Journal of Counseling Psychology1998, Vol. 45, No. 3, 256-264

Copyright 1998 by the American Psychological Association, Inc.OO22-O167/98/S3.OO

Correlates of Self-Reported Multicultural Competencies:Counselor Multicultural Social Desirability, Race, Social Inadequacy,

Locus of Control Racial Ideology, and Multicultural Training

Gargi Roysircar Sodowsky, Phoebe Y. Kuo-Jackson, Melissa Frey Richardson,and Amy Tiongson Corey

University of Nebraska—Lincoln

Self-reported multicultural counseling competencies (MCCs) of 176 university counselingcenter staff were assessed. A 1-model multiple regression analysis, using a 4-step forced-entrymethod, accounted for 34% of the variability in MCCs. As hypothesized, after the significantcontributions of multicultural (MC) social desirability and race were taken into account,attitudes of feelings of social inadequacy and locus of control racial ideology overall andindividually made significant contributions. Then, MC training variables overall and numberof minority and international clients, MC research projects, and MC courses individually madesignificant contributions. Hispanics had significantly higher Multicultural Counseling Inven-tory scores than did Whites. Minority groups scored differently than Whites on the variablesmeasured, and MCCs increased with training.

The multicultural model (Pedersen, 1991) recognizesextensive diversity in the United States and integrates theoryand practice in multicultural counseling psychology. Thismodel is used when considering multiple oppressions, thecomplexities of acculturation and ethnic identity, multipleheritages that have shaped the United States, and diverseeffects of pluralism on individuals. Pedersen (1991) calledthe multicultural model the fourth theoretical force inpsychology and is also currently proposing it as the onlyviable intergroup theory for the next century (personalcommunication, April 3, 1997).

One way to provide validity to the multicultural model isto continue the empirical line of inquiry into multiculturalcounseling competencies (MCCs; e.g., D'Andrea, Daniels,& Heck, 1991; LaFromboise, Coleman, & Hernandez, 1991;Neville et al., 1996; Ottavi, Pope-Davis, & Dings, 1994;Ponterotto et al., 1996; Sodowsky, Taffe, Gutkin, & Wise,1994). Briefly, MCCs have been characterized by D. W. Sueand colleagues (Sue, Arredondo, & McDavis, 1992; Sue etal., 1982) as counselor multicultural knowledge, skills, andawareness concerning experiences of racial and ethnicminorities and people culturally different from White Ameri-cans. Sodowsky (Sodowsky, 1996; Sodowsky, Kuo-Jackson,& Loya, 1997; Sodowsky et al., 1994; Sodowsky et al.,1998) added a fourth dimension, multicultural counselingrelationship. In the present study, furthering the understand-ing of the associations of self-reported MCCs with counselor

Gargi Roysircar Sodowsky, Phoebe Y. Kuo-Jackson, MelissaFrey Richardson, and Amy Tiongson Corey, Department of Educa-tional Psychology, University of Nebraska—Lincoln.

Jeffrey O'Dell, also from the counseling psychology program, isacknowledged for his participation in an initial study.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed toGargi Roysircar Sodowsky, Department of Educational Psychology,116 Bancroft Hall, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska68588-0345. Electronic mail may be sent to sodowsky@unlinfo.unl.edu.

attitudes and multicultural training was considered critical tothe continued development of clinical training of counselingpsychologists.

Counselor MCC responses might be distorted for severalreasons. Liberal or conservative orthodoxy about issues ofU.S. diversity might influence respondents to self-reportsocially desirable or undesirable multicultural attitudes. Inaddition, the purpose of self-report studies, such as thepresent one, may be transparent to the participants. Sodowsky(Sodowsky, 1996; Sodowsky, O'Dell, Hagemoser, Kwan, &Tonemah, 1993) argued that general social desirability orfaking good or bad scales might not be useful in themeasurement of MCCs because she found that the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (Crowne & Marlowe,1960), a predictor variable among others, made a nonsignifi-cant contribution to the Multicultural Counseling Inventory(MCI), an MCC measure. Ponterotto et al. (1996) found asimilar nonsignificant relationship with another MCC instru-ment, the Multicultural Counseling Awareness Scale(MCAS). Sodowsky (1996) thus recommended that a self-report MCC instrument needs to be accompanied by amulticultural social desirability scale that has multiculturalcontent and face validity.

