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Factors Related to Counselor Preference Among Gays and Lesbians
Author(s) -
MCDERMOTT DIANE,
TYNDALL LARRY,
LICHTENBERG JAMES W.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
journal of counseling and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.805
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1556-6676
pISSN - 0748-9633
DOI - 10.1002/j.1556-6676.1989.tb02488.x
Subject(s) - sexual orientation , lesbian , preference , psychology , homosexuality , social psychology , scale (ratio) , sexual behavior , clinical psychology , orientation (vector space) , variance (accounting) , developmental psychology , physics , accounting , business , quantum mechanics , psychoanalysis , economics , microeconomics , geometry , mathematics
This study explored the preference for counselor's sexual orientation among gay and lesbian clients. Recognizing that the perceived reaction of participants to hypothetical situations may be a viable predictor of future choices, respondents were administered a comfort/discomfort index intended to probe a number of potential counseling concerns. Internalized homophobia (Hudson & Ricketts, 1977) and a scale measuring degree of same‐ or opposite‐sex sexual preferences (Kinsey, Pomeroy, Martin, & Gebbhard, 1953) were also investigated in an attempt to account for variance in the comfort/discomfort ratings. Findings indicated that gay men and lesbians tend to prefer gay or lesbian counselors, although a sizable number believe that counselors' sexual orientations do not make a difference. Internalized homophobia was found to predict discomfort in discussing various topics with a counselor of unknown sexual orientation.