White rehabilitation-counseling graduate students reviewed case materials for a client portrayed as African American to one group and as White to the other. The African-American client was judged to have less potential for education and employment after participants reviewed the initial client information. This difference persisted even after…

The acquisition of culture-specific knowledge through reading and/or experience is an important component of cross-cultural counseling education. This study explores the relationship between counselor trainees' culture specific knowledge and their ability to empathize in general. It would seem reasonable to assume that those who belong to a…

Investigates perceptions of counselors-in-training (N=133) of Black, Hispanic, and White male and female adolescents facing a teen pregnancy. After viewing video vignettes, participants indicated that boys would be more encouraged to leave school and work than would girls. Girls were seen as having more control over pregnancy decisions compared to…

Empathy has been defined as the single most important dimension in establishing a counseling relationship. This paper describes a study that compares counselor trainees' and a general population of African American males' empathy ratings of racially mixed videotaped counseling sessions. The report addresses the following questions: "Do…

When students are culturally or racially different from their counselors, guidance and counseling services can be weakened: a counselor's limited cultural awareness will not produce effective interpersonal relationships. Empathic understanding and a good knowledge of a client generally will provide a springboard for good relationship development…