Journal of Counseling Psychology Copyright 2004 by the American Psychological Association

2004, Vol. 51, No. 2, 158 –167 0022-0167/04/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/0022-0167.51.2.158

Effects of Counseling Style and Client Adherence to Asian Cultural Values

on Counseling Process With Asian American College Students

Lisa C. Li Bryan S. K. Kim

University of Maryland
University of California, Santa Barbara

This study investigated the effects of counseling style and client adherence to Asian cultural values on
career-focused counseling process with Asian American college students. Fifty-two clients were classi-
fied as having either high or low adherence to Asian values and assigned to a counseling session with a
European American female counselor, who employed either a directive or a nondirective style. Imme-
diately following the session, clients completed measures of counselor credibility, counselor empathic
understanding, client– counselor working alliance, session depth, and counselor cross-cultural
counseling competence. Clients in the directive counseling condition rated the counselor as being more
empathic and cross-culturally competent, and reported stronger client– counselor working alliance and
greater session depth than did those clients in the nondirective condition.

One way of being a culturally competent counselor is to possess

knowledge about how various counseling styles affect the coun-
seling process with culturally different clients. Past studies with
Asian American college students have suggested that the use of a
directive counseling style is perceived more positively than a
nondirective style. More specifically, Atkinson, Maruyama, and
Matsui (1978) found that Asian American college students pre-
ferred a directive approach that was used by Asian American
counselors. In Atkinson and Matsushita (1991), Japanese Ameri-
can college-aged participants gave the highest counselor credibil-
ity ratings to a Japanese counselor who was directive and the
lowest to the Japanese counselor who was nondirective. Similarly,
Exum and Lau (1988) found higher counselor credibility ratings
for directive counseling style than nondirective counseling style
with their sample of foreign college students from Hong Kong.
However, although these results suggest important information
about Asian American college students’ preference for counseling
style, the methodology from which the results were obtained may
limit their validity and usefulness to actual counseling sessions.
Previous studies used audiovisual analogue designs, which did not
use actual counseling sessions but relied on the ability of partici-
pants to approximate the role of clients on the basis of their
exposure to transcripts, audiotapes, or videotape. In addition, the
use of these types of limited exposure also raises questions about
whether the counseling styles were fully operationalized in these
Lisa C. Li, Department of Psychology, University of Maryland; Bryan
S. K. Kim, Department of Education, University of California, Santa
Barbara.
This manuscript was based on a master’s thesis by Lisa C. Li at the
University of Maryland, under the direction of Bryan S. K. Kim. We thank
Sharika Bhattacharya, Sarah Bashir, Claire Agustin, Angela Newby, and
Alison Newby for assisting with this study.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Lisa C.
Li, Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD
20742-4411. E-mail: lli@psyc.umd.edu
158
studies. Pope-Davis, Liu, Toporek, and Brittan-Powell (2001),
after a review of extant empirical literature on multicultural coun-
seling, pointed out that studies are needed in which persons in real
counseling sessions are used.
Critical to understanding how best to approach counseling with
any group is an understanding of within-group differences (Atkin-
son, Morten, & Sue, 1998). For Asian Americans, an aspect of
within-group differences is reflected in their enculturation level
(Kim & Abreu, 2001). Enculturation represents the degree to
which one adheres to the values, behavior, knowledge, and
identity of the indigenous culture (e.g., Asian culture for Asian
Ameri- cans). In terms of values enculturation, D. W. Sue and Sue
(1999) suggested that clients’ adherence to Asian cultural values
can play a significant role in counseling process and outcome.
These au- thors pointed out that clients who adhere highly to
Asian values might experience stigma about seeking help and be
less willing to share personal problems than individuals with
lower adherence to Asian values. Two studies have investigated
the role of Asian cultural values adherence in career-focused
counseling with Asian American college students (Kim &
Atkinson, 2002; Kim, Li, & Liang, 2002). Kim and Atkinson
(2002) found that clients who had high adherence to Asian
cultural values evaluated Asian American counselors to be more
empathic and credible than did Asian American clients with low
adherence to Asian values. Clients who had low adherence to
Asian values judged European American counselors to be more
empathic than did their counterparts with
high adherence to Asian values. Kim et al. (2002) found that
clients with high adherence to Asian cultural values perceived
increased counselor empathic understanding and stronger client–
counselor working alliance than did clients with low adherence to
Asian values when they received services from a European Amer-
ican counselor.
Although these findings are interesting and informative, the
possible moderating role of counseling style on the relationship
between client adherence to Asian values and counseling process
has not been studied. Kim, Atkinson, and Umemoto (2001) sug-
 COUNSELING STYLE AND ASIAN VALUES
gested that clients with high adherence to Asian cultural values, in
comparison with clients with low adherence to Asian values,
might rate higher a counselor who uses a directive counseling
style. Values such as deference to authority figures may cause
clients adhering to Asian cultural values to look for their
counselors to set the structure of the session and offer suggestions
for resolving the problems.
The present study sought to expand the previous research in
two ways. First, using a quasi-intervention analogue design, the
study sought to approximate a live counseling session, and
thereby increase the external validity of the findings. Additionally,
we attempted to fully operationalize the directive and nondirective
counseling styles by having counseling graduate students help
define these constructs. Second, participants evaluated as having
