over a 20-year span and describes reported survey administration procedures in those fields. Results of 308 survey administrations showed a weighted average response rate of 49.6%. Among possible moderators, response rates differed only by population sampled, journal in which articles were published, sampling source and method, and use of follow-up. Researchers whose studies were included in this meta-analysis used follow-up but rarely used incentives, prenotification, or other response-facilitation methods to maximize response rates. Although the future of survey research in general may rely more heavily on Internet data collection, mail surveys dominate in this field.

Overview of Concept Mapping in Counseling Psychology Research

Overview of Concept Mapping in Counseling Psychology Research

Racial and ethnic identity theory, measurement, and research in counseling psychology: Present status and future directions.

The present article integrates and expands on the special section contributions of K. O. Cokley (2007); J. E. Helms (2007); J. E. Trimble (2007); S. M. Quintana (2007); and J. S. Phinney and A. D. Ong (2007). The authors of the present article begin with a note on politics and ideology in writings on racial identity development and review general progress the field has made on the topics of racial and ethnic identity development. The present challenges in both explicating clear and concise theories of racial and ethnic identity development and operationalizing and measuring these constructs in paper-and-pencil form are identified. The need for interdisciplinary work on theory testing is highlighted, and select examples of best practices in measuring racial and ethnic identity are presented. The article closes with directions for research in racial and ethnic identity development, and with implications for counseling practice, supervision, and systemic change.

Introduction to the special section on racial and ethnic identity in counseling psychology: Conceptual and methodological challenges and proposed solutions.

Racial and ethnic identity development have been important topics in counseling psychology research for the last four decades. At present, however, there appears to be some confusion and debate regarding the quality of theory and measurement in the topical area. The present article serves as an introduction to this Journal of Counseling Psychology special section on “Racial and Ethnic Identity in Counseling Psychology: Conceptual and Methodological Challenges and Proposed Solutions.” A rationale is provided for the special section, the place of racial and ethnic identity scholarship is located within the history of multicultural counseling research, and the invited special section contributions by K. O. Cokley (2007), J. E. Helms (2007), J. E. Trimble (2007), S. M. Quintana (2007), J. S. Phinney and A. D. Ong (2007), and J. G. Ponterotto and J. Park-Taylor (2007) are introduced.

Qualitative Data Analysis and Interpretation in Counseling Psychology: Strategies for Best Practices

This article presents an overview of various strategies and methods of engaging in qualitative data interpretations and analyses in counseling psychology. The authors explore the themes of self, culture, collaboration, circularity, trustworthiness, and evidence deconstruction from multiple qualitative methodologies. Commonalities and differences that span across approaches are explored. Implications for how researchers address qualitative data analysis and interpretation in counseling psychology training and research are discussed.

Qualitative Research in Counseling Psychology

Beginning with calls for methodological diversity in counseling psychology, this article addresses the history and current state of qualitative research in counseling psychology. It identifies the historical and disciplinary origins as well as basic assumptions and underpinnings of qualitative research in general, as well as within counseling psychology. It identifies the foundational elements of qualitative research, including its purposes and goals, paradigmatic bases, and underlying characteristics. Finally, it locates qualitative research in counseling psychology in the research genre and explores the promise that this form of research holds for counseling and psychotherapy research as well as counseling psychology's multicultural and social justice agenda.

The Pond You Fish In Determines the Fish You Catch

Qualitative research has increased in popularity among social scientists. While substantial attention has been given to various methods of qualitative analysis, there is a need to focus on strategies for collecting diverse forms of qualitative data. In this article, the authors discuss four sources of qualitative data: participant observation, interviews, physical data, and electronic data. Although counseling psychology researchers often use interviewing, participant observation and physical and electronic data are also beneficial ways of collecting qualitative data that have been underutilized.

Paradigms, Purpose, and the Role of the Literature

The authors have identified three areas that are central to the rationale for conducting a qualitative research project, yet which produce confusion and uncertainty for some psychologists trained in traditional research methods. In this article, they consider how philosophy of science paradigms relate to the foundational rationale for qualitative inquiry and present suggestions for how researchers can formulate a statement of purpose and research questions that are congruent with an identified paradigm. They examine the role of scholarly literature in two areas: those of developing a rationale and in enhancing the impact of qualitative research. Examples from contemporary counseling psychology research are used to illustrate core concepts.

Advanced Applications of Structural Equation Modeling in Counseling Psychology Research

Structural equation modeling (SEM) is a data-analytic technique that allows researchers to test complex theoretical models. Most published applications of SEM involve analyses of cross-sectional recursive (i.e., unidirectional) models, but it is possible for researchers to test more complex designs that involve variables observed at multiple points in time or variables implicated in reciprocal feedback loops (i.e., bidirectional models). Given SEM’s popularity among counseling psychology researchers, this article aims to introduce three SEM designs not often seen in the counseling psychology literature: cross-lagged panel analyses, latent growth curve modeling, and nonrecursive mediated model analysis. For each design, the authors provide a brief rationale regarding its purpose, procedures for specifying a model to test the design, and a worked illustration.

