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DOI: 10.1177/0011000007309481

2008 36: 220The Counseling PsychologistMcPherson, Kristin Koetting and Suzanne Petren

Rodney K. Goodyear, Nancy Murdock, James W. Lichtenberg, RobertFunctions, and Career Satisfaction Across 15 Years

Stability and Change in Counseling Psychologists' Identities, Roles,

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•• Major Section

Stability and Change in CounselingPsychologists’ Identities, Roles, Functions,and Career Satisfaction Across 15 Years

Rodney K. GoodyearUniversity of Southern California

Nancy MurdockUniversity of Missouri–Kansas City

James W. LichtenbergUniversity of KansasRobert McPherson

University of HoustonKristin KoettingSuzanne Petren

University of Missouri–Kansas City

The authors examined changes in the profession of counseling psychology by comparingresults of similar surveys of Society of Counseling Psychology (SCP) members adminis-tered 15 years apart (in 1985 and 2000). The authors found the roles and settings of SCPmembers were relatively stable across this period but observed that notably fewerrespondents were engaged in vocational counseling or vocational assessment and thatthe proportion of women SCP members nearly doubled over this time period. Year 2000data also included the responses of counseling psychologists who were not SCP mem-bers. Numerous differences emerged from a comparison of SCP members and nonmem-bers. For example, members were more likely than nonmembers to (a) be employed inuniversity settings, (b) identify as academics, (c) be either an American PsychologicalAssociation (APA) fellow or an American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP)diplomate, and (d) publish in professional outlets.

Counseling psychology has maintained many of its core features acrosstime. However, it also has ensured its vitality and relevance by adaptingto changes that have occurred in society, the marketplace, and the broader

An earlier version of this material was presented at the National Conference on CounselingPsychology (cosponsors: Council of Counseling Psychology Training Programs and SCP ofthe American Psychological Association), February 2001, Houston, Texas; and at the annualconvention of the American Psychological Association, August 2001, San Francisco. Thanksare extended to Rico Drake for assistance with effect size calculations. The participation ofmembers of the Otsego Group in this effort is greatly appreciated.

THE COUNSELING PSYCHOLOGIST, Vol. 36 No. 2, March 2008 220-249DOI: 10.1177/0011000007309481© 2008 by the Division of Counseling Psychology

220



profession of psychology (see, e.g., Goodyear et al., 2000). As a result, thespecialty has evolved considerably since its formal origins in the late 1940s(cf. Dreese, 1949).

Information about how the specialty changes can be useful to its member-ship, particularly when it addresses shifts in the roles, activities, settings, andattitudes of counseling psychologists. Individual counseling psychologists,for example, can use this information to adapt to changes in the professionallandscape, leaders within the specialty can use it both to better understand theprofessionals they serve and to take corrective action with respect to trendsthat are at variance with the specialty’s espoused values and goals, and fac-ulty in training programs can more accurately understand trends that mayaffect their graduates and can modify their curricula accordingly.

To some extent, information about the nature of the profession has beenavailable through the numerous studies over the past half century that haveexamined who counseling psychologists are and what they do (e.g., Dreese,1949; Fitzgerald & Osipow, 1986; Fretz, 1977, 1982; Goldschmitt, Tipton, &Wiggins, 1981; Krauskopf, Thoreson, & McAleer, 1973; Samler, 1964; Tipton,1983; Watkins, Lopez, Campbell, & Himmell, 1986; Yamamoto, 1963). Fromthose studies it is possible, for example, to infer a gradual but persistent shift inattitudes and roles. In particular, counseling psychologists increasingly seem tohave defined themselves and their specialty in terms of clinical remediation andto have given correspondingly less emphasis to the developmental and preven-tive themes that have historically defined the specialty.

However, there are important limits to the specificity of the conclusions thatcan be drawn from these studies, for research on counseling psychologistshas been conducted in a nonsystematic manner. Methods and measureshave varied, and few attempts have been made to standardize the dataobtained across studies. This lack of consistency has limited the opportunitiesto make between-study comparisons.

The primary goal of this study was to provide information about the extentto which the roles, behaviors, and attitudes of counseling psychologists mayhave changed across time. To do so, we employed the “multiple snapshot”strategy that Norcross and his colleagues have used in their ongoing studiesof members of the American Psychological Association (APA) Divisions 12(Society for Clinical Psychology) and 29 (Psychotherapy) (e.g., Norcross,Hedges, & Castle, 2002; Norcross, Prochaska, & Farber, 1993; Prochaska& Norcross, 1983). By administering the same questionnaire at plannedintervals, they have been able to directly compare the results obtained duringone time period with those obtained in another. Following that model, wesurveyed counseling psychologists, using, with only a few modifications,the same questionnaire Watkins et al. (1986) had used 15 years earlier, atime span accounting for roughly 30% of the history of our relatively young

Goodyear et al. / COUNSELING PSYCHOLOGISTS ACROSS 15 YEARS 221



specialty. This strategy enabled us to make direct comparisons betweendata obtained in each of the two surveys. In a few instances where corre-sponding data were available from other studies (e.g., Samler, 1964), wedrew from them as well.

Previous surveys of counseling psychologists have focused almost exclu-sively on members of the APA’s Division 17, which in 2002 was renamedthe Society for Counseling Psychology (SCP; APA Division 17, 2003), eventhough most counseling psychologists are not SCP members. Althoughcounseling psychology training programs graduate roughly 500 counselingpsychologists annually (McNeil, personal communication, November 8,2004), SCP admits only about 150 new members per year. Even if newlyminted counseling psychologists join APA, they do not necessarily join SCP.In fact, recent data from APA’s Research Office (2005a, 2005c) indicate thatonly 27% of counseling psychologists who are APA members or fellowsbelong to SCP.

It is possible that there are no differences between those who join SCPand those who do not. However, it is more likely that those who join SCPhave greater identification with the specialty and that this identificationwould be reflected in their values, attitudes, roles, and work settings. To theextent that is true, surveys that focus exclusively on SCP members may yielddescriptions that reflect a specific subspecies of counseling psychologist.In reporting the results of their survey, for example, Watkins et al. (1986)cautioned that “our findings are applicable to counseling psychologists whoare Division 17 members but cannot necessarily be generalized to counselingpsychologists who do not belong to Division 17” (p. 308).

Interestingly, the possibility that there might be within-specialty differ-ences that covary with SCP membership status has not been examinedempirically. Therefore, the second goal of this study was to conduct suchan examination. To do so, we collected data from both SCP members andcounseling psychologists who were APA members but not SCP members.In this way, we hoped to obtain a more comprehensive and therefore validpicture of our specialty.