either high or low adherence to Asian cultural values were as-
signed to receive either a directive or nondirective counseling
strategy. It was hypothesized that participants in the high-
adherence group who received directive counseling would rate the
session and counselor more highly than participants in the low-
adherence group. It was also expected that participants in the
high-adherence group who received nondirective counseling con-
dition would rate the session and counselor less highly than par-
ticipants in the low-adherence group.
On the basis of the social influence theory (Strong, 1968) and
conceptualization of multicultural counseling competence (e.g.,
D. W. Sue et al., 1982), the following dependent variables were
chosen: counselor credibility, counselor empathic understanding,
client– counselor working alliance, session depth, and counselor
cross-cultural competence. The social influence theory suggests
that client perceptions of counselor credibility, which is
influenced by client perceptions of counselor expertness,
attractiveness, and trustworthiness, lead to client change. Related
to the concept of counselor credibility are the three other
dependent variables as- sessed in this study: counselor empathic
understanding, working alliance, and session depth. Specifically,
counselor credibility is influenced by the counselor’s ability to be
empathic, create a viable working alliance, and conduct a session
that is meaningful to the client. In addition, D. W. Sue et al.
(1982) suggested that with ethnic minority clients, counselor
cross-cultural competence might influence client perceptions of
counselor credibility.
The present study used career-focused counseling. Leong
(1986, 1995) pointed out the need for more career-related research
among Asian Americans. However, it should be noted that career
coun- seling and personal counseling share many similarities and
it may be difficult to distinguish between the two types of
counseling (Blustein & Spengler, 1995). Although we
acknowledge this over- lap, we chose to have career issues as the
focus for the counseling sessions because career choice is a
common concern for college students, the participants in this
study.
Method
Participants
Volunteer clients. Volunteer clients were 52 (16 men, 36 women)
Asian American students at a large mid-Atlantic university. They ranged
in age from 18 to 27 years, with a mean of 18.94 (SD = 1.61). Their
academic levels were as follows: 33 (63%) 1st-year students, 6 (12%)
sophomores,
8 (15%) juniors, and 5 (10%) seniors. Thirteen (25%) were Asian Indian,
11 (21%) were Chinese, 11 (21%) were Korean, 5 (10%) were Filipino, 5
159
(10%) were multiracial, 3 (6%) were Japanese, 3 (6%) were other Asian
ethnicity, and 1 (1%) was Cambodian. In terms of generation since immi-
gration, 27 (52%) were first generation, 20 (39%) were second generation,
1 (2%) was third generation, and 1 (2%) was fifth generation; 3 (6%)
reported other generation statuses. Among the first-generation group, the
number of years since immigration ranged from 0.5 to 20, with a mean of
8.95 (SD = 5.74). Four participants indicated that they had previous
counseling experience, with the duration ranging between 1 and 3
sessions. Counselors. Seven European American female counselors and
one Hispanic American counselor with visible Caucasian features at a
large mid-Atlantic university served as counselors in this study; Lisa C.
Li also served as a counselor. Six were students in a counseling
psychology doctoral program, one was a second year master’s student in
school counseling, and one had a master’s degree in counseling with an
advanced graduate studies certificate and was currently employed as a
career coun- selor. Their ages ranged from 23 to 33 years, with a mean of
27.71 (SD = 3.95). All had taken at least one counseling practicum
course and had between 1 and 3 years of counseling experience (M =
1.43, SD = 0.79). Three counselors had no career counseling
experience, whereas four had between 6 months and 10 years of career
counseling experience (M = 2.21,
SD = 3.72). Counselors, except Lisa C. Li, received a $10 gift certificate
for their participation.
Session videotape raters. Three female Asian American (1 Pakistani, 1
Asian Indian, 1 Filipino) and 2 biracial female Korean European
American undergraduate students served as videotape raters. One was a
sophomore,
1 was a junior, and 3 were seniors, and all were second-generation
Americans.
Experimental Design
Design. The present study used a quasi-intervention analogue method
(Gelso & Fretz, 2001) with two independent variables, client adherence to
Asian cultural values and counseling style (directive and nondirective),
and five dependent variables: counselor credibility, counselor empathic
under- standing, client– counselor working alliance, session depth, and
counselor cross-cultural competence. Upon arrival to the session, clients
were clas- sified as having either high or low adherence to Asian values
and then assigned to either directive or nondirective counseling conditions.
Imme- diately following the session, clients completed measures of
dependent variables.
Power analysis. For multiple regression analysis and a power equal to
.80 with an alpha level equal to .05, an a priori power analysis indicated
that a sample size of 33 was needed to detect a large effect size ( f2 = .35;
Cohen, 1988) and a sample of 77 to detect a medium effect size ( f2 = .15;
Cohen, 1988). A large effect size was expected on the basis of similar past
studies. Kim and Atkinson (2002) achieved a large effect size with
sessions that were only 30 min in length. Kim et al. (2002) achieved a
large effect size with 79 participants using three independent variables,
whereas the present study used only two. Also, training of counselors and
using a script for the sessions were expected to enhance the salience of the
experimental conditions to participants, thus increasing the likelihood of
large differ- ences between those in the directive condition and those in
the nondirective condition.
Measures
Establishing Asian cultural values groups. To assign participants to
either the high- or low-adherence to Asian cultural values group, they
completed the 36-item Asian Values Scale (AVS; Kim, Atkinson, &
Yang, 1999) upon arrival at the counseling clinic. The instrument uses a 7-
point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree).
To establish AVS’s construct validity, Kim et al. used a nationwide survey
of Asian American psychologists and focus group discussions and a
survey of Asian American psychology doctoral students to generate a
set of 112
 1 LI AND