Multicultural social desirability refers to one professingthat one personally and socially always interacts positivelywith minorities and that at the institutional level, one alwaysfavors government and educational policies that instituteexpanded MC diversity. In the present study, it was consid-ered important to take into consideration the variability inMCCs that is due to multicultural social desirability, beforestudying the contributions of other variables of interest tothe study. Next, because studies have shown significanteffects of counselor self-assigned race for self-reportedMCCs (Pope-Davis & Ottavi, 1994; Pope-Davis, Prieto,Whitaker, & Pope-Davis, 1993; Pope-Davis, Reynolds,Dings, & Nielson, 1995), the variability in MCCs that is dueto racial self-designation needs to be taken into account

256

CORRELATES OF MULTICULTURAL COMPETENCIES 257

before studying the relative contributions of counselorattitudes and multicultural training.

In ideological or symbolic racism, there is subtle expres-sion of negative feelings toward minority groups. Forinstance, some believe that there is no longer any seriousdiscrimination in U.S. society, that affirmative action poli-cies should be terminated, and that continuing patterns ofinequity and indignity experienced by minorities are thefault of minority groups themselves.

The values of self-determination and personal accountabil-ity defended in ideological racism are questioned by theo-rists of MC identity models that consider the operation ofracism. For instance, D. W. Sue and D. Sue's (1990)sociopolitical model of worldviews hypothesizes that non-White Americans have an external locus of control in copingwith their minority status. Atkinson, Morten, and Sue (1993)have a general conceptual model of oppression that proposesthat an oppressed-group identity is held by various minoritygroups who are socialized under similar conditions of racialdiscrimination. Helms (1996) said that racial and ethnicidentity models have "in common the underlying assump-tion that an in-group racial or ethnic identity [is] formed bycontrasting oneself and one's socially ascribed racial orethnic group against the dominant White group if one [is] aPerson of Color, or the Black group if one [is] White" (p.144). In contrast, the belief system in ideological racism isthat the responsibility for improving societal conditions forBlacks rests on individual Blacks themselves. Thus, thestudy examined the relationship of an internal locus ofcontrol racial ideology with self-reported MCCs.

Pedersen (1987) identified sociability as a key personalityvariable of an MC counselor. For instance, an MC counselorsteps out of the safety of mainstream practice to meet thechallenges of working with people who are different. Suchinitiative reflects counselor feelings of social adequacy. Thusthe relationship of a lack of self-assurance in a social contextwith self-reported MCCs was studied.

In a series of studies, Pope-Davis and colleagues (Ottaviet al., 1994; Pope-Davis & Dings, 1995; Pope-Davis,Eliason, & Ottavi, 1994; Pope-Davis & Nielson, 1996;Pope-Davis et al., 1993; Pope-Davis et al,, 1995) reportedthat MC didactic and experiential training consistentlyexplained significant variance for MC awareness, MCcounseling knowledge, and MC counseling skills (in thatorder). Neville et al. (1996) found that counselor traineesreported that multiple exposure to various peoples and theircultures by means of different classroom presentationshelped to promote MCCs. The present study advanced theseprevious findings by investigating the specific relativecontributions of select multicultural training activities toself-reported MCC.

Research Hypotheses

The following research hypotheses were made. After thesignificant relationships of multicultural social desirabilityand race, each, with self-reported MCCs were taken intoaccount, respondents' locus of control racial ideology andfeelings of social inadequacy would overall and individually

significantly predict self-reported MCCs, and respondents'multicultural training activities would overall and individu-ally significantly predict self-reported MCCs.

Method

Participants

General demographics. The respondents (N = 224) were stafffrom APA-approved university counseling centers across thenation, with 114 from the midwestem and mountain states and 110from the eastern, western, and southern states. There were 39%(n = 87) doctoral psychologists, 23% (n = 51) predoctoral interns,14% (n = 31) master's level counselors, 13% (n = 30) doctoralpracticum students, 9% (n = 21) master's practicum students, and2% (n — 4) bachelor's level counselors. There were 63% womenand 37% men, ranging in age from 22 to 66 years. Fifty-threepercent of the respondents were married. Of the 47% who weresingle, 11% were in heterosexual relationships, 8% were divorced,and 7% were in gay or lesbian relationships. Regarding theirspecialty areas, 63% were from counseling psychology, 21% werefrom clinical psychology, 8% were from counseling and guidance,and 8% were from social work. Forty-one percent were statelicensed. The respondents' median annual income was $30,000,with 17% earning less than $10,000 and 12% earning more than$50,000.

