Implicit Attitudes of Counselor Trainees toward Black-White Couples
Inter-racial couples developed as soon as European men landed on the coast of North
America. Historically, these relationships were considered deviant and unacceptable.
The attitudes towards interracial marriages are improving, however, the incidence of
interracial dating and marriage, especially among Blacks and Whites, remains low in the
United States (White & White, 2000). As the acceptance of interracial marriages
increases, the rate of interracial marriages also increases. With the increasing number of
inter-racial couples in the United States the probability that counselors will have contact
with a Black-White couple increases also. It is important for the counselors to have
accepting attitudes towards these couples to be effective in the treatment of these couples.
The Implicit Association Test (IAT) measured the implicit attitudes of the participants
toward black-white couples. This study included a comparison of attitudes based on
demographic factors such as sex, age, education, region of the US, socioeconomic status,
home setting, and multicultural awareness and knowledge as measured by the
Multicultural Knowledge and Awareness Scale (MCKAS). In addition, a multiple linear
regression will determine which of these variables is best able to predict the participants’
attitudes. The results showed there is a significant difference in attitudes toward
interracial couples between demographic subgroups of the variable age. However, there
were no significant differences in attitudes between the subgroups of the variables
education, socioeconomic status, sex, race, region of the country, community type and
size. The regression analyses found MCKAS was the one variable that could predict
scores on the IAT. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BSU/oai:cardinalscholar.bsu.edu:123456789/194624 |
| Date | 28 June 2011 |
| Creators | Roy-Petrick, Patricia M. |
| Contributors | Alexander, Charlene M. |
| Source Sets | Ball State University |
| Detected Language | English |
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