initial items. Among these items, 36 items that were more highly endorsed
was developed by factor analyzing responses to the larger 36-item
by first-generation Asian Americans than by European Americans were
Working Alliance Inventory (Horvath & Greenberg, 1989). Results
retained. Exploratory factor analysis of the AVS yielded the following six
indicated that the factor structure of the short version was similar to the
Asian values dimensions: conformity to norms, filial piety, family recog-
original instru- ment. The short form measures, primarily, a general
nition through achievement, humility, collectivism, and emotional self-
alliance factor, and secondarily, task, bond, and goal factors. Reliability
control. However, the scores on the six factors were found to lack internal
coefficients for these factors were .98, .90, .92, and .90, respectively
reliability to justify their use as separate subscales; hence, Kim et al.
(Tracey & Kokotovic, 1989). Tracey and Kokotovic found that there was
recommended the use of the total score. The use of the total score also is
shared variance in the separate scales as well as unique variance in each
supported by Kim, Yang, Atkinson, Wolfe, and Hong (2001), who found
scale. Thus, the com- posite score of the WAI-SF is an appropriate
via confirmatory factor analyses that the AVS was better represented by a
measure of the common variance. As for WAI-SF’s applicability to Asian
hierarchical factor structure, consisting of a second-order Asian values
American population, Kim et al. (2002) reported a coefficient alpha of .86.
construct and the six first-order factors, than by single-order factor struc-
The present data yielded an alpha of .91.
tures. Evidence of AVS’s convergent validity was obtained through factor
The Depth (Stiles & Snow, 1984) was used to assess client perceptions
structural relationships between the AVS, the Individualism-Collectivism
of session depth. It consists of 6 bipolar adjective items rated in a 7-point
scale (Triandis, 1995), and the Suinn-Lew Asian Self-Identity Accultura-
semantic differential format. Session depth refers to the degree to which
tion scale (SL-ASIA; Suinn, Rickard-Figueroa, Lew, & Vigil, 1987).
the session was deep or shallow, valuable or worthless, full or empty,
Evidence of discriminant validity was obtained in the low correlation
powerful or weak, special or ordinary, and good or bad. Factor analysis by
between the AVS scores, which reflect values of enculturation, and SL-
Stiles and Snow (1984) provided support for the construct validity of the
ASIA scores, which reflect behavioral acculturation. In terms of
Depth. In terms of reliability, Stiles and Snow reported coefficient
reliability, Kim et al. (1999) reported coefficient alphas of .81 and .82 and
alphas ranging from .87 to .91. In addition, Kim and Atkinson (2002)
2-week coefficient of stability of .83. Kim and Atkinson (2002) and Kim
and Kim et al. (2002) reported coefficient alphas of .90 and .84,
et al. (2002) reported coefficient alphas of .86 and .85, respectively; the
respectively, based on their samples of Asian Americans. The present data
data from the present study yielded a coefficient alpha of .86.
yielded an alpha of .91. Client-perceived counselor cross-cultural
Dependent measures. To evaluate the effectiveness of the counseling
competence was assessed us- ing the CCCI–R (LaFromboise et al.,
session, the following dependent measures were used: (a) Counselor Ef-
1991). The 20-item CCCI–R assesses beliefs/attitudes, knowledge, and
fectiveness Rating Scale (CERS; Atkinson & Carskaddon, 1975; Atkinson
skills on the basis of Division 17 of the American Psychological
& Wampold, 1982); (b) Empathic Understanding subscale of the Relation-
Association’s Education and Training Commit- tee’s description of what
ship Inventory (EUS; Barrett-Lennard, 1962); (c) Working Alliance
constitutes a cross-culturally competent counselor (D. W. Sue et al.,
Inventory–Short Form (WAI-SF; Tracey & Kokotovic, 1989); (d) Session
1982). Designed to be completed by counselor supervi- sors, the wording
Depth subscale of the Session Evaluation Questionnaire (Depth; Stiles &
of the questionnaire was changed for the present study to reflect client
Snow, 1984); and (e) Cross-Cultural Counseling Inventory—Revised (CC-
completion of the questionnaire. For example, the item “Counselor
CI–R; LaFromboise, Coleman, & Hernandez, 1991).
demonstrates knowledge about the client’s culture” was changed to
Client-perceived counselor credibility was measured using the CERS
“Counselor demonstrates knowledge about my culture.” The necessity
(Atkinson & Carskaddon, 1975; Atkinson & Wampold, 1982). The CERS
of modifying a questionnaire originally intended for use by counselor
is a 10-item semantic differential questionnaire consisting of four dimen-
supervisors limits the psychometric validity of the data. None- theless,
sions related to counselor credibility (expertness, attractiveness, trustwor-
no other instrument assessing counselor cross-cultural competence could
thiness, and utility) based on the social influence theory (Strong, 1968).
be found. Given these circumstances, the measure is used with some
Participants rate each item on a 7-point bipolar scale (1 = bad, 7 = good).
reservation. Furthermore, the CCCI–R has been used successfully (with
Atkinson and Wampold (1982) reported a reliability coefficient of .90.
adequate reliability) in previous studies to assess client perceptions of
Kim and Atkinson (2002) and Kim et al. (2002) reported coefficient
counselor cross-cultural competency (Constantine, 2002; Kim &
alphas of
Atkinson,
.91 and .87, respectively, in their studies with Asian Americans as partic-
2002; Kim et al., 2002).
ipants. The present data yielded a coefficient alpha of .91. Convergent
Instructions in the CCCI–R (LaFromboise et al., 1991) ask respondents
