The Relationship Between Personal Characteristics, Multicultural Attitudes, and Self-Reported Multicultural Competence of Graduate Students

Reynolds, Amy L.
Rivera, Lourdes M.

¹University at Buffalo
²Queens College

Amy L. Reynolds, Department of Counseling, School, and Educational Psychology, University at Buffalo, 408 Baldy Hall, Buffalo, NY 14260 [email protected]

Amy L. Reynolds is an Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Education at the University at Buffalo. A graduate of the Counseling Psychology doctoral program at Ohio State University, her scholarship focuses on multicultural counseling and training in psychology and student affairs and college student mental health issues.

Lourdes M. Rivera is an Associate Professor in the Counselor Education program at Queens College, CUNY. She received her doctorate in Counseling Psychology from Fordham University. Dr. Rivera's areas of interest include multicultural counseling and career development, specifically with students from diverse backgrounds.

Submission April 5, 2011. Revision May 14, 2012. Accepted July 20, 2012.

Training and Education in Professional Psychology 6(3):p 167-173, August 2012. | DOI: 10.1037/a0029774

This study examined some of the underlying attitudes and psychological factors that may affect the self-reported multicultural competence of counseling professionals. Two subscales of the Personality Research Form, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, two subscales of the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF), the Quick Discrimination Index subscales, and the Multicultural Counseling Knowledge and Awareness Scale were administered to 129 graduate students in counseling. Results of regression analyses indicate that there is a positive and significant relationship between Cognitive Racial Attitudes as measured by the Quick Discrimination Index and self-reported multicultural competence. Though a more limited relationship between personality variables and multicultural awareness and knowledge emerged, these variables did not contribute to the prediction equations. Implications for research and training are explored.