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 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.

There were two major goals of this study - to examine validity of scores for the Boholst Life Position Scale and to examine potential associations between life positions and affective traits. Two hundred seventy-seven students enrolled in undergraduate psychology classes at a large university volunteered for the study. Concurrent validity of scores for the life position scale was supported based on two compared instruments. Pearson product-moment correlations for the comparisons were -.765 and .617, both statistically significant at the p < .001 level. Factor analysis demonstrated that the scale could accurately be conceptualized as consisting of two factors - an "I" factor and a "You" factor. MANOVA, ANOVA, multiple linear regression, and canonical correlation analysis were used to examine associations between life positions and the affective traits of angry, sad, glad, social anxiety, loneliness, and satisfaction with life. Subjects were catagorized into four groups representing their life position: "I'm OK, you're OK," "I'm OK, you're not OK," "I'm not OK, you're OK," and "I'm not OK, you're not OK." A MANOVA employing life position as the independent variable with four levels and the six affective traits as the dependent variables demonstrated statistical significance (p < .001 level) and h2 was …

Many women reporting PMS symptoms state their symptoms affect their mood, social, and family functioning. This study attempted to provide clinicians with information to assist in psychotherapeutic intervention, by determining the effect PMS has on marital satisfaction. Nineteen female subjects reporting PMS symptoms and their partners completed the study. The Marital Satisfaction Inventory - Revised (MSI-R) and the Moos Menstrual Distress Questionnaire-Form T (MDQ-form T) were used to determine if the nineteen couples reported marital distress as a result of the women's cyclical premenstrual symptoms. The results of the study suggested that the women and their partners, report high levels of marital distress that is not reflective of the cyclical nature of the PMS symptomatology. Scores on the MSI-R for the subjects and their partners indicated the couples perceived level of distress in the t-50 to t-70 range on scales 3-8 is consistent throughout the menstrual cycle. The couples reported higher levels of marital distress than would be the expected norm, suggesting that PMS may be a contributing factor to the level of distress they reported experiencing. This study did not include a control group, which would have provided a norm for couples who do not report PMS by which …

A major concern many counselor trainees face when preparing to see their first couple-client is that of confidence because they have had little to no experience in interacting in a professional capacity with couples. Many beginning counselors experience anxiety, which can inhibit their effectiveness with clients (Scanlon & Baille, 1994). Introducing counselor trainees to a relatively non-threatening interaction with couples might reduce the initial anxiety that characterizes the neophyte counselor venturing into new clinical territory. The interaction may also enhance feelings of warmth and closeness of the couples. John Gottman's Oral History Interview (Gottman, 1999) was the protocol used in the interaction between trainee and couple. An instrument developed for this study to measure couple counseling confidence, the State Trait Anxiety Inventory (Spielberger, 1983), and the Personal Assessment of Intimacy in Relationships (Schaefer & Olson, 1981) were used to assess levels of counselor confidence, counselor anxiety, and couple intimacy, respectively. The confidence instrument and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory were administered to 37 students who were enrolled in four graduate level introductory couple counseling classes and who interviewed couples, as well as to 34 counselor-trainees who were enrolled in five graduate level counseling courses other than couple counseling and who did not …