validity of CERS was evidenced in a comparison with the Counselor
to rate the extent to which a counselor demonstrates a particular compe-
Rating Form (CRF; Barak & LaCrosse, 1975).
tence using a 6-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree)
Client perception of counselor empathic understanding was assessed
t o 6 (strongly agree). Adequate content validity was demonstrated by
using the EUS (Barrett-Lennard, 1962). This 16-item scale is based on the
client-centered theory’s concept of empathic understanding, specifically independent raters who assessed the amount of agreement between the
the client’s perception of how empathic the counselor was in the session. CCCI–R items and the committee’s competencies. A factor analysis study
Content validation was provided by having client-centered counselors provided evidence of construct validity. Pomales, Claiborn, and LaFrom-
review the items. Split-half reliability for client and therapist versions was boise (1986) provided evidence of discriminant validity of the CCCI–R in
above .80 for each of the five subscales, including the EUS. Respondents that there were low correlations (from .01 to .28) between the instrument
use a 7-point endorsement scale (—3 = I feel strongly that it is not true, and the CRF (Barak & LaCrosse, 1975), suggesting that the CCCI–R is
3 = I feel strongly that it is true). The published version of the scale is measuring unique cross-cultural competencies rather than general counsel-
worded for a male therapist, hence the pronouns were changed to reflect ing competencies. LaFromboise et al. (1991) reported a coefficient alpha
the female therapists in the proposed study. Coefficient alphas ranging of
from .95. More recently, Kim and Atkinson (2002) and Kim et al. (2002)
.88 to .89 have been reported for the subscale (Horvath & Greenberg, reported coefficient alphas of .89 and .90, respectively, based on their
1989). Kim and Atkinson (2002) and Kim et al. (2002) reported samples of Asian Americans. The present data yielded a coefficient alpha
coefficient alphas of .81 and .71, respectively, based on their samples of of .92.
Asian Americans. The present data yielded an alpha of .78. Manipulation checks. As a manipulation check, clients were asked to
The 12-item WAI-SF (Tracey & Kokotovic, 1989) was used to assess complete a questionnaire on their perception of the counselor’s counseling
client perceptions of the counselor and client’s working alliance. On the style (directive vs. nondirective). The measure consists of 10 items, using
basis of a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 a 7-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7
(strongly agree), items on the scale are based on a bond, goal, and task (strongly agree), and ascertains clients’ perceptions of the counseling style
conceptualization of the working alliance (Bordin, 1979). This instrument used by the counselor. Sample items are “I feel the counselor chose what
I should talk about in the session instead of letting me choose” (directive
counseling style) and “The counselor seemed to listen to me more than
 COUNSELING STYLE AND ASIAN VALUES 161
telling me what to do about my problem” (nondirective counseling style).
Fifty-one phrases that may be directive or nondirective in style were
The coefficient alpha for those items representing the directive condition
initially developed on the basis of the literature. Respondents were asked
was .51, suggesting that this subscale did not have adequate reliability.
to rate the phrases using a 7-point Likert-type scale (1 = represents
The coefficient alpha for those items representing the nondirective
directive counseling, 4 = represents both types of counseling, 7 = repre-
condition was .72. Thus, only this subscale was used.
sents nondirective counseling). The goal of this procedure was to identify
At the end of the session, counselors’ perception of treatment imple-
the phrases in each counseling stage that clearly represented either direc-
mentation was assessed using a questionnaire measuring the degree to
tive or nondirective counseling. Hence, the phrases with a mean score
which counselors felt the experimental condition to which they were
above 5.0 per counseling stage were retained and labeled as being repre-
assigned was implemented properly. The measure consists of 6 items and
sentative of nondirective counseling. Similarly, phrases with a mean score
is based on a 7-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree)
less than 3.0 were retained as being representative of directive counseling.
to 7 (strongly agree). The items were designed to measure counselors’
Three phrases were included in each of the four stages for both directive
perceptions of the degree to which they felt they were able to accurately
and nondirective styles. The phrases were used as the basis for the coun-
portray the experimental condition to which they were assigned (Items 1–
seling scripts that were used to train counselors. For example, in the
3) and the comfort and ease with which they portrayed the condition
assessment stage, the counselor in the directive condition gave an opinion
(Items 4 – 6). The coefficient alpha for the first three items was .84, and
as to what she believed to be the source of the client’s difficulties. In the
the coefficient alpha for Items 4 through 6 was .93.
nondirective condition, the counselor in the assessment stage listened
Trained raters reviewed each of the counselor’s sessions to assess the
empathically without guiding the client to discuss one topic or another.
degree of adherence to the counseling protocol and rated them using a
To study the counseling script’s validity, counselors, before they were
videotape ratings form. Using a 7-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1
trained, completed a questionnaire testing their perception of the differ-