Construct Validation in Counseling Psychology Research

Counseling psychology researchers devote little attention to theory-based measurement validation, as evidenced by cursory mention of validity issues in the method and discussion sections of published research reports. Especially, many researchers appear unaware of the limitations of correlations between pairs of self-report measures as evidence of construct validity. The authors provide an overview of the process of construct validation via user-friendly terminology and examples, with special attention to aspects often neglected in counseling psychology research, including specific recommendations for design and interpretation of multimethod validity investigations.

Scale Development Research

The authors conducted a content analysis on new scale development articles appearing in the Journal of Counseling Psychology during 10 years (1995 to 2004). The authors analyze and discuss characteristics of the exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis procedures in these scale development studies with respect to sample characteristics, factorability, extraction methods, rotation methods, item deletion or retention, factor retention, and model fit indexes. The authors uncovered a variety of specific practices that were at variance with the current literature on factor analysis or structural equation modeling. They make recommendations for best practices in scale development research in counseling psychology using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis.

Guidelines for Meta-Analyses of Counseling Psychology Research

This article conceptually describes the steps in conducting quantitative meta-analyses of counseling psychology research with minimal reliance on statistical formulas. The authors identify sources that describe necessary statistical formula for various meta-analytic calculations and describe recent developments in meta-analytic techniques. The authors illustrate meta-analytic procedures with recently published meta-analyses in counseling psychology, and last, they provide a guide for writing up meta-analytic studies for publication.

Factor Analysis in Counseling Psychology Research, Training, and Practice

Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) have contributed to test development and validation in counseling psychology, but additional applications have not been fully realized. The author presents an overview of the goals, terminology, and procedures of factor analysis; reviews best practices for extracting, retaining, and rotating factors in EFA; describes issues related to CFA, including potential hypotheses, how parameters are estimated, and current guidelines regarding sample size and the use of fit indices; and reviews more sophisticated applications of CFA, including multiple-groups analysis and testing of hierarchical models. Finally, the author recommends how to increase the application of factor analysis to counseling psychologists’ work in research, training, and practice settings.

Race and Ethnicity in Empirical Counseling and Counseling Psychology Research

This article examined 796 empirical studies published in the Journal of Counseling Psychology, the Journal of Counseling and Development, and The Counseling Psychologist from 1990 to 1999 and found that only 457 (57%) reported racial and ethnic characteristics of research participants. From this data, an overall picture was generated of the racial and ethnic compositionof counselingand counseling psychology research participants: 78.2% White, 5.8% Asian American, 6.7% African American, 6.6% Hispanic, 0.9% Native American, and 0.1% multiracial. Compared to the overall U.S. population, Whites and Asian Americans were overrepresented, and African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans were underrepresented. There was limited information about how researchers gathered participants’ race and ethnicity information and on factors that might inform participants’experience as racial and ethnic beings (e.g., racial and ethnic identity, generation status, acculturation). Findings are compared and contrasted with previous reviews related to issues of race and ethnicity in counseling research.

The Continuing and Evolving Challenge of Race and Ethnicity in Empirical Counseling and Counseling Psychology Research

The Continuing and Evolving Challenge of Race and Ethnicity in Empirical Counseling and Counseling Psychology Research

Race and Racism in Counseling Psychology Research, Training, and Practice

The modern civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s radically transformed practice and research in applied psychology, at least in terms of its understanding of race and racism. Rapid changes in psychology generally and in counseling psychology specifically occurred on the coattails of the Black, Brown, and women power activities during the volatile years of the late 1960s and early 1970s (Carter, 2005; Heppner, Casas, Carter, & Stone, 2000). During this time we witnessed the formation of organizations to attend to the professional concerns of racial and ethnic minority psychologists (e.g., the Association of Black Psychologists, Asian American Psychological Association, Association of Psychologists Por La Raza, Division 45 of the American Psychological Association, now known as the Society for the Psychological Study of Ethnic Minority Issues, etc.), the establishment of internal structures in the American Psychology Association to confront issues of race and racism within the organization and the profession (e.g., Committee on Ethnic Minority Affairs), and the creation of journals designed to publish psychological research related to the experiences of racial minorities (e.g., Journal of Black Psychology and Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development [formerly known as the Journal of NonWhite Concerns]). The field of counseling psychology began to examine issues of race and eventually racism in training, research, and practice within this context. More than three decades ago, psychologists initiated dialogue in counseling psychology journals about the role of race in the counseling process (e.g., Vontress, 1971). Since that time, several productive lines of investigation have appeared in counseling journals, including the influence of racial identity attitudes on the counseling process (e.g., Constantine, 2002; Parham & Helms, 1981), racial issues in counseling interactions (e.g., Thompson &

The Use of Structural Equation Modeling in Counseling Psychology Research

Structural equation modeling (SEM) has become increasingly popular for analyzing data in the social sciences, although several broad reviews of psychology journals suggest that many SEM researchers engage in questionable practices when using the technique. The purpose of this study is to review and critique the use of SEM in counseling psychology research regarding several of these questionable practices. One hundred five studies from 99 separate articles published in the Journal of Counseling Psychology between 1987 and 2003 were reviewed. Results of the review indicate that many counseling psychology studies do not engage in various best practices recommended by SEM experts (e.g., testing multiple a priori theoretical models or reporting all parameter estimates or effect sizes). Results also indicate that SEM practices in counseling psychology seem to be improving in some areas, whereas in other areas no improvements were noted over time. Implications of these results are discussed, and suggestions for SEM use within counseling psychology are provided.