Counselor behavior as a function of counselor dominance, counselor experience and client type

An attempt to clarify relationships of counselor dominance, experience, and client type with counselor directiveness. 60 male "experienced" (graduate) and "inexperienced" (undergraduate) counselors, matched on CPI Dominance scores, were divided into high and low dominance groups. Ss responded to recordings of initial interviews of a typical, a dependent and a hostile client, via a multiple-choice questionnaire classified for directiveness and response category. Directiveness scores of the high and low dominance groups were not significantly different. Experienced counselors were significantly less directive than inexperienced and limited their responses primarily to a few categories. The dependent client elicited the most directiveness. Results suggest the importance of counselor experience and client type in the directiveness of counselor verbal behavior. (16 ref.)