Multicultural characteristics. The sample consisted of 71%White, 11% Asian, 7% Black, and 6% Hispanic, approximating theracial and ethnic composition of the 1994 U.S. Census data (U.S.Bureau of the Census, 1994). Two percent were interracial, andthere was 1 Native American participant. Whereas 44% werefamiliar only with English, 56% were familiar with diverselanguages, with Spanish being cited most frequently, followed byFrench, Chinese, German, Japanese (in that order), and then byvarious languages from Southeast and South Asia. Participantsreported a median of 11% of racial and ethnic current minorityclients in their typical client load, with the distribution beingpositively skewed; 8% had never counseled a racial or ethnicminority client. Median percentage of international clients in thetypical client load was 3%, with the distribution being positivelyskewed; 30% reported that they had never counseled an interna-tional client.

Slightly more than half the respondents had taken multiculturalcourses, and 25% had taken two or more courses. In addition, 32%had done multicultural counseling research, and 1% had done morethan one research project. A content analysis (Altheide, 1957) ofthe 85 reported research projects, indicating an interrater agreementrate of 90%, revealed that 23 involved the study of multiculturalcounseling training, 18 the study of specific racial, ethnic, andcross-cultural populations, 11 acculturation and ethnic identity, 10multicultural assessment, 8 worldviews and cultural values, 8multicultural education, 4 racial identity, and 3 effects of counselorrace and ethnicity.

Participants were asked to list additional multicultural experi-ences. A content analysis (Altheide, 1957) of 313 listed multicul-tural experiences, indicating an interrater agreement rate of 85%,revealed that 99 were foreign travel and work experiences, 55 workwith American racial and ethnic minorities, 40 work or experiencein inner-city schools, 24 minority group membership and accultura-tion experiences, 19 personal multicultural and cross-culturalrelationships, 16 student exchange experience, 15 indigenouscultural or work experiences, 12 Peace Corps work, 11 involve-ment in disability service, 11 involvement with gays and lesbians,and 11 work with international students.

Attendance of multicultural counseling workshops showed the

258 SODOWSKY, KUO-JACKSON, RICHARDSON, AND COREY

least variability among the training variables, with 77% of theparticipants having attended workshops. Of those, 58% hadattended one, and 19% had attended two to six. The nature of theworkshops, as determined by raters showing a 75% agreement rate,was generally for consciousness-raising (55%) about White privi-lege, racism, and cultural differences and knowledge (25%) aboutthe beliefs of specific racial and ethnic minority groups. Theworkshops were less specific than the listed research topics and MCexperiences.

Instruments

Multicultural Counseling Inventory (Sodowsky et al, 1994).The MCI centers on how counselors can potentially becomeculturally skilled: by understanding the different experiences ofvarious U.S. racial and ethnic minority groups, understanding thebarriers that exist owing to these differences between traditionallytrained counselors and minority groups, and possessing a specificset of treatment and relational abilities to work with minorityclients. In using the word multicultural, the emphasis is not on anyspecific minority group differences, but rather on dealing withdifferences that exist among people in the United States owing tonational origins, acculturation, sociopolitical conditions, socioeco-nomic status, minority identity, worldview orientations, language,and so on. The MCI was developed "in order to operationalizesome of the proposed constructs of multicultural counselingcompetencies" (Sodowsky et al., 1994, p. 139) through exploratoryfactor analyses, confirmatory factor analysis, and tests of internalconsistency. The full MCI scale has shown a mean Cronbach'salpha of .87 (Pope-Davis & Dings, 1994; Sodowsky et al., 1994;Sodowsky et al,, 1998). The mean Cronbach's alpha for Multicul-tural Counseling Skills (11 items) is .80; for Multicultural Aware-ness (10 items) .78; for Multicultural Counseling Relationship (8items) .68; and MC Counseling Knowledge (11 items) .77 (Ottaviet al., 1994; Pope-Davis & Dings, 1994; Pope-Davis et al., 1994;Pope-Davis & Ottavi, 1994; Pope-Davis et al., 1993; Pope-Davis etal., 1995; Sodowsky et al., 1994; Sodowsky et al., 1998). Meaninterscale correlations are shown to be .34 for Multicultural Skills,.30 for Multicultural Awareness, .27 for Multicultural Relationship,and .32 for Multicultural Knowledge (Pope-Davis & Dings, 1994;Sodowsky et al., 1994).