(100% nondirective counseling) to 7 (100% directive counseling), raters
ences in the experimental conditions. All ratings were on a 7-point scale
were instructed to rate the extent to which each stage (assessment of the
ranging from 1 (100% nondirective) to 7 (100% directive). For those script
problem, choosing the goal for the session, exploring and clarifying the
items describing the directive condition, respondents gave mean scores
problem, and resolution) of the session represented either directive or
between 5.71 (SD = 1.11) and 6.85 (SD = 0.38), indicating that those
nondirective counseling, and to rate the session overall. Three sessions
script items were representative of a directive counseling condition. For
could not be rated because of technical problems. The raters attended the
those script items describing the nondirective condition, respondents gave
same training workshop as the counselors and became familiar with the
mean scores between 1.29 (SD = 0.49) and 2.00 (SD = 1.15), indicating
counseling scripts for the study. Furthermore, the raters met with Lisa C.
that those script items were representative of a nondirective counseling
Li and Bryan S. K. Kim to practice rating the videotapes until a minimum
condition.
acceptable level of agreement among the raters (% agreement > .80) was
attained.
Covariate. Client-perceived counselor attractiveness was measured us- Pilot Study
ing a 10-point scale ranging from 1 (not at all attractive) to 10 (most
attractive). Inclusion of this measure was based on the social influence A pilot study was conducted prior to data collection. Six Asian
theory (Strong, 1968), which posits that client perceptions of counselor’s American students volunteered to participate in one session of career-
physical attractiveness are related to client perceptions of counselor cred- focused coun- seling. Three students participated in the directive
ibility. Kim and Atkinson (2002) found a correlation coefficient of .35 counseling condition, and 3 participated in the nondirective counseling
( p < .001) between counselor physical attractiveness and counselor cred- condition. At the end of the session, they completed the Manipulation
ibility (as measured by the CERS; Atkinson & Carskaddon, 1975; Check Questionnaire. They were also debriefed about the purpose of the
Atkinson & Wampold, 1982). Kim et al. (2002) found a correlation study and asked to provide feedback on the session. The results of the pilot
coefficient of .33 ( p < .01) between counselor physical attractiveness and study revealed that the experimental conditions were salient to these
counselor credi- bility. In addition, Kim et al. reported correlation volunteer clients, and hence no changes were made to the counseling
coefficients of .26 ( p < script.
.05) with counselor empathic understanding, .37 ( p < .01) with working
alliance, and .27 ( p < .01) with counselor cross-cultural competence.
Counselors
Training of counselors to portray experimental conditions. Five coun-
Development of the Counseling Protocol selors were trained during a half-day workshop facilitated by Lisa C. Li
and Bryan S. K. Kim (note that this number includes one of the authors
The operationalization of directive and nondirective counseling styles
who served as a counselor). Three counselors who were unable to attend
was based on previous studies (Atkinson et al., 1978; Atkinson & Matsus-
the workshop were trained individually by Lisa C. Li. During the training,
hita, 1991; Exum & Lau, 1988) and the propositions by Kim, Atkinson,
the experimental conditions were discussed in depth and a videotaped
and Umemoto (2001). These two sources of information seemed to agree
role- play demonstration was offered. Then, the counselors practiced the
on what constitutes these two different counseling styles. Kim, Atkinson,
exper- imental conditions. Counselors who could not attend the workshop
and Umemoto (2001) considered that directive counseling refers to the
also reviewed the experimental conditions in depth and were offered the
coun- selor using such helping skills as conveying information, probing
vid- eotape role-play for review. These three counselors were offered
for information, directing behavior, and making interpretations; whereas a
opportu- nities to practice the experimental conditions but opted not to do
nondirective counseling style refers to the counselor using such helping
so because of time constraints. It should be noted that two of these three
skills as restatement, reflection of feeling, probing for affect, and summa-
counselors had participated in other counseling process studies and were
rization of feeling. For the present study, these definitions were further
very familiar with following counseling script protocols. The third
refined through a survey of graduate students in counseling psychology.
counselor had exten- sive career counseling experience and felt competent
To obtain empirically supported operationalizations of directive and
to participate in the study without practicing the experimental conditions
nondirective styles of counseling, 10 graduate students in counseling
first. All counselors were trained to implement both the directive and
psychology completed a questionnaire. The questionnaire presented a
nondirective counseling styles. Counselors practiced both experimental
four-stage session process (assessment, choosing the goal for the session,
conditions, with research assistants serving as clients. They were given a
exploring and clarifying the problem, and resolution), with each stage
written script in an effort to standardize the experimental conditions
consisting of phrases that described what a counselor might do in a
across counselors. Counselors had the written script on a clipboard on
session.
their laps during the counseling
 1 LI AND