METHOD

Participants

Participants were 691 APA member counseling psychologists, 370 SCPmembers and 321 nonmembers. Table 1 summarizes demographic informationfor the sample. Because these demographics are salient to the purpose of thestudy, they will be summarized in the Results section.

222 THE COUNSELING PSYCHOLOGIST / March 2008




TABLE 1: Demographic Information for the 1985 and 2000 Samples of CounselingPsychologists

2000 Data

1985 Data: SCP SCP SCP Members Members Nonmembers

(n = 716) (n = 370) (n = 321)

M SD M SD M SD

Age (in years)All participants 50.0a 11.1 51.0 10.4 49.6 8.8Female 45.9 47.3 9.1 48.1 8.6Male 50.1 54.3 10.4 51.5 8.8

Age at degreeAll participants 31.7 5.7 34.6Female 32.7 6.6 35.5 6.9Male 30.8 4.7 33.5 5.9

Years since degreeAll participants 15.1 9.2 19.4 10.6 14.8 8.5Female 10.0 14.9 8.4 12.5 7.3Male 16.6 23.5 10.8 17.8 9.1

n % n % n %

GenderFemale 188 26 173 46.8 179 55.8Male 528 74 192 51.9 139 43.3Missing data 5 1.4 3 0.9

Race/ethnicityNative American/Alaskan native 1 0.3 3 0.9Black/African American 12 3.2 6 1.9White (non-Hispanic) 95 331 89.5 287 89.4Hispanic/Latino 7 1.9 7 2.2Asian/Pacific Islander 5 1.4 8 2.5Multiethnic 5 1.4 3 0.9Missing data 8 2.2 4 1.2

DegreePhD 69.4 317 85.7 264 82.2EdD 24.8 42 11.4 47 14.6PsyD 2 0.5 6 1.9Other or missing data 9 2.5 4 1.2

Accredited program graduate ∼50 247 66.8 232 72.3Psychology license 78 322 89.7 292 92.4ABPP diplomate — — 32 8.6 8 2.5Registrant, National Register of — — 96 25.9 86 26.8

Health Care ProvidersAPA fellow statusb 8.1 41 11.1 3 0.9

NOTE: SCP = Society of Counseling Psychology; ABPP = American Board of ProfessionalPsychology.a. This mean is as reported in the Watkins, Lopez, Campbell, and Himmell (1986) text,although it appears to be incorrect given the values for males and females.b. The 1985 survey had asked about fellow status in Division 17, whereas the 2000 surveyasked about fellow status in the American Psychological Association (APA).



Measures

The 71-item questionnaire used in our study was based on the instrumentused by Watkins et al. (1986). Items requested the following informationfrom respondents: (a) personal characteristics, including demographic infor-mation, degrees, professional affiliations, and licensure status; (b) professionalactivities, including work settings and roles; (c) theoretical perspectives;(d) experiences with personal therapy; and (e) satisfaction with training andcareer.

We also included some additional questions beyond those used by Watkinset al. (1986). For example, we asked about diplomate status and membershipin the National Register of Health Care Providers (hereafter referred to asNational Register). On three items, we modified the wording in the followingways: (a) Watkins et al. asked about SCP fellow status, we asked about APAfellow status; (b) instead of asking about the number of published articles,we asked about the number of publications (articles, chapters, and books);and (c) more options were included in the item that asked respondents toindicate the professional designation (e.g., psychologist, counseling psycho-logist, etc.).

Procedure

APA’s membership office provided a list of 1,500 APA members, 750who had been randomly selected from SCP membership and 750 randomlyselected from APA members who held counseling psychology doctoratesbut were not members of SCP. The survey was mailed to these 1,500psychologists during the summer of 2000. To encourage participation inthe survey, individuals were offered a $20 fee reduction for registration at thecounseling psychology national conference in Houston, which was to beheld that coming February. The response rate for SCP members was 53.5%and that of nonmembers was 46.5%. In comparison, Watkins et al. (1986)obtained a response 73% rate after having sent prospective participants upto three reminders.

RESULTS

Because of the number of observations to be reported, the results arepresented in several subsections: sample demographic characteristics, roles,institutional settings, professional activities, theoretical orientation, profes-sional identity, career satisfaction, and experience with personal therapy. Inmost of the material that follows, including the tables, we refer to the data




in terms of the year in which the particular survey was conducted. Watkinset al.’s (1986) data were collected in 1985 (F. Lopez, personal communication,July 26, 2005); ours were collected in 2000.

Due to the large sample size and multiple comparisons of interest, weconduced no significance testing. Effect sizes (Cohen’s ds) are presentedwhere data are mean ratings (for instance, on a 1 to 5 Likert-type scale);because effect size for proportional data (which are the subject of the majorityof our comparisons) is simply the difference between proportions of interest,we do not report these.

Sample Demographic Characteristics

Table 1 shows the demographic characteristics of SCP members whoparticipated in the 1985 survey and SCP members and nonmembers whoparticipated in the 2000 survey. The table provides information about partici-pants’ ages, gender, and ethnicity, as well as other descriptive informationsuch as their highest degrees, graduate program accreditation status, licensure,diplomate status, APA fellow status, and National Register membership.

Age and gender. The mean age of participants in the surveys was fairlysimilar. For SCP members in the 1985 sample, the mean was 50.0 years;in 2000 it was 50.1 years (SD = 10.4). The mean age of SCP nonmembers in2000 was slightly lower (49.6 years; SD = 8.8; d = .14). Whereas only aboutone fourth of the 1985 sample was female, 46.8% of SCP members in the2000 sample were women, and the percentage was even higher (55.8%)among SCP nonmembers.

Women were younger than men and also had less postdegree experiencein the 1985 and 2000 samples, regardless of SCP membership. AlthoughWatkins et al. (1986) did not examine age at time of degree, we found thatwomen in the 2000 sample were older at time of degree conferral than men,regardless of membership status, 32.7 years (SD = 6.6) versus 30.8 years formembers (SD = 4.7; d = .34) and 35.5 years (SD = 6.93) versus 33.5 yearsfor nonmembers (SD = 5.9; d = .32).

Ethnicity. The data show some increase in the specialty’s racial/ethnicdiversity over the 15-year period: Only 5% of the 1985 sample had identifiedas racial or ethnic minorities, as compared to 10.6% for the 2000 sample.Because the proportions of specific non-White subgroups were quite small(and because the proportions of those subgroups were not reported at all forthe 1985 sample), it is difficult to make more detailed observations aboutbetween-survey changes with respect to specific racial or ethnic groups.