Self-reported MCI statements, such as "I use the natural supportsystem of minorities in a differentiated and specific manner," arerated on a 4-point Likert-type scale ranging from very inaccurate(1) to very accurate (4), with 1 indicating low multiculturalcompetence and 4 indicating high multicultural competence.Because the study's design did not include subscale analyses, theiroperational definitions are not provided, but these can be found inthe instrument development and other previous work on the MCI(e.g., Pope-Davis & Dings, 1995; Sodowsky, 1996; Sodowsky,Kuo-Jackson, & Loya, 1997; Sodowsky, Taffe, et al., 1994).

Multicultural Social Desirability Scale (Sodowsky et al., 1993).The Multicultural Social Desirability Scale measures a preferenceto make a good impression on others by self-reporting that one isvery responsive in all personal and social interactions withminorities and that one always favors institutional policies fordiversity. Such extreme affinity for minority concerns is notrealistic in the context of U.S. racial relations.

The Multicultural Social Desirability Scale in its original formhad 40 items, which were reduced to 26 items through the study ofitem-to-total scale correlations (Sodowsky, 1996; Sodowsky et al.,1993). The reduced 26-item form had average item-to-total correla-tions of .32 and .35 and Cronbach's alphas of .75 and .80,respectively, which compared well with similar internal consis-tency reliabilities reported on much longer social desirability scales

(e.g., the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale) and fakinggood or bad scales (e.g., in the Sixteen Personality FactorQuestionnaire). The instrument-refinement process (Sodowsky,1996; Sodowsky et al., 1993) in the initial studies also involvedcorrelating the Multicultural Social Desirability Scale with theMarlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale, showing interscalecorrelations of .32 and .48, respectively. Thus, the two socialdesirability scales appeared moderately independent.

Multicultural Social Desirability items include such self-reportsas never hesitating to help a racial minority person in trouble orbelieving that equal opportunity cannot be realized without color-sensitive policies. Examples of items are "I have been annoyedwhen minority people have expressed ideas very different frommine" and "I believe there should be laws against racist or hatespeech." Like most faking good or bad scales, the MulticulturalSocial Desirability Scale has a forced-choice format of true orfalse. A high score (e.g., 25-26 points) indicates that one isclaiming favorable attitudes toward minorities all of the time on allpersonal, social, and institutional issues, and a low score (e.g., 5-6points) indicates that one does not care about appearing unsympa-thetic to minority concerns. According to the initial studies, a meanscore of 16 appears to balance the two perspectives, showing bothpositive and negative reactions to minority concerns, which isconsidered realistic intergroup attitudes.

Locus of control Race Ideology factor (Gurin, Gurin, Lao, &Beattie, 1969). The Race Ideology factor from Gurin et al.'s(1969) Multidimensional Internal-External Control Scale (MultiIE Scale) taps beliefs about the operation of personal and externalforces in the context of the race situation in the United States. Gurinet al. (1969) showed through factor analysis that for Black studentsfrom predominantly Black colleges, four factors could be identi-fied, one of which was the Race Ideology factor. Around the time ofits development, the Multi IE Scale was shown to have convergentvalidity (Forward & Williams, 1970; Hayes & Page, 1979; Lao,1970; Savage, Stearns, & Friedman, 1979). More recently, Trimbleand Richardson (1982) used the Race Ideology factor to studyNative Americans, showing a separation between personal controland race-ideological control. Information pertaining to reliability(homogeneity) is absent from the literature perhaps because of thebrevity of the Multi IE subscales.

The 12-item Race Ideology factor has an ipsative scoring format,an example of which is given below:

1. A. The best way to handle problems of discrimination is foreach individual African American to make sure he/she getsthe best training possible for what he/she wants to do.(personal control)B. Only if African Americans pull together in civil rightsgroups and activities can anything really be done aboutdiscrimination, (external forces)

One of the two options must be chosen. A high score (near themaximum possible score of 12) indicates a belief in exercisingpersonal, internal control on racism, and a low score (near theminimum possible score of zero) indicates a belief in exercisingexternal, societal control on racism.