sessions, which allowed them to maintain the counseling protocol without

suggested to the client the steps that he or she could take to resolve the
the written script being too obvious to the clients. Counselors were en-
problem. As the client explored his or her issue, the counselor used
couraged to practice the roles until they felt comfortable. Counselors were
interpretations, challenges, and offered information about the client’s cur-
monitored and supervised by Lisa C. Li and Bryan S. K. Kim throughout
rent challenge. At the end of the session, the counselor offered specific
the training workshop to ensure adherence to the experimental conditions.
suggestions for resolving the problem and about what the client should do.
Throughout the study, Lisa C. Li and Bryan S. K. Kim were available to
Furthermore, counselors in this condition were told to emphasize to the
supervise and consult with the counselors as needed. In addition, Lisa C. Li
client throughout the session that they would provide some type of advice
inquired with the counselors about the process of each session and any
at the end of the session. The sessions ended by having the counselor
difficulties they encountered. Further supervision and consultation from
encourage the client to seek further assistance at the university counseling
Bryan S. K. Kim was sought if any difficulties arose.
center.
Number of sessions for each counselor. Six counselors conducted 5
Nondirective counseling condition. A counselor in the nondirective
sessions each, and one counselor conducted four because of time con-
condition followed the identical framework for a counseling session as a
straints, resulting in a total of 34 sessions. The author who served as a
counselor in the directive condition: assessment, choosing the goal for the
counselor conducted 22 sessions. Four sessions were dropped, one
session, exploring and clarifying the problem, and resolution of the prob-
because of the participant being younger than 18 years old and three
lem. However, a counselor in the nondirective condition began the session
because of the session being less than 40 min, which resulted in having
by allowing the client to describe the presenting problem, listening em-
useable data from a total of 52 sessions. The distribution of conditions
pathically, and allowing the client to discuss possible causes of the prob-
across counselors mostly reflected a 2:3 ratio, with six counselors
lem. Counselors in this condition told the client that he or she has the
conducting 2 sessions using one condition and 3 sessions using the other
capacity to define the goal for the session. They allowed the client to
condition. The seventh counselor conducted 1 directive session and 3
choose the goal for the session and encouraged the client to consider the
nondirective sessions, and Lisa C. Li and Bryan S. K. Kim conducted 8
advantages and disadvantages of the chosen goal. Next, the counselors
directive and 12 nondirective sessions.
allowed the client to explore the problem and concretely define it.
Throughout the process, the counselor used reflections of feeling but did
Procedure not offer any type of interpretations or suggestions to resolve the problem.
Participant recruitment. Volunteer clients were recruited from an in- At the end of the session, the counselor allowed clients to generate ways to
troductory psychology subject pool and received course credit for partic- resolve the problem, told the client only he or she could decide what is
ipating. Students with career uncertainty (e.g., career indecision, lack of best for his or her life, and encouraged the client to decide on ways to
career awareness) were asked to participate. Participants signed up for the resolve the problem. Furthermore, counselors in this condition were told to
study online. They read a brief description of the study, which stated that use primarily reflections of feeling and restatements throughout the
the participation involved discussing their choice of major or future career session. The sessions ended by having the counselor encourage the client
with a trained counselor in one counseling session and then evaluating the to seek further assistance at the university counseling center.