Degrees, credentialing, and fellow status. A lower percentage (69.4%) ofthe 1985 sample held PhDs than both groups in 2000 (SCP members at 85.7%and nonmembers at 82.2%). The complement to this pattern was that therewas a higher proportion of EdDs (24.8%) in 1985 than among the SCPmembers (11.4%) in 2000. The proportion of EdDs among the SCP non-members (14.6%) was slightly higher than among their SCP member coun-terparts in 2000. None of the 1985 respondents reported having a PsyD, but2 (0.5%) SCP members and 6 (1.9%) SCP nonmembers in the more recentsample reported holding this degree. In 1985, 50% of the sample reportedhaving graduated from an APA-accredited program. That proportion hadincreased to two thirds (66.8%) of SCP members and 72.3% of SCP non-members in the 2000 sample.

The number of respondents who were licensed also increased acrosstime; 78% of the 1985 sample reported being licensed, whereas in the 2000sample the percentages were 89.7% for members and 92.4% for nonmembers.In 1985, respondents were not asked about membership in the NationalRegister or American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP) diplomatestatus. Approximately a fourth of all respondents to the 2000 survey weremembers of the National Register, with SCP members and nonmembersdemonstrating similar proportions (25.9% and 26.8%, respectively). Thetwo groups did, however, differ in holding diplomate status: SCP memberswere more likely (8.6%) than nonmembers (2.5%) to be diplomates.

SCP fellows composed 8.1% of the 1985 sample. Of the 2000 sample,11.1% reported that they were APA fellows. However, note that the respon-dents were responding to slightly different questions (i.e., SCP fellow statusin 1985 vs. the more inclusive APA fellow status in 2000). Consequently, itis difficult to directly compare the two results. Notably, APA’s ResearchOffice (APA Research Office, 2005c) reported that 7.1% of SCP memberswere fellows in 2005, suggesting that the manner in which we asked the ques-tion provided an overestimate of actual SCP fellow status. As might beexpected, in the 2000 sample, SCP members were much more likely to reportthat they were APA fellows than were SCP nonmembers (11.1% vs. 0.9%).

Division memberships. Counseling psychology is one of the generalpractice specialties. Reasonably, then, counseling psychologists will haveinterests and proficiencies beyond counseling psychology, and these will bereflected in the APA divisions they join. Therefore, respondents were askedto report up to six divisions to which they belonged.

Table 2 summarizes the division memberships held by 1985 and 2000survey respondents. A division was listed in the table when at least 10 respon-dents in either membership category (SCP members vs. nonmembers) from



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the 2000 survey indicated that they belonged to it. Division 17 was notreported in the table because it was the blocking variable used in the study.

For the 1985 sample, Watkins et al. (1986) had reported memberships inonly two other divisions other than SCP itself (Divisions 12 and 29). Thosememberships are shown in the table, along with Division 12 membership dataobtained in two earlier studies (Samler, 1964; Scott, 1950). It is possiblefrom these four surveys, administered across 50 years, to observe a steadydecline in the percentage of SCP members who have maintained Division12 membership. From a high of 29.5% in 1950 (Scott, 1950), each succes-sive survey has reported a smaller proportion of SCP members whobelonged to Division 12 than in the previous survey. In the 2000 survey, theproportion had dropped to 7%.

For the 2000 samples, the largest divisional membership that both SCPand non-SCP members reported was in Division 35, Society for the Psychologyof Women, although twice as many SCP members belonged (17%) thannonmembers (7.5%). This same pattern of SCP members having a higherproportion of members in a particular division than nonmembers was evidentfor all but one division (Division 41). For example, SCP members had higherrepresentation than nonmembers in Division 12 (7% vs. 1.2%), Division 29(10.3% vs. 4.9%), Division 45 (7% vs. 1.5%), and as already noted, Division35 (17% vs. 7.5%).

SCP nonmembers reported membership in fewer APA divisions than didtheir SCP member counterparts. In fact, half (50.5%) reported no divisionmemberships at all (whereas, by definition, all SCP members were mem-bers of at least one, Division 17). Although none of the SCP nonmembersreported belonging to more than four divisions, 29 of the SCP membersreported belonging to (in addition to SCP) at least five other divisions, and13 reported belonging to six or more (the questionnaire permitted respondentsto list no more than six, and some likely belonged to more than that).

Roles, Institutional Settings, Professional Activities

Professional role. The pattern of dispersion of SCP members acrossprofessional roles appears to have changed minimally across this 15-yearperiod. Specifically, as is shown in Table 3, 47.7% of the 1985 sample iden-tified as clinical practitioners compared to 47.5% in 2000. In 1985, 28.3%identified as academics (vs. 30.5% in 2000) and 11.4% as administrators(vs. 9.4% in 2000).

The year 2000 data, however, documented differences between SCPmembers and nonmembers in their various professional roles. In contrast tothe SCP members, the SCP nonmembers identified predominantly as clinical




practitioners (71.2%), and substantially fewer identified as academics (9.3%compared to 30.6%). The proportion of administrators (9.9%) was relativelysimilar to that of the 1985 and 2000 SCP member samples.

Primary institutional affiliation. The stability in SCP members’ profes-sional roles across time was matched by a similar stability with respect totheir work settings. As shown in Table 4, the proportion of the 1985 samplewho reported working in private practice was 21.5% (vs. 22.7% in 2000).In university counseling centers, the proportion was 17.8% (vs. 18.1% in2000); and in university psychology departments, the proportion was 9.0%(vs. 11.1% in 2000). When the two university-based categories of “educa-tional psychology” and “other department” (which would include, forexample, departments with the counseling psychology name in them) arecombined, those proportions, too, are very similar (24.8% in 1985; 24.3%in 2000).

Half (50.4%) of the 1985 sample were employed in some capacity in acollege or university. In 2000, this percentage was 59.2%. This latter figureis similar to that obtained by Samler (1964) 27 years earlier (58%).

Whereas a majority of SCP members reported being employed in a collegeor university, this was true of only 15.6% of SCP nonmembers. On the otherhand, SCP nonmembers were more likely than SCP members to be in privatepractice (46.7% vs. 22.7%).

Table 5 shows the proportion of respondents engaged in the particularactivities and the amount of time devoted to those activities. Only teachingactivities showed a substantial increase in the proportions of respondents

TABLE 3: Primary Professional Roles of Counseling Psychologists

2000 Data

1985 Data: SCP SCP Members SCP Members Nonmembers

n % n % n %

Clinical practitioner 330 47.7 171 47.5 223 71.3Academician 197 28.4 110 30.6 29 9.3Administrator 79 11.4 34 9.4 31 9.9Consultant 40 5.8 13 3.6 18 5.8None 25 3.6 2 0.6 1 0.3Researcher 17 2.5 12 3.3 3 1.0Other 2 0.3 14 3.9 6 1.9Supervisor 2 0.3 4 1.1 2 0.6Total 692 360 313

NOTE: SCP = Society of Counseling Psychology.