Revised Janis—Field Feelings of [Social] Inadequacy Scale(Eagly, 1967). This is a measure of social self-esteem, which hasbeen used to study one's susceptibility to favorable or unfavorableinformation and social influence and one's improvisation andattitude change as an effect of situational variables (Eagly, 1967,1969). With regard to homogeneity, Eagly presented split-halfreliabilities of .72 (1967) and .88 (1969) and a correlation of .54between positively and negatively stated items that balance foracquiescence. The original form was widely used by Janis andothers in early persuasibility research, showing considerable con-

CORRELATES OF MULTICULTURAL COMPETENCIES 259

vergent, divergent, and predictive validity (Hovland & Janis,1959). More recently, Heatherton and Polivy (1991) showed thatthe revised scale was most highly related (r — .76) to the Socialfactor of their State Self-Esteem Scale. In a study of the adjustmentof older people (Davis, Lovie-Kitchin, & Thompson, 1995), therewas a significant negative relationship between scores on therevised scale and reported daily hassles (r = —.60), whereas therewas no strong relationship with life satisfaction.

An example of an item from the 20-item Revised Janis-FieldFeelings of [Social] Inadequacy Scale (Eagly, 1967) is "How oftendo you feel sure of yourself among strangers?" Such a question isfollowed by Likert responses ranging from 1 (very often) to 5(never). A high score indicates feelings of strong social inadequacy.

Procedures

A letter was written to the directors of 68 APA-approveduniversity counseling centers in the United States, requesting themto release the names of their counseling staff. Thirty-eight directorsreleased 450 names, of which 325 individuals were randomlychosen to receive mailed questionnaires. A total of 224 anonymous,volunteer participants responded. However, only 176 completedthe two parts to the survey, accounting for 54% complete data sets.Eleven minority respondents from the list were recruited toparticipate through personal networking (individual requests andtelephone calls).

The questionnaire package consisted of the MCI (Sodowsky etal., 1994); Multicultural Social Desirability Scale (Sodowsky,1996; Sodowsky et al., 1993); Revised Janis-Field Feelings of[Social] Inadequacy Scale (Eagly, 1967); and locus of control RaceIdeology factor (Gurin et al., 1969). It was thought that the wholepackage of measures might cause fatigue or inattentiveness;therefore, it was separated into two parts, A and B. Participantswere randomly assigned to receive either part. Whichever part wentout first also included the demographic sheet. After the first mailedpart was returned, the second part was mailed. The two-stepadministration led to attrition: 18 participants completed Part Aonly, and 30 participants completed Part B only.

With regard to the completed questionnaires (n = 176), t testsindicated that there were no differences between the group thatanswered A first (n = 86) and the group that answered B first(n = 90) on all the measures. Similarly, t tests indicated that therewere no differences between the completed questionnaire groupand the 18 respondents who completed only A or the 30 respon-dents who completed only B. Among the nonvolunteers, 12 wroteback on the study's letter of information that they were either toobusy, not interested in the topic, or reluctant to commit to a two-partstudy or that certain aspects of the questionnaire needed improve-ment, such as its forced-choice format for particular measures,length, or "racist" tone.

Results

Description of Score Differences by MulticulturalTraining and Race

Data from 176 completed surveys were analyzed. Meansand standard deviations for counselor race and MC traininggroups on the measures used are reported in Table 1.Because participants reported the number of MC courses,research projects, and workshops they had participated in,they could be statistically assigned to three groupings ofmulticultural training: those with no multicultural training,either through course work, research, or workshop (MCT0,

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260 SODOWSKY, KUO-JACKSON, RICHARDSON, AND COREY

n — 19); those with some multicultural training, indicatingat least one of the three types of training (MCTi, n = 127);and those who participated in all three options of multicul-tural training (MCT2, n = 30). When these three groupingswere cross-tabulated with two educational levels, doctoratesand nondoctorates, no particular trend was seen for eithereducational level, with both showing most number of casesfor "some multicultural training." Similarly, when thetraining groupings were cross-tabulated with five age groups,no particular trend was seen for any age group, with all agegroups showing the most number of cases for "somemulticultural training." Thus, participants who had doctoraldegrees or who were older did not necessarily report moremulticultural training, suggesting the relative independenceof the training groupings. The groupings were lopsided, aswould be expected, because fewer participants would fall inthe extreme groupings of no multicultural training or alloptions of multicultural training than the middle grouping ofsome multicultural training.

