Examining Multicultural Counseling Competencies of Graduate Students in Psychology

This investigation examined the multicultural counseling competencies of graduate students in counseling and clinical psychology programs. A national sample of 344 students participated. The participants completed the Multicultural Counseling Inventory (G.R. Sodowsky, R.C. Taffe, T.B. Gutkin, & S.L. Wise, 1994) and a demographic questionnaire. Results indicated that counseling psychology students rated themselves as more multiculturally competent than clinical psychology students in three of the four multicultural competency areas. Different educational and clinical variables were predictive of multicultural counseling competencies for the two groups. Findings are discussed in terms of education and training in graduate psychology programs.