The relationship of selected personal characteristics of counselors to job satisfaction

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to determine the relationship between personal characteristics of counselor trainees and level of job satisfaction as counselors. The major objectives of the study were to determine correlations between measures of selected personal characteristics of prospective counselors and level of counselor job satisfaction, to derive a regression equation by which the probability of future job satisfaction could be predicted for prospective school counselors, and to determine the effectiveness of the prediction equation through cross-validation. The subjects in the study group were 146 certified school counselors who had participated in the counselor preparation program at Sam Houston State University between 1969 and 1975. The cross-validation group (N = 18) were counselors from the same program who had obtained counseling positions after the original study was conducted. The Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire, Rokeach Dogmatism Scale, Porter Test of Counselor Attitudes, and Edwards Personal Preference Schedule were administered to all subjects at the beginning of their counselor preparation. A measure of job satisfaction was obtained on the Job Satisfaction Inventory for the subjects 2 to 6 years later when they were employed as school counselors. A multiple regression procedure was performed on the study group data to produce a regression equation which was cross-validated. Nine personal characteristics were significantly related to counselor job satisfaction-two at the .01 level, and seven at the .05 level of confidence. The multiple correlation coefficient for the derived regression equation was .53; for the cross validation group the correlation coefficient was .83..