A psychological profile of clinical psychology, counseling psychology, and counselor education graduate students

Abstract

The purpose of this research project was to obtain an up-to-date personality profile of students entering the counseling/psychology field. This included the exploration of both psychopathology (as defined by performance on the MMPI-2) and normal personality characteristics (as assessed by the 16PF) in the sample. Students beginning graduate training in clinical psychology, counseling psychology, and counselor education programs were randomly sampled from 39 universities throughout the United States. Participants responded anonymously to the MMPI-2, 16PF, and a brief demographic questionnaire. Usable protocols were returned by 70% of the sample. The final subject pool consisted of 138 students, one of whom did not complete the MMPI-2. The research questions focused on comparing the sample results to the normative data, conducting intrasample comparisons, and determining potential relationships between criterion and predictor variables. All three of these data analyses revealed statistically significant results, and these findings were interpreted with respect to the magnitude of the differences, as expressed by effect size. As a group, the counseling and psychology graduate students: (a) were free from psychopathology, and (b) exhibited many of the same personality characteristics which have been associated with the "ideal" counselor and which have been documented in the literature. Intrasample comparisons revealed that (a) counselor education students differ from clinical and counseling psychology students, (b) there are few, if any true differences between female and male responses to the tests, and (c) there are no ethnic differences. Furthermore, some preliminary personality patterns emerged on the basis of preferred occupational setting, undergraduate major, and participation in personal therapy. Differences in age and in number of years of work experience were not found to be predictable on the basis of performance on the MMPI-2 or 16PF. Additional normative data for the population of counseling/psychology students was obtained via profile analyses. Mean profiles were constructed for both measures on the basis of gender, graduate program, and ethnicity.