Icelanders' and Americans' expectations about counseling : do expectations vary by nationality, sex, and Holland's typology?

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Authors
Aegisdottir, Stefania
Advisor
Gerstein, Lawrence H.
Issue Date
2000
Keyword
Degree
Thesis (Ph. D.)
Department
Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services
Other Identifiers
Abstract

The purpose of the present study was threefold. First, to investigate Icelandic and American students' counseling expectations. Second, to study counseling expectations of men and women. And finally, to explore the relationship between counseling expectations and Holland's typology. Eight-hundred-and-one useable responses were gathered from the students. To explore the first two objectives, a 2 (Nationality: Icelandic and American) x 2 (Sex: men and women) between subjects multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) was calculated with prior counseling experience as a covariate and scores on the three factor scales of the Expectations About Counseling Questionnaire-Brief Form (EAC-B) as the dependent variables. It was found that the Icelandic students expected greater expertise from the counselor than did the American students. It was also discovered that women, as compared to men, expected to be more personally committed to the counseling process, whereas men expected more counselor expertise.To investigate the third objective, a canonical correlation analysis was performed using responses to the three factor scales of the EAC-B as the predictors and scores on the six Holland's types (RIASEC) as the criterion. It was found that counseling expectations were significantly related to Holland's typology. That is, the more Social persons were the more they expected to be personally committed to counseling and the less counselor expertise they expected. Also, the more Realistic persons were the greater their expectations about counselor expertise and the lower their expectations about being personally committed to counseling. On the whole, it appeared that Icelandic students' counseling expectations resembled expectations of persons with no past counseling experience, counseling expectations of men, counseling expectations of some minority groups, and counseling expectations of individuals who tend to posses Realistic personality characteristics. Namely, expecting direction and guidance from an expert counselor. On the other hand, women and persons who tended to be Social expected less guidance from the counselor and expected to be greatly involved in the counseling process. Results were discussed in relation to past findings in the expectancy literature, the validity of the expectancy construct, and the need for unique counseling interventions to meet the needs of diverse multicultural groups.