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engaged in them (59.8% in 1985 vs. 63.2% in 2000); administration showeda small increase (56.3% in 1985 vs. 57.6% in 2000). For all other activities,there was a drop in the proportions of respondents engaged in them.

Perhaps the most notable trend, given counseling psychology’s history,was the dramatic decrease in the proportion of counseling psychologistswho reported they were providing vocational counseling or assessment. In1985, 43% were engaged in vocational counseling, compared to 13.8% in2000. A similar pattern existed for vocational assessment, with 29.9% ofthe 1985 sample reporting affirmatively but only 11.9% of the 2000 sampledoing so. The proportions of the SCP nonmembers who reported any engage-ment in either vocational counseling or vocational assessment were evensmaller, at 6.5% and 6.8%, respectively.

There were similar decreases in the proportions of SCP members engagedin personality diagnosis and assessment from 1985 to 2000 (45.7% to 23.8%).More than a third (36.8%) of the SCP nonmembers, however, reported thatthey spent some portion of their time engaged in personality diagnosis andassessment. Also, a high proportion of SCP nonmembers (86.0%) reportedthat they provided some type of psychotherapy. Those who were engaged inthe provision of therapy also reported spending more than half their timedoing so (58.6%).

Counseling psychology has also historically emphasized prevention asan important professional activity. The data from our survey indicate that inour year 2000 sample, 28.1% and 19.62% of member and nonmemberrespondents, respectively, reported that they did preventive work.

Respondents who indicated providing counseling or psychotherapy thenwere asked a follow-up question concerning their engagement in each of fourtypes of counseling intervention (individual, marital, family, and group ther-apy) and assessing the percentage of time devoted to each. Table 6 summarizesthe results. Most respondents to both the 1985 and the 2000 surveys (regardlessof respondents’ SCP status) were practicing individual psychotherapy and spentmore time engaged in it than in any of the other three interventions.

Publications. Although a few counseling psychology training programsnow employ some variant of the practitioner-scholar model, the scientist-practitioner model continues to be dominant in counseling psychology(Stoltenberg et al., 2000). Although the publication of articles is an imper-fect indicator of a scientist-practitioner identity, it is one that has some logicto it as a potential indicator of how well programs operationalize this modelin their education and training.

We are not presenting tabular information for these data because of thevariations in the survey items used between samples. The 1985 respondentswere asked about number of articles they had published, whereas the 2000





respondents were asked about number of publications (articles, chapters,and books); the data from the two surveys are not fully comparable. Forexample, whereas the modal number of articles for SCP members in 1985was 0, the modal number of publications was 1 in 2000. This probablyreflects the item’s difference in wording, but it is not possible to know forsure.

For the 2000 sample, though, it is possible to make between-group com-parisons. SCP members reported a mean of 19.0 (SD = 31.5; Mdn = 7) pub-lications; SCP nonmembers reported a mean of 5.5 (SD = 10.8; Mdn = 2;d = .57).

Theoretical Orientation and Professional Identity

Theoretical orientation. The respondents’ primary and secondary theo-retical orientations are summarized in Table 7. The largest group of respondentsin the 1985 survey claimed eclecticism as their primary model (40.2%), withcognitive therapy (11%) and psychodynamic therapy (10.4%) in the secondand third places, respectively.

Respondents to the 2000 survey, regardless of their particular SCP mem-bership category, demonstrated the same pattern of preferences for thesethree theoretical orientations as did respondents in the 1985 sample. Therewere, however, some between-period shifts in the levels at which these spe-cific models were endorsed. In particular, a smaller proportion of SCPmembers in 2000 claimed eclecticism (34.3%) compared to members in the1985 sample (40.2%), although the percentage endorsing eclecticism for

TABLE 6: Percentage of Time Counseling Psychologists Devoted to Therapy Activities

2000 Data1985 Data:

SCP Members SCP Members SCP Nonmembers

% Mean % % Mean % % Mean % n Involved of Time n Involved of Time n Involved of Time

Individual therapy 482 95.8 67.9 263 71.1 75.3 276 86.0 73.1Marital therapy 325 64.6 12.8 181 48.9 16.4 205 63.9 17.8Family therapy 220 43.7 7.8 85 23.0 18.3 131 40.8 16.5Group therapy 173 34.4 6.9 89 24.1 18.1 78 24.3 19.2Behavior 135 26.8 4

modification

NOTE: SCP = Society of Counseling Psychology. Ns indicate respondents engaged to somedegree (>0 time) in the particular activity.



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nonmembers (40.8%) was similar to that of the SCP members in the 1985sample. A larger group of the 2000 sample (18.6% members, 22.7% non-members) claimed cognitive therapy as their theoretical orientation comparedto the 1985 sample (11%), but the percentage claiming adherence to apsychodynamic model was similar across all three samples (10.4%, 10.0%,and 9.7%).

Because client-centered therapy was so important during the early yearsof counseling psychology, it is worth noting that in 1985, only 7.9% of SCPmembers claimed it as their primary orientation. By 2000, only 2.7% ofmembers endorsed this orientation, along with 1.6% of SCP nonmembers.

In general, theoretical adherence was more evenly distributed across themodels for the secondary orientations, with the proportions endorsing eclec-ticism dropping dramatically across all three samples compared to endorse-ment of eclecticism as a primary orientation. Cognitive therapy was thesecondary choice of the largest proportion of adherents across all threesamples, although for the 1985 sample it was tied (at 14.7%) with client-centered therapy as secondary orientation and only slightly surpassed behaviortherapy (at 14.4%).

Professional identity. Respondents were provided a menu of options fromwhich they were to choose their preferred professional designation. Theseresults are summarized in Table 8, which shows that in 1985, respondents weregiven only three options from which to choose, whereas in 2000, respon-dents had six choices. This discrepancy makes it difficult to draw inferencesabout stability or change with respect to the manner in which counselingpsychologists prefer to designate themselves professionally.

In 1985, 75.7% of the SCP members referred to themselves as counselingpsychologists, 15 % as clinical psychologists, and 9 % as counselors.In 2000, 40.2% of SCP members referred to themselves as counseling psy-chologists; the next most frequently used self-descriptor was psychologist(35.4%), followed by “other” (8.9%), clinical psychologist (8.3%), counselor(3.7%), vocational counselor (0.3%) and health psychologist (0.3%).