Table 1 allows an initial understanding of the data,showing that self-reported Multicultural Skills, Multicul-tural Awareness, and Multicultural Knowledge increasedwith training. This, however, was not the case with Multicul-tural Relationship. Also, with increased training, the Multi-cultural Social Desirability and Feelings of [Social] Inad-equacy Scales showed decreased scores, and locus of controlRace Ideology scores tended toward externality. All scorechanges, with increased training, were in the expecteddirections.

There appeared to be racial differences in scores. Forexample, whereas Multicultural Relationship did not in-crease with training, Blacks had the highest mean Multicul-tural Relationship score and Whites the lowest. Blacks,Hispanics, and Asians each had higher scores than Whites inMulticultural Awareness, and the latter two groups hadhigher scores than Whites in Multicultural Knowledge. Theminority groups also had lower scores than Whites onFeelings of [Social] Inadequacy and locus of control RaceIdeology.

For the MCI, Cronbach's alphas were .87 for the fullscale, .76 for Multicultural Skills, ,75 for MulticulturalAwareness, .62 for Multicultural Relationship, and .73 forMulticultural Knowledge. The interfactor correlations ranged

between .33 and .59, with the lowest for MulticulturalRelationship, which had a mean correlation of .35. The locusof control Race Ideology factor had a Cronbach's alpha of.74, the Revised Janis-Field Feelings of [Social] InadequacyScale an alpha of .89, and Multicultural Social Desirabilityan alpha of .88. Table 2 shows a correlation matrix of allvariables analyzed, except for race, a nominal variable. Thesignificant correlations were in the expected directions.

Multicultural Social Desirability, Race, CounselorAttitudes, Multicultural Training, and MCISelf-Reports

The MCI full-scale self-report was the criterion variable.A forced-entry method of multiple regression, which in-cluded four steps, was used. In the first step, the Multicul-tural Social Desirability scores were entered. In the secondstep, counselor self-assigned race was entered, for which thefour groups, White, Black, Asian, and Hispanic, wereentered together simultaneously with three dummy codes.The White group was always coded zero, functioning as theconstant. In the third step, attitudinal variables of locus ofcontrol Race Ideology and Feelings of [Social] Inadequacyscores were entered simultaneously. In the fourth step,multicultural training variables of number of courses, num-ber of research projects, number of workshops, and minorityclient load were entered simultaneously.

The contribution of Multicultural Social Desirabilityscores to the MCI was significant, F(l , 163) = 10.71, p <.001; with R2 - .06 (adjusted R2 = .06), which is considereda medium effect size (Cohen, 1988). After the variability inthe MCI due to Multicultural Social Desirability was takeninto account, race explained additional significant variancein the second block, R2 change = .07, F(4, 160) change =5.25,;? = .048; with R2 = .13 (adjusted R2 = .11), which isconsidered a large effect size (Cohen, 1988). Hispanics incomparison with the Whites were significantly different, butBlacks and Asians were not different from Whites (seeTable 3). After the variability in the MCI due to Multicul-tural Social Desirability and race was taken into account,Feelings of [Social] Inadequacy and locus of control RaceIdeology together explained additional significant variance,R2 change = .11, F(6, 158) change = 10.45, p = .0001;

Table 2Correlations Among the MCI Full Scale Self-Report and Predictor Variables

1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.

Variable

MCIMC coursesMC researchMC workshopsMinority clientsMCSDSoc InadequacyRace Ideol

1

—

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—

Note, n — 176. MCI = Multicultural Counseling Inventory; MC = multicultural; MCSD —Multicultural Social Desirability; Soc Inadequacy = Revised Janis-Field Feelings of [Social]Inadequacy Scale; Race Ideol = Race Ideology factor.*p<&5. **p<.0l.

