The Counseling Psychologist

This article examines the various types of life stresses that members of racial minority groups experience. A model of the life stress process is presented, and several hypotheses are offered to describe the situation of members of ethnic minority groups with respect to life stress. Propositions leading toward a cross-cultural theory of life stress, ethnicity, and culture are presented. A dominant theme is that culture forms the context in which stressful life events derive their meaning. Each culture has its own barometer for measuring the stressfulness of any life event. There are culturally patterned ways of viewing and responding to stressor stimuli. The Stress, Resistant, Delivery (SRD) model is presented as a theoretical framework for counseling members of ethnic minority groups.

This article provides a nonexhaustive and critical review of selective research on client-counselor variables to exemplify the type and status and/or quality of work conducted on racial/ethnic minorities. In addition, specific and generic methodological and professional recommendations for improving the quality of research across topics and variables are proposed.

A survey of several major issues and problems associated with testing and assessment across cultural or ethnic boundaries is presented. Included, for example, are brief discussions of such issues as levels of equivalence, nonverbal communication, expectations and beliefs, client-counselor similarities, test bias, and response styles. The presentation is intended for counselors who are not very familiar with either cross-cultural methodological problems or the major obstacles hindering more effective assessment during cross-cultural counseling and psychotherapy. In addition, three very popular tests-the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, the Thematic Apperception Test, and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test- are used to highlight some of the issues and problems in cross-cultural assessment.

Counseling is a sociopolitical act. However, many counselors are unaware of the fact that the profession has at its core a set of cultural values and norms by which clients are judged. In order to make the counseling psychology field more responsive to the needs of multicultural populations, the profession must be willing to engage in self-examination. This article explicates how White culture serves as the foundation for counseling theory, research, and practice. The use of this theory base with multicultural populations is explored and specific recommendations for the field of counseling psychology are presented.

This article presents strategies to enhance effectiveness in cross-cultural counseling and psychotherapy encounters. A major assumption is that a coherent orientation is needed that includes cultural differences yet transcends these differences and organizes the human experience in the context of individual world views within the framework of existential philosophy. An understanding of one's own world view and the client's world view are key elements in enhancing cross-cultural effectiveness. Other strategies that can enhance cross-cultural counseling and psychotherapy include a discussion on the knowledge of semantic structures of reasoning and an understanding of culture-its premises and its relationship to effectiveness in cross-cultural counseling and psychotherapy.

The 1977 through 1982 annual convention programs of the American Psychological Association (APA) were analyzed for cultural and ethnic content. These years were of interest as they coincide with the emergence of APA policy statements in support of cultural awareness. The examination of these programs via presentation titles revealed that 5.6% of the total convention time was allotted to general cultural processes or to national, racial, or ethnic groups. Of the studies specifying nationalities, the Americans (the United States) received the largest percentage of time. All of the major racial and ethnic groups within the United States were represented. The amount of programming for cultural and ethnic topics remained at low levels and showed no consistent trends, suggesting that it was not influenced by the professional rhetoric. The implications for these findings are discussed with particular attention to counseling psychology.

This article proposes a new work place for counseling psychologists in the property management field. It clarifies the roles counseling psychologists could assume, establishes the need for their expertise in the property field, and suggests implications for appropriate training. The Fox chase Model of incorporating a counseling psychologist into the management of a large, urban housing development is provided.

This article presents a model of feminist identity development for women. The model is derived, in part, from Cross's (1971) theory of Black identity development and is based on the premise that women who live in contemporary society must first acknowledge, then struggle with, and repeatedly work through their feelings about the prejudice and discrimination they experience as women in order to achieve authentic and positive feminist identity. The stages in this process include passive acceptance, revelation, embeddedness-emanation, synthesis, and active commitment. Implications of the model are outlined for women, nonsexist and feminist psychotherapies and contemporary society.