INTERCULTURAL STUDY OF COUNSELING EXPECTANCIES

200 STUDENTS FROM THE UNITED STATES, ENGLAND, AND 5 ASIAN COUNTRIES AND 62 GRADUATE COUNSELORS IN TRAINING IN 2 AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES WERE GIVEN A 36-ITEM QUESTIONNAIRE. THE ASIAN CULTURES, SELECTED ON THE ASSUMPTION THAT THEY WERE SIMILAR IN THEIR AUTHORITARIAN ORIENTATION, E.G., RESPECT TO ELDERS AND AUTHORITY FIGURES, TIGHTER FAMILY TIES, SUBMISSION, AND NURTURANCE, WERE FOUND TO BE SIMILAR IN THEIR COUNSELING EXPECTANCIES. THEY, AS A GROUP, TENDED TO DIFFER FROM THE UNITED STATES GROUP. WHEN THE AMERICAN AND FOREIGN STUDENT GROUPS WERE COMPARED TO THE PROFESSIONAL GROUP, BOTH STUDENT GROUPS APPEARED TO BE RATHER ALIKE AND AUTHORITARIAN IN THEIR COUNSELING EXPECTANCIES. THOSE FOREIGN STUDENTS WHO HAVE BEEN IN THE UNITED STATES LONGER WERE FOUND MOST SIMILAR TO THE AMERICAN STUDENTS. A FOLLOW-UP STUDY NEEDS TO BE CARRIED OUT WITH COMPARABLE GROUPS IN THEIR NATIVE COUNTRIES. (31 REF.)