Nonmembers were almost half as likely as SCP members in the 2000sample to call themselves counseling psychologists (23.8% vs. 42.9%), butnearly twice as likely to use the term psychologist, without any modifyingadjectives (59% vs. 35.3%).

Satisfaction With Graduate Training, Internship, and Career

Respondents were asked to indicate on a 6-point scale (where higher scoresare more positive) the level of their satisfaction with graduate training, intern-ships, and counseling psychology as a career. Because of the restricted range





of this scale, results are presented and reported to two decimal places.As Table 9 indicates, the 1985 sample scored lower than the 2000 sampleon all three measures of satisfaction, regardless of SCP member status. Forexample, for members: satisfaction with graduate training, 4.44 (SD = 1.4)versus 4.93 (SD = 1.0; d = –.40); for satisfaction with internship, 4.56(SD = 1.4) versus 5.04 (SD = 1.02; d = –.40); and for satisfaction withcounseling psychology as a career, 4.85 (SD = 1.3) versus 5.21 (SD = 1.01;d = –.54). SCP members and nonmembers were quite similar in their levelsof satisfaction with internship and the choice of counseling psychology asa career, although nonmembers appeared to be slightly less satisfied withtheir graduate training (M = 4.75 vs. 4.93 for nonmembers and members,respectively).

Career path if starting over. The extent to which respondents would bewilling to pursue the same career if they were starting over constitutesanother indicator of career satisfaction. Respondents were provided a list offive professions (plus “other”) and asked, “If you were to start over againknowing what you know now, which of the following would you choose asa career?” The results, summarized in Table 10, show that counseling psy-chology was the most frequently endorsed option in both the 1985 and 2000samples. It was, however, the choice of a smaller proportion of the 1985sample than of the 2000 sample (47.8% in 1985 vs. 55.4% in 2000). Fewernonmembers (44.3%) indicated that they would pursue this career path thanwas true of either SCP member sample. More respondents to the 1985 sur-vey endorsed clinical psychology as a possible career alternative (15.2%)than either the SCP member (11.1%) or the nonmember (13.0%) respon-dents to the 2000 survey.

TABLE 8: Professional Designation Most Typically Used

2000 Data


n % n % n %

Counseling psychologist 513 75.7 149 42.9 73 23.8Clinical psychologist 105 15 29 8.3 27 8.8Counselor 60 9 13 3.7 1 0.3Psychologist 124 35.4 181 59.0Vocational counselor 2 0.6 0 0Health psychologist 2 0.6 1 0.3Other 31 8.9 24 7.8Total 678 350 307





The pattern for medicine/psychiatry was somewhat more complex. TheSCP members in 1985 were more likely to endorse this as a preferred careeralternative than the SCP members in 2000 (13.4% in 1985 vs. 9.6% in2000). However, 14.7% of the SCP nonmembers in the 2000 sample indi-cated they would choose this option.

Participation in, and Beliefs About, the Experience of Personal Therapy

Sixty-six percent of the 1985 respondents indicated that they had receivedpersonal therapy at some point in their pasts, compared to 83% of the 2000

TABLE 9: Satisfaction With Training, Career Choice, and Counseling Psychology asa Career

2000 Data

1985 Data: SCP Members SCP Nonmembers SCP Members (n = 370) (n = 321)

Satisfaction With: n M SD % M SD % M SD %

Graduate training 699 4.44 1.40 60.5 4.93 1.03 71.9 4.75 1.06 71.5Internship 637 4.56 1.40 64.9 5.04 1.02 79.1 4.97 1.06 83.4Counseling psychology 691 4.85 1.30 77.0 5.21 1.01 84.0 5.19 0.96 81.3

as a career

NOTE: SCP = Society of Counseling Psychology. Ratings were made on a 6-point scale where1 = very dissatisfied and 6 = very satisfied. % = percentage who rated this item as either quitesatisfied or very satisfied.

TABLE 10: Careers Counseling Psychologists Would Choose if Starting Over

2000 Data


n % n % n %

Counseling psychology 322 47.8 190 55.4 133 44.3Clinical psychology 102 15.2 38 11.1 39 13.0Other psychology 24 3.6 30 8.8 25 8.3Medicine/psychiatry 90 13.4 33 9.6 44 14.7Law 61 9.1 18 5.3 24 8.0Other 74 11.0 34 9.9 35 11.7Total 673 100.0 343 100 300 100.0




respondents who were SCP members. Eighty-six percent of SCP nonmembershad received personal therapy.

When asked to rate their degree of satisfaction with their most recenttherapy (1 = very satisfied and 6 = very dissatisfied), the mean for SCPmembers was 1.97 (SD = 1.06); for SCP nonmembers, it was 1.78 (SD = 1.04;d = .18). When asked to rate the importance of personal therapy as a prereq-uisite for work as counseling psychology (1 = not at all important, 5 = veryimportant), SCP members and nonmembers had similar scores (M = 4.03and SD = 1.02 vs. M = 4.09 and SD = 1.03, respectively; d = –.06).

DISCUSSION

This article provided two kinds of important information about counselingpsychologists. The first kind of data concerns the extent to which the roles,activities, and beliefs of SCP members have changed over a 15-year period.The second type of information is concerned with the extent to which coun-seling psychologist APA members who were SCP members differed fromthose who were not on those same variables. We will discuss findings regard-ing those two areas, each in turn, and conclude with a discussion of the study’slimitations and with suggestions for further research.

SCP Members: 1985 and 2000

Although human development metaphors have limited applications tothe professions, two trends that might be considered as evidence of coun-seling psychology’s maturation as a profession during the 15-year periodcovered in this study are notable. One trend was the substantial increase inthe proportions of counseling psychologists who were graduates of APA-accredited programs. In an earlier era, graduates of unaccredited counselingpsychology programs and of counselor education programs were more promi-nently identified with counseling psychology than now, and this was likelyreflected in the 1985 survey data. However, counseling psychology and coun-selor education have become increasingly differentiated over the years, andthere has been a large increase in the numbers of APA-accredited programsduring the 1980s and 1990s, growing from 22 accredited programs in 1978to the current 73 (Goodyear et al., 2000). Many of these newly accreditedprograms had formerly been counselor education programs.

The other indicator of counseling psychology’s maturation as a specialtywas the increased proportion of respondents who were licensed as psycholo-gists. This difference probably reflects changing expectations and tightenedregulatory requirements across the time period of the two surveys. For





example, whereas at one time it might have been possible to work as anunlicensed psychologist in university counseling centers or in some publicagencies, that no longer is true.