CORRELATES OF MULTICULTURAL COMPETENCIES 261

Table 3Summary of the Four-Step, Forced-Entry MultipleRegression Analysis for Variables Predictingthe MCI Full-Scale Self-Report

Variable

SteplMCSD

Step 2LatinoBlackAsian

Step 3SocInadeqRace Ideol

jtep 4Minority clientsMC researchMC coursesMC workshops

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.24

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Note. MCI — Multicultural Counseling Inventory; MCSD =Multicultural Social Desirability Scale; Soc Inadeq = RevisedJanis-Field Feelings of [Social] Inadequacy Scale; Race Ideol =Race Ideology factor; MC = multicultural. Total R2 = .34.*p<.05. **/><.01. ***p<.001.

with R2 = .24 (adjusted R2 - .21), which is considered alarge effect size. The contribution of each attitude variable tothe MCI was significant (see Table 3). After the variability inthe MCI due to Multicultural Social Desirability, race, andcounselor attitudes was taken into account, MC trainingvariables (ethnic minority and international client load,number of research projects, number of courses, and numberof workshops) together explained additional significantvariance, R2 change - .10, F(9, 155) change = 8.96,p = .0001; with R2 = .34 (adjusted R2 = .30), which isconsidered a large effect size. Minority client load, numberof research projects, and number of courses each made asignificant contribution to the MCI, but not number ofmulticultural workshops.

Discussion

A one-model multiple regression analysis used a four-stepforced-entry method. As hypothesized, after the significantcontributions of multicultural social desirability and racewere taken into account, counselor attitudes of feelings ofsocial inadequacy and locus of control racial ideologyoverall and individually made significant contributions toself-reported MCCs; and multicultural training variablesoverall, and number of ethnic minority and internationalclients, number of multicultural research projects, andnumber of multicultural courses individually made signifi-cant contributions to self-reported MCCs. When originalraw measurement units were transformed to variances (R2

and adjusted R2) medium to large effect sizes were noted,with the full regression model accounting for 34% of thevariance in the MCI. In addition, Hispanics had a signifi-cantly higher MCI full-scale score than Whites. Descriptivestatistics suggested the following: Blacks had higher scoreson Multicultural Relationship than Whites; Blacks, Hispan-

ics and Asians had higher scores on Multicultural Awarenessthan Whites; Hispanics and Asians had higher scores onMulticultural Knowledge than Whites; all minority groupshad lower scores than Whites on Feelings of [Social]Inadequacy and locus of control Race Ideology; and self-reported Multicultural Skills, Multicultural Awareness, andMulticultural Knowledge increased with higher levels ofmulticultural training. In the light of the findings about racialdifferences, the significance of multicultural training toself-reported MCCs is critical information for the develop-ment of counseling psychologists, specifically with regard totrainers providing trainees opportunities to reflect and workon their personal issues related to their socialization, powerstatus, and worldview assumptions.

Multicultural Social Desirability

A uniqueness of the study is that it took into accountmulticultural social desirability's contribution to the variabil-ity of the MCI before studying other predictors. Multicul-tural social desirability may need to be controlled wheninvestigating the correlates of self-reported MCCs. Futureusers of the MCI may wish to identify high-end and low-endMulticultural Social Desirability scores and then checkcorresponding MCI scores. Asians generally had higherMulticultural Social Desirability scores than did the othergroups. Traditionally, Asians like to save face in socialsituations (Kwan & Sodowsky, 1997; Zane, 1992), includingwhen self-disclosing personal matters for confidential psy-chological assessment (Sodowsky & Kuo-Jackson, in press).According to S. Sue (1996), the predominant "loss of face"interpersonal dynamic in Asian social relations is a "bias"(p. 30) that may need correction to improve the validity ofassessment instruments.

On the other hand, higher Asian Multicultural SocialDesirability scores could indicate a preference not to beconfrontational. Researchers will need to consider suchcultural nuances before interpreting the Multicultural SocialDesirability scores. Whites showed a trend for lower Multi-cultural Social Desirability scores. Again, researchers willneed to interpret whether such scores indicate faking bad.