Postsession questionnaire administration. At the end of the counseling
counselor and session. Potential participants also were told that the total
session, clients were taken to another room to complete the postsession
participation time was about 1.5 hr and the sessions ranged from 40 to 50
questionnaires that consisted of the CERS (Atkinson & Carskaddon, 1975;
min; the results indicated that the mean session length was 44.90 min
Atkinson & Wampold, 1982), EUS (Barrett-Lennard, 1962), WAI-SF
(SD = 3.90).
(Tracey & Kokotovic, 1989), Depth (Stiles & Snow, 1984), CCCI–R
Assignment to conditions. When clients arrived for their sessions, they
(LaFromboise et al., 1991), the measure of client-perceived counselor
read and signed an informed consent form. They then completed the AVS
physical attractiveness, and the client manipulation check. Participants
(Kim et al., 1999) and a demographic questionnaire that asked for gender,
were informed that the counselor would neither see the ratings nor be
age, year in school, Asian ethnicity, and generation status (for first gener-
affected by them. The order of the questionnaires was counterbalanced to
ation, the number of years in the United States), and previous counseling
avoid an order effect. Upon completion of the questionnaire, participants
experience. The AVS was then scored and the client was classified as
were given a debriefing statement to inform them of the purpose of the
being either high or low in Asian values adherence. On the basis of the
study.
median AVS score from Kim et al. (1999), clients with a score below 4.25
Postsession rating of videotaped counseling sessions by judges. All
were classified in the low group and those with a score of 4.25 or above
videotaped sessions were reviewed (with the exception of three mentioned
were classified in the high group; the “high” group had an AVS mean
previously) and rated using the videotape rating form. The research assis-
score of
tants rated the videotapes on the degree of adherence to the counseling
4.68 (SD = 0.45), and the “low” group had a mean score of 3.76 (SD =
script. If significant discrepancies were found between the session
0.56). They were then assigned to one of two experimental conditions on
protocol and what took place in the session, the session was not used in
counseling style (directive and nondirective). An attempt was made to
the final analyses.
balance the number of male and female clients in each cell to control for
any client gender effects. As a result, 10 participants who were classified
as having a high AVS score were assigned to the directive condition, 14 Results
participants classified as having high AVS were assigned to the nondirec-
tive condition, 13 participants classified as having low AVS were assigned
The means, standard deviations, and intercorrelations of vari-
to the directive condition, and 15 participants classified as having low ables of interest are shown in Table 1.
AVS were assigned to the nondirective condition.
Directive counseling condition. A counselor in the directive condition Preliminary Analyses
followed the same framework for a counseling session: assessment, choos-
ing the goal for the session, exploring and clarifying the problem, and Five t tests for each of the dependent variables revealed no
resolution of the problem. She began her session by directing the client to significant differences for those sessions conducted by Lisa C. Li
discuss the presenting problem. The counselor then gave her opinion about versus those conducted by the other counselors. Additional t tests
the source of the client’s problem and what she considered to be the most for each of the five dependent variables revealed no significant
pressing issue. The counselor offered suggestions for the possible goal of differences for sessions conducted by counselors enrolled in a
the counseling session and informed the client that she believed she could doctoral program versus counselors enrolled in a master’s pro-
help the client with his or her problem. Counselors in this condition also
 COUNSELING STYLE AND ASIAN VALUES 163