Because these two trends warranted comment as possible indicators ofincreased professionalism of the specialty, we began our discussion withthem. The remainder of this section on SCP members is organized to parallelthe organization of the Results section.

Demographics

Age and experience. The mean age of SCP members has remained constantat about 50 across at least the 15-year period covered in this study. Therewould be no reason, however, to expect this to have changed in any substan-tial way. To have done so would have required some substantial shift in theage at which counseling psychologists are earning their degrees or the patternby which they join APA and SCP after being awarded their degrees.

The mean age of counseling psychologists (both the 1985 and 2000samples and both SCP members and nonmembers) is about 3 years youngerthan what Norcross, Karpiak, and Santoro (2005) reported for Division 12members (53.3 years) and what APA’s Office of Research (2005b) reportedfor APA members (not including fellows; 52.6 years). This differencerepresents an unexpected finding, for there would be no a priori reason topredict it. Without additional information about, for example, whether coun-seling psychologists do not maintain postretirement APA and divisionalmembership as long as other psychologists, it is difficult to interpret thisdiscrepancy.

Gender. One of the clearest trends in the data was the shift from coun-seling psychology as a specialty composed primarily of males (75% of the1985 sample) to one that is more balanced with respect to gender. Our findingsare consistent with the conclusions of APA’s Task Force on the ChangingGender Composition of Psychology (APA, 1995) that “the increasing repre-sentation of women in psychology has been especially dramatic.” Moreover,it is reasonable to assume that women will constitute a steadily increasingproportion of counseling psychologists in both SCP and APA. Gallesichand Olmstead (1987) reported that 1986 was the first year in which morewomen than men graduated from counseling psychology programs, and thenumber of women students has continued to grow so that slightly more than70% of counseling psychology students are women (Council of CounselingPsychology Training Programs [CCPTP], 2006) as are 75% of APA’s studentaffiliates (APA Research Office, 2004). In short, women outnumber men in



the professional pipeline, and this difference will eventually be reflected inthe membership of both APA and SCP.

To obtain a more accurate picture of trends with respect to the gendercomposition of counseling psychology, we used our 2000 survey data toexamine the approximately one third of women who had graduated in duringthe earliest years (1948-1977) versus the approximately one third who hadgraduated during the most recent period (1986 on). We found that whereas23.8% of the earlier group were women, the percentage rose to 67.6% in thelater group.

The between-period differences are even more striking when SCP’s leader-ship is used as a benchmark. Only 4 of the first 40 SCP presidents werewomen: Leona Tyler (1961), Dorothy Clendenen (1968), Barbara Kirk (1974),and Ursula Delworth (1982). In comparison, 10 of the 20 most recent presi-dents have been women. These changes over time with respect to genderhave been dramatic, both in the composition of SCP’s membership and inits leadership.

Female SCP members in both the 1985 and 2000 samples were youngerand had less postdegree experience than men. This difference is likely anartifact of the changing gender demographics alluded to above. That is, menmake up a larger proportion of those in the older cohorts of the specialty,whereas women are making up a larger proportion of those in the youngercohorts.

It was interesting to find both that women were older on average than menwhen they earned their doctorates and that their ages were more variable(i.e., showed a higher standard deviation). One possible explanation for thisfinding is that women have been more heterogeneous than men in the ages atwhich they enter training and that men have, in general, moved more quicklyfrom undergraduate to graduate studies. Another possibility is that womentake longer, on average, than men to complete their doctorates. Unfortunately,because we did not ask respondents about time to degree, we do not have datathat might help clarify the possible reasons. A future survey of counselingpsychologists might address this question.

A reasonable question is whether men and women differ in ways thatare affecting the nature of the specialty. Snyder, McDermott, Leibowitz, andCheavans (2000) had speculated, for example, that because of the greatervalue they place on relationships and communality, women will be less likelyto seek the competitive, demanding work of academia; that they would morelikely seek psychotherapy practice as an alternative. To address that question,we conducted additional analyses of professional roles. We did find thatwomen were more likely to describe themselves as clinical practitionersthan men, regardless of SCP membership status. For SCP members in 2000,51.5% of women identified as practitioners versus 43.9% of men; for SCP




nonmembers, the corresponding percentages were 73.9% and 68.1%. Otherbetween-gender differences concerning professional roles were small andunremarkable. For example, whereas 30.4% of SCP members who werewomen identified as academicians, the corresponding figure for men was30.7%. Thus, the prediction of Snyder et al. was borne out only in that womenwere more likely to be practitioners; they were wrong—at least with respectto counseling psychology—in predicting that women would be less likely topursue academic careers.

Race and ethnicity. Given counseling psychology’s commitment to diver-sity, the degree of change in SCP’s racial/ethnic composition (from 95%White in 1985 to 89.5% in 2000; alternatively, 5% vs. 11.5% minority) couldinitially be seen as disappointing. However, a late 1990s survey (Norcross,Sayette, Mayne, Karg, and Turkson, 1998) found that about 25% of currentcounseling psychology students are from racial or ethnic minority groups.More recent data suggest that the current proportion is higher than thatfigure. The average proportion of students who are ethnic or racial minoritieshas averaged 30.4% across the three most recent CCPTP annual surveys(CCPTP, 2006).

It is reasonable to expect the proportion of SCP members who are racialand ethnic minorities to grow in a manner analogous to what has beenoccurring in the gender composition of SCP. The proportion of studentswho are racial and ethnic minorities eventually will be better reflected inthe membership of the society, but this process will unfold across time andwill be linked to the rate at which the older—and primarily White—counselingpsychologists leave SCP.

As was the case with gender, we sought a more differentiated pictureof racial and ethnic diversity within SCP and so used our 2000 survey data(including both members and nonmembers) to examine the proportion ofracial and ethnic minorities who had graduated during the earliest years(1948-1977) versus those who graduated during the most recent period(1986-2000). As might be expected, the proportion of minority psychologistswas greater during the more recent period (8% during the earlier period vs.11.4% for the most recent period). What was especially striking in those datawas that whereas no Latina/Latino counseling psychologists were repre-sented in the earlier time period, they made up 3% in the later period.

The 8% proportion we obtained for the earlier period is interesting, too,in relationship to the 5% Watkins et al. (1986) had reported for their survey.The most likely explanation for the discrepancy is sampling. Perhapsracial and ethnic minorities were underrepresented—either by choice or byreason of inadvertent omission—from the earlier survey. This, though, is onlyconjecture.




