This article deals with male and female college students' preferences for types of counselors for various problem areas. The results indicate a trend toward preferences for female and peer counselors, which may have implications for staffing counseling services centers. (Author)

Interpersonal behaviors and factors may facilitate or hinder the ability of one person to exert influence over another. To investigate the impact of counselor smoking behavior and status on potential clients' perceptions of counselor attributes, credibility, and expected helpfulness, 134 female college students viewed one of three vignettes…

The research literature on the impact of counselor smoking has yielded unexpected results, indicating no difference in perceptions of smoking or nonsmoking counselors, or more favorable reactions to smoking counselors. To further study clients' perceptions of therapists' smoking, a study was designed which evaluated the impact of a female…

Investigates the importance of counselor sex, race, and empathy on clients' perceptions of the counselor. Counselor sex and student sex had no significant effect on counselor rating. Black counselors were rated significantly higher than white counselors on attractiveness, expertness, and trustworthiness. Counselors were rated higher on all…

Female students (28 black, 28 white) viewed videotape of a counseling session in one of four conditions: (a) two female counselors (one black, one white), and (b) two counselor roles (active, passive). Analysis of students' ratings revealed (a) no differences among conditions in perceived attentiveness or friendliness, (b) significant differences…

Nonsmoking females (n=270) observed videotaped interview in design that crossed three levels of intensity of counselor smoking, three levels of client presenting problem intimacy, and two female counselors. No interactions were observed, but counselor smoking exerted negative impact on participants' impressions of counselor characteristics and…

Self-disclosure, defined as any information about oneself which one person communicates verbally to another, is an important aspect of the therapeutic process. The strongest determinant of disclosure is disclosure itself--the reciprocity effect. To explore the reciprocity effect in the context of biracial counseling, 33 black female college…

Investigated effects of pretherapy information about a feminist therapist's values and therapy orientation. Studied self-identified feminist clients' judgments of similarity to the therapist's values, confidence in the therapist's helpfulness, and willingness to see the therapist. Subjects were not as willing to see the explicitly feminist…

Women's preferences for counselors differing in marital status, sex, and age were investigated in two studies of college (N=32) and noncollege (N=32) women. Both studies indicated college and noncollege women preferred women counselors on a number of hypothetical process measures. Changing trends in women's counselor preferences are discussed.…

Analyzed male (N=72) and female (N=64) perceptions of female counselors using three levels of counselor physical attractiveness and four levels of counselor age. Male compared to female participants evaluated unattractive women counselors more positively. Counselor age influenced reactions to counselors. (RC)

Analyzed 24 dyadic interactions of black clients and white or black race-avoidant counselors in quasi-counseling sessions. Uncovered following core categories related to interactional quality: smooth, exasperated, constricted, and disjunctive. Categories were explained by whether and how client introduced race concerns, client racial identity…

College women (N=56) identified as holding either egalitarian or traditional attitudes toward dating-initiation, were randomly assigned to four taped, counseling conditions. Counselors expressing egalitarian attitudes were rated more favorably than counselors expressing traditional attitudes. (Author)

Resistant, intermediate, and nonresistant female college students (N=150) listened to counseling session with female counselor using either tentative or absolute style of interpretation. Subjects rated counselor's expertness, attractiveness, trustworthiness; helpfulness and effectiveness of interpretations; and willingness to see counselor.…

Results of a survey of the world view of female white clients, white counselors, and Chinese international students showed significant differences. Income was a significant predictor of world views for clients, while age and marital status contributed strongly to those of counselors. Among the Chinese students, the Taiwanese and the Mainland…

Female college students (N=81) were led to believe either that a counselor would or would not self-disclose, or were given no expectation regarding self-disclosure. Subjects then listened to audiotapes in which counselor did or did not reveal personal information. Results showed that disclosing counselor was viewed more favorably than…