This study examined social and psychological factors influencing the career exploration process of young adults. The predictor variables of this study were parental attachment, peer attachment, and self-efficacy; the outcome variables were environmental/occupational exploration, self-exploration, and career indecision. Data for this study were collected using various measures that were compiled into one survey hosted on Qualtrics. Results indicated that secure maternal attachment predicted secure peer attachment and high self-efficacy in young adults. Greater peer attachment was negatively correlated with environmental exploration. A higher level of self-efficacy was positively correlated with environmental exploration and negatively correlated with career indecision. These results imply that maternal attachment has an indirect influence on a young adult’s career exploration process.

Doctor of Education / Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology / Kenneth F. Hughey / Advocacy is an increasingly integral role for school counselors, and advocacy dispositions, knowledge, and skill competencies are critical for school counselors to function effectively in the contemporary school setting. This study assessed the perceptions of school counselor educators regarding the degree of importance of including advocacy dispositions, knowledge, and skill competencies (Trusty & Brown, 2005) in master’s degree school counseling programs; the extent to which the advocacy competencies are taught in the program; and the relative readiness of program graduates to apply the advocacy competencies. Additionally, this study also investigated whether there were significant differences between the responses of participants associated with CACREP-accredited and those with non-CACREP-accredited school counselor preparation programs. Stratified proportional sampling was used to identify study participants. A sample of 250 counselor educators teaching in master’s degree programs in school counseling was identified and a survey was sent to each participant. One-hundred thirty six surveys were returned (54.4%); this represented 69 CACREP-accredited programs and 67 non-CACREP-accredited programs involving respondents in each region of Association for Counselor Education and Supervision. Mean ratings for respondents indicated that counselor educators perceived inclusion of the 15 advocacy competencies in master’s programs in school counseling as moderately to very important, moderately taught in their programs, and their graduates to be moderately ready to apply the advocacy competencies. Using independent samples t-tests to compare the mean ratings, the results showed no statistically significant differences between CACREP-accredited and non-CACREP-accredited respondents. It was concluded that the advocacy disposition, knowledge, and skill competencies delineated by Trusty and Brown (2005) are appropriate for inclusion in master’s degree programs in school counseling, and that additional focus on advocacy competencies might be needed within programs to ensure that all school counseling graduates learn and are able to apply the competencies. It was also concluded that the perceptions of counselor educators in CACREP-accredited and non-CACREP-accredited programs are more similar than different relative to the importance of including the competencies in graduate programs, the extent to which they are taught, and the readiness of graduates to apply the competencies.

Counselor education program faculties evaluate applicants to masters and doctoral level programs using criteria that the faculties hope will predict the applicant's potential for academic success and then effectiveness as a counselor, counselor educator, or researcher. Choosing admission criteria to assess this level of potential in an applicant is quite a task. Those counselor education programs that are accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) have the benefit of the admission guidelines provided by CACREP standards for accreditation. These guidelines give only basic, general direction to programs regarding their admission criteria but each individual program determines their own criteria for admission. The purpose of this study was to discover any recognizable trends in admission policy criteria, in terms of specific criteria used to evaluate and select students from the applicant pool, for CACREP accredited masters and doctoral programs. This study also sought to discover any recognizable trends in admission policy criteria, in terms of a specific number of criteria used to evaluate and select students for CACREP accredited master and doctoral counselor education programs. This qualitative study investigated 178 masters level CACREP accredited counselor education programs and 45 doctoral CACREP accredited counselor education programs. The CACREP Website provided contact names and Web address for each program. Admission criteria were pulled from the program Websites. If no criteria were present on the Website, the program contact person was contacted by phone or by email. A contact form for the masters level programs, and another for the doctoral level programs, was developed to record program criteria. A rate or return of 96% for the masters level programs and 91% for the doctoral programs was achieved. For the purposes of this study, a trend was defined as 1) any measure being required by 50% or more of the responding programs, or 2) the number of measures used by a program being equal to the mean number of measures used by all programs. The masters level program trends were for counselor education programs to use the following criteria to assess applicants: transcripts, grade point average (GPA), letters of reference, applications, Graduate Record Exam (GRE) scores, letters of intent, and interviews with faculty members. A trend was also discovered for masters level programs to use between 3 and 12 measures to assess applicants for admission with a mean score of 7.01, a median score of 7, and a mode of 7. The doctoral level program trends were for counselor education programs to use the following criteria to assess applicants: transcripts, letters of reference, letters of intent to address goals, aspirations, experiences, and purpose, GRE scores, applications, and GPA. A trend was also discovered for doctoral level programs to use between 4 and 10 measures to assess applicants for admission with a mean score of 8.097, a median score of 8, and a mode of 9. Given the high rate of return, the trends discovered can be said to reflect the admission criteria used to assess applicants for admission into CACREP accredited masters and doctoral counselor education programs in the United States. A limitation could be that the data was collected using different methods of communication in that some data was collected from Websites, some from email correspondence, and some data from phone conversations. It seemed that the Websites and the emails gave the admission criteria but the phone conversations gave an understanding of not only the criteria used but the process used in selecting students from the applicant pool.

Racial and ethnic diverse populations experience discrimination in educational and career attainment and remain underrepresented in the counseling profession. The current literature provides limited guidance for the counseling profession and academic institutions for successfully recruiting racial and ethnic minority students in a master's level counselor training program. Social Constructivist theory and Adlerian/ Individual Psychology are the theoretical foundations of the study. This constructivist grounded theory study sought to understand the career decision-making process of African Americans choosing to enter in the counseling profession and the influence of racial and ethnic identity on this decision-making process. Utilizing semistructured interviews via video-conferencing; 43 self-identified African Americans were commissioned to co-create an iterative career decision-making theory that informs recruitment and retention of African Americans to the counseling profession. Following the Charmaz's (2014) approach to data analysis; 15 themes which support the development of Embracing Ujima an interpretive theory of African Americans choosing to join the counseling profession—that informs a framework of recruitment and retention of African Americans to the counseling profession. The implications for social change include closing the knowledge gaps and informing counselor training institutions of the importance of physical representation, a sense of belonging, developing early career pipelines, and positioning counselor educators as the chief career development professionals for the field of counseling.

The relationships between sociometric status and selected performance variables for counselors in training were investigated. Gender differences in sociometric status were also investigated. Research participants were master's level counseling students. The point-biserial correlation coefficient was used to determine the relationship between sociometric status and grades. The SPSS 13.0 crosstabulation procedure was used to examine gender differences in sociometric status. The results indicated a moderate relationship between sociometric status and grades earned in a group counseling course. A small to negligible relationship between sociometric status and pre-practicum and practicum grades was found. No gender difference in sociometric status was found. The study provides some support for the use of sociometric measurements in predicting group counseling performance, but more research is needed.

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