Roles, Settings, and Activities

One of the more notable findings of this study concerned the level ofstability SCP members demonstrated across 15 years in their professionalroles and work settings. In fact, the level of stability across at least 36 yearsin the proportion of SCP members employed in colleges and universities(including medical schools; 50%-60%) seems remarkable. So too has thesize of that percentage, which exceeds that of the division of clinicalpsychology (30%; Norcross et al., 2005). Although much of this differenceis accounted for by the approximately 20% of SCP members who wereemployed in university counseling centers, that percentage does not completelyaccount for the differences between the two divisions.

In contrast to the stability in roles and work settings, some importantshifts seem to have occurred in our samples regarding the particular activitiesin which counseling psychologists are engaged. Especially notable was theextent to which counseling psychologists’ involvement in career/vocationalcounseling had decreased. The trend, however, is not new. In fact, it has beendocumented across studies extending back at least 40 years. For example,Samler (1964) asserted his “conviction that vocational counseling is a majorelement in establishing the unique identity of counseling psychology. Wemight be closer to reality, however, if we said that vocational counseling couldbe a major element; it is not necessarily one now” (p. 63).

Two decades later, Watkins et al. (1986), in discussing the results of theirsurvey, commented that they were “surprised at the meager amount of timecounseling psychologists reportedly spent in vocational assessment andvocational counseling because the vocational component has long been animportant part of counseling psychology” (p. 307). That same year, based ontheir own survey data, Fitzgerald and Osipow (1986) observed that “voca-tional psychology and its applied arm, vocational/career counseling, long thesingle most identifiable characteristic of counseling psychologists, appearto be eroding as the foundation of the discipline” (p. 543).

One possibility is that counseling psychologists’ persistent drop acrosstime in involvement in vocational counseling reflects a change in focustoward remediation rather than on preventive activities. For individuals inindependent practice who are dependent upon third-party reimbursementfor some (probably significant) portion of their livelihoods, unreimbursibleactivities such as career/vocational counseling are not high on the list ofpreferred interventions. Insurers tend to reimburse for rehabilitative overpreventive interventions, which probably also explains why many counselingpsychologists do not realize the preventive aspect of our professional iden-tity as well. Kaczmarek (2006) noted the specialty’s philosophical and his-torical grounding in a strength-based approach, but then noted “counseling




psychologists have embraced the remedial role more frequently than eitherthe prevention or the educational developmental roles . . . [the specialty’s]discourse appears to be inconsistent with practice. Has counseling psychology‘talked the talk,’ but failed to ‘walk the talk’?” (pp. 90-91).

In counseling, we know that when a client’s ideal self is substantially dis-crepant from his or her actual self, the result can be considerable dissonanceand discomfort. One intervention is to provide that client with accurate feed-back about her or his behavior, demeanor, and so on, with the hope thatchanges will result in the person behaving in ways more closely to his or herideal. The analogy may be useful to the specialty itself: The specialty’s “idealself” is one in which career counseling, prevention, and the promotion of clientstrengths are central. With data from studies such as ours, counseling psychol-ogists can decide either to modify that ideal self and therefore the way theydescribe their specialty, or they can adapt new strategies to ensure that theyand other counseling psychologists better conform to the espoused ideal.

It is important to conclude this section by noting that although it appearsthat an increasingly small subset of counseling psychologists report engagingin career counseling, it does not necessarily follow either that career coun-seling is a disappearing activity or that counseling psychology will no longerbe central to it. Practitioners in allied professions are replacing counselingpsychologists as the primary providers of career counseling, but counselingpsychology continues to provide the intellectual and empirical support fortheir work. Theory and research on vocational choice and behavior remainsrobust in counseling psychology, as indicated by the quality and proportionof vocational articles published in both the Journal of Counseling Psychologyand the Journal of Vocational Behavior (which is regarded by most as a high-quality counseling psychology journal).

More specialized functioning for counseling psychologists. We observedwhat seemed to be a clear shift over the 15-year period toward increasinglyfocused activity among SCP members. That is, with the one exception ofteaching, a smaller proportion of counseling psychologists were engaged ineach of the listed possible activities in 2000 than had been the case in 1985.At the same time, a closer inspection of Table 5 reveals that those whoreported a given activity reported spending a larger proportion of their timeengaged in it than did the participants in the earlier sample. It is possible tospeculate, then, that counseling psychologists have become somewhat morespecialized and have begun to engage in fewer types of professional activi-ties while intensifying their involvements in them. It would be important forfuture studies to attempt to determine the factors that have influenced thischange, which might include, for example, the manner in which jobs andreimbursements are structured.




Theoretical orientation. The data we report indicate decreased endorse-ment of eclecticism among SCP members with correspondingly greater alle-giance to particular theoretic models, especially cognitive therapy. During theperiod between the 1985 and 2000 studies, the evidence-based movementemerged and began dominating discussions of therapeutic practice. Manyof the empirically supported treatments identified by the Division 12 TaskGroup (Chambless et al., 1998) are within the general class of cognitive-behavioral theory, and it may be that our data are documenting one effectof this movement.

Our results correspond well to those obtained in recent surveys ofDivision 12 and Division 29, using the same questionnaire we and Watkinset al. (1986) had used. Whereas 34.3% of the SCP members who partici-pated in our 2000 survey endorsed an eclectic approach, the proportion forDivision 29 members was 35.8% (Norcross, Hedges, & Prochaska, 2002)and for Division 12 members was 29% (Norcross et al., 2005).

Both of the studies of Division 29 also found an increase in the adherentsto cognitive therapy: Over a 20-year period, the percentage had doubledfrom 8% to 16.2%. Although not doubled in the 15 years covered by ourstudy, endorsement of the cognitive orientation had grown considerably,from 11% to 18.6% among SCP members. Among nonmembers, we found22.7% claiming a cognitive orientation. In a Delphi poll, Norcross et al.(2002) found that the use of cognitive-behavioral therapies was predicted toincrease more than other systems during this decade. Our respondents seemedto confirm that prediction.

Career satisfaction. SCP members have remained satisfied with theircareer choices and their training, in fact, increasingly so across the timecovered between the two studies. SCP members are generally pleased toidentify as counseling psychologists. The proportion of SCP members whowould choose counseling psychology as a field if they were starting overincreased from 1985 (47.8%) to 2000 (55.4%), which suggests increasingsatisfaction. Interestingly, however, Norcross et al. (2005) found that 62%of clinical psychologists would choose their field again, which indicates aslightly higher level of satisfaction within that specialty.