Race

As indicated by previous studies, counselor racial self-designation had a significant relationship with participants'self-reported MCCs, with Hispanics having a significantlyhigher MCI full score than Whites, who also had the lowestfull-scale score among all four groups. The overall higherscores of the minority groups, including their respectivehigher scores on subscales Multicultural Awareness, Multi-cultural Relationship, and Multicultural Knowledge, point totheir greater familiarity with multicultural issues than Whites.This is perhaps because they live multicultural lives. Whites,on the other hand, do not need to make contacts withnon-Whites. Their monocultural socialization and dominantpower status do not require them to negotiate interactionswith minority groups, especially in comparison with Blacks,who develop skills, as suggested by their higher Multicul-

262 SODOWSKY, KUO-JACKSON, RICHARDSON, AND COREY

tural Relationship scores, to effectively manage interracialcontacts with Whites and to be concerned about trust andequality in relationships. In the safety of multiculturaltraining, counselor trainees can own their racial differenceswith the purpose of strengthening their universality, multicul-tural professional ethics, and sense of social justice.

Counselor Attitudes

Findings on both attitude variables suggested that counsel-ors who perceived themselves as multiculturally competentalso indicated a preference for externality and collectivismversus internality and individualism, which are said to bepreferred White American worldviews. Feelings of [Social]Inadequacy had a negative correlation with self-reportedMCCs, suggesting that the higher the counselor scores onsocial inadequacy, the lower the scores were on MCCs.Between the two attitude variables, Feelings of [Social]Inadequacy accounted for a larger amount of variance inself-reported MCCs. Its significant contribution is consistentwith the expectation that counselors involved in multicul-tural counseling are high in sociability (Pedersen, 1987),indicating positive self-concept and self-esteem in a socialcontext. Counselor sociability is also consistent with thegroup orientation of many ethnic minority people.

Locus of control Race Ideology had a negative correlationwith self-reported MCCs and explained significant variancein MCCs indicating that the higher the counselor scores oninternal locus of control racial ideology, the lower the scoreswere on MCCs. High Race Ideology scores indicated abelief that Blacks can eradicate racism by exercising per-sonal control on racism. Participants who had lower RaceIdeology scores indicated an external locus of controlorientation, the belief that racism can be controlled onlythrough external collective action groups and social control.They also had higher scores on self-reported MCCs. Multi-cultural training could impress on counselor trainees that inaddition to their belief in the personal control over theirindividual endeavors, their recognition of alternative world-views of minority groups might help them to initiateinnovative counselor behavior as well as advocacy in thesocial action area, practices considered to contribute toMCCs.

Multicultural Training

Implications of multicultural training have already beenarticulated. Here reference is made to specific findings onmulticultural training. Multicultural workshops were notsignificant predictors of self-reported MCCs. Pope-Davis etal. (1993) and Pope-Davis et al. (1995) also showed limitedgain from workshops, and only in multicultural awareness.Perhaps broad experiences gained through time-limited,theme-oriented workshops do not involve in-depth knowl-edge and empathic awareness of differences among people,such as that gained through clinical work with minorityclients, research investigations into minority people, andmulticultural counseling courses, each of which contributedsignificantly to the variance of the MCI. It also needs to be

pointed out that the full sample generally appeared to havebeen introduced to multicultural counseling. Those whoreported research involvement were current in their topics;some reported knowing foreign languages; and many haddiversity life experience. This participant profile evidencescounseling psychology's attempts to diversify its knowledgeand training base. However, the participants offered negli-gible service to international student clients, and there wasonly 1 Native American respondent.

Future Research

When considering MCCs, there is no discussion on theinterpersonal process of barriers, frustrations, projections,and critical moments of connection in cross-racial-cross-ethnic client-counselor dyads (Sodowsky et al., 1998).These dynamics lead to the formation of a multiculturalcounseling relationship that makes counselors respond withethnotherapeutic empathy, integrating cultural knowledgewith a dynamic experience of the client's subjective culture.What is now needed is a study on how multicultural trainingcan enhance trainees' relational process with minorityclients. S. Sue and Zane (1987) stressed that a positiverelationship process must occur within the first three ses-sions. The multicultural counseling relationship may behighly process oriented, an organizing focus for treatment.Therefore, a study on multicultural training that monitorstrainees' ongoing multicultural relationship process in treat-ment and its link to outcome (e.g., Sodowsky et al., 1998)could provide information on important process-outcomeissues in MCCs. This would advance the construct of MCCs,which, to date, has been studied only through retrospectivereporting, surveys, and investigations into discrete correlates(e.g., the number of minority clients or demographics),which limitations also characterize this study.

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Received April L4, 1997Revision received February 2,1998

Accepted February 2, 1998 •

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