Experience with personal therapy. The data suggest a trend, with increa-sing proportions of psychologists seeking personal therapy. Whereas 66%of the 1985 sample had participated in personal therapy, 83% of the SCPmembers in the 2000 sample (and 86% of the nonmembers in the 2000sample) reported having engaged in therapy. Norcross et al. (2005) docu-mented a similar trend with Division 12 members, showing that roughly60% of respondents in the 1970s had sought personal therapy versus 75%




in 2003. Apparently, being a client oneself is perceived as an increasinglyimportant experience for psychologists.

SCP Members Versus Nonmembers: 2000 Sample

The second of this study’s contributions to the field is its description oftwo sets of respondents: counseling psychologists who are SCP members andthose who are nonmembers. In fact, the differences were of sufficient scopeand extent that it is reasonable to suggest that these two groups constitutediscernibly different subsets of counseling psychologists.

Differences based primarily and secondarily on role and setting. Perhapsthe most prominent of the differences between SCP member and nonmemberrespondents concerned their work settings and roles. Several other of theobserved differences could be understood as direct extensions of these settingand role differences and therefore secondary to them.

Nearly 6 in 10 of the SCP members (59.1%) were employed in somecapacity by colleges or universities; only about 1 in 6 (15.97%) of the SCPnonmembers were in this setting. On the other hand, SCP members were halfas likely to claim private practice as their primary work setting comparedto nonmembers (22.7% vs. 46.7%).

The two groups differed as well with respect to their primary work roles.SCP members, for example, were 3 times more likely to identify as acade-micians than were SCP nonmembers (30.6% vs. 9.3%). On the other hand,members were much less likely to claim that their primary work role wasthat of clinical practitioner (47.3% vs. 71.3%) than were their nonmembercounterparts.

Because SCP members were more likely to work in colleges and univer-sities and to have roles as academicians, it was no surprise that they reportedmore publications. It made sense, too, that a higher proportion of SCPmembers would then be APA fellows. The primary criterion for fellow statusis that the member have made “unusual and outstanding contributions orperformance in the field of psychology.” Although there now are multipleways to establish this level of contribution, scholarship traditionally hasbeen heavily weighted, thereby disadvantaging practitioners.

An interesting finding was that SCP members were more likely to holdABPP diplomate status than nonmembers. Because this credential is anindicator of professional expertise and because SCP nonmembers had ahigher proportion of practitioners, one might expect they would have thegreater proportion of diplomates, yet this was not the case.

Because this was in some ways a counterintuitive finding, we conducted anadditional analysis to consider diplomate representation among the several





professional roles. For SCP members, we found that slightly more than halfthe 31 diplomates (16, or 51.6%) identified as clinical practitioners but that29% identified as academicians (with the rest spread across several otherroles). On the other hand, 6 of the 8 (75%) nonmember diplomates wereclinical practitioners; another identified as an administrator, and yet anotheras a consultant.

This pattern suggested to us the possibility that to have an ABPP diplomais not only to have a certification of expertise, but also to certify strongidentification with the specialty. To the extent that this may be true, it wouldmake sense that SCP members (including academics) would be more likelyto seek the certification: By virtue of their SCP membership alone theycould be understood to have greater identification with the specialty.

There is one other possible explanation for academics seeking the ABPPdiploma: to establish their credibility as practitioners. It would be usefulfor future researchers to explore this and the other hypotheses about SCPmembers’ motivations for obtaining diplomate status.

Satisfaction with counseling psychology. The results were somewhatmixed with respect to between-group satisfaction with the specialty. In theseveral measures of satisfaction, the differences were scant. However, fewernonmembers indicated that they referred to themselves as counselingpsychologists than was true of SCP members (22.7% vs. 40.2%). Also, whenasked what career they would pursue if starting over again, fewer nonmembersthan members indicated that they would choose counseling psychology(44.3% vs. 55.4%). So although their levels of expressed satisfaction withthe specialty are similar to that of SCP members, SCP nonmembers appearto identify less with the specialty. This stance would be reflected, as well,in their having chosen not to join SCP.

Limitations and Implications for Future Research

There are at least three aspects of this study that suggest some caution ininterpreting the findings. The first of these is that the data from the 2000survey now are 8 years old. Even though patterns found among our respondentsmay still pertain, there still is the chance that sufficient changes have occurredthat the results would not fully apply to current counseling psychologists.

This limitation would be especially important if we were presenting the2000 survey results as freestanding data. But to have anchored those data tothose collected by Watkins et al. (1986) permitted a description of trendsover time. These are important to note, regardless of whether the 2000 surveyresults continue to have contemporary meaning.



The second issue warranting some interpretive caution is the responserate. The response rate we obtained (approaching 50%) is better than thatobtained in much survey research. Moreover, the fact that several datapoints (e.g., sample ages; professional roles) showed very close exactcorrespondence between our data and those of Watkins et al. (1986) lendssupport to the belief that this sample was representative of the populationfrom which it was drawn, at least with respect to SCP members. Nevertheless,it is not possible to know how a higher response rate—and therefore thelikelihood of greater representativeness of the samples—might have affectedour results.

The third interpretive caution also concerns the representativeness ofour samples. This study took the important step of including not only SCPmembers, but also SCP nonmembers. Nevertheless, all respondents still weremembers of APA. It would be inappropriate, therefore, to infer that thesefindings are at all representative of that subset of counseling psychologistswho were members of neither SCP nor APA itself. To have a truly broad,inclusive picture of counseling psychology as a specialty, future researchersshould include this subset of counseling psychologists as well.

Finally, there is one additional issue with respect to the sample. Both the1985 and 2000 surveys were conducted on a U.S. sample—as was true ofall other of surveys of counseling psychologists cited in this article. Yet therealso are counseling psychologists in other countries. Moreover, U.S. coun-seling psychology training programs prepare a number of internationalstudents who then return to their home countries. Presumably, they are ableto retain and use what they have learned here, but we just do not have thosedata. It would be important in this era of globalization to learn about coun-seling psychologists in countries other than just the United States.

In conclusion, counseling psychology will continue to evolve, althoughthe trajectory of that evolution is not clear. This article suggested areas ofremarkable stability, often over periods much longer than simply the 15 yearsbetween the 1985 and 2000 studies. At the same time, it made clear that alongwith that stability, there have been some important changes, especially in thedemographics and activities of counseling psychologists. It is important,therefore, that counseling psychology continue to monitor the demographics,behaviors, and attitudes of its members. In fact, we believe it is importantto continue obtaining regular snapshots with what might be thought of asthe same camera, which was the strength of this study. It further documentedthat there are sufficient within-group differences within counseling psychol-ogy that it is inappropriate to characterize the field based on data obtainedsolely from SCP membership.





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