—
gram. A t test also revealed that there were no differences between

1
the two style conditions on counselor experience.
The present study found a significant relationship between

—
1
client-perceived counselor physical attractiveness and one of the
independent variables, counseling style (r = —.26, p < .05). Thus,
the effects of client-perceived counselor physical attractiveness

0.37
1

**
were controlled in the main analyses.
An examination of ratings of client-perceived nondirective
counseling session style revealed that clients appeared to have

0.
0
1

perceived the intended condition to a certain extent. For the Non-

directive subscale of the measure of client perception of the
counselor’s counseling style, there was a significant difference
Means, Standard Deviations, and Intercorrelations Among the Independent Variables, Dependent Variables, Possible Covariates, and Client

0.17
0.0
9
1

—
—
between mean scores for those in the nondirective and directive
conditions, t(50) = —2.027, p = .024, d = 0.57. As expected,
mean scores were higher for those assigned to the nondirective
—

0.

—
1
8
condition (M = 5.22, SD = 1.63) than those assigned to the
9

directive condition (M = 4.23, SD = 1.84); note that scores range

from 1 to 7, with 7 representing the highest agreement.
—

0.17
0.37
8

We examined counselors’ ratings of the degree to which they

0.
1
9

Note. AVS = Asian Values Scale; comp. = competence; attract. = attractiveness; exp. = experience; Gen. = generation; imm. =

felt they adequately implemented the experimental conditions and

the ease with which they did so. Both the directive (M = 5.83,
—

0.2
5*

SD = 1.01) and the nondirective condition (M = 5.60, SD =

0.0
7
0.0
8
7

1.37) seemed to have been implemented as intended; the scores

range from 1 to 7, with 7 representing the highest agreement.
0.69

0.18
0.10

Counselors also seemed to have felt comfortable implementing

—

**

0.02

0.05
6

the directive (M = 5.87, SD = 1.24) and the nondirective

—

condition (M = 5.84, SD = 1.35); the scores range from 1 to 7,

with 7 representing the highest agreement.
0.79

0.72

0.11
0.06
—

We analyzed judges’ ratings of the implementation of the ses-

**

**
5

—
0.10
—

sion counseling style conditions. Results revealed that 51 sessions

conformed to the assigned experimental condition. One session
initially was not deemed to have been true to the assigned condi-
0.67

0.55

0.54

0.12
0.07
0.18
—

tion. Lisa C. Li then reviewed the tape and discussed it with the
**

**

**
4

judge. An agreement was reached that the session actually did

conform to the assigned condition.
0.49

0.53

0.52

0.68

0.14
0.01
0.21
—

**

**

**

**
3

Main Analyses
We conducted hierarchical multiple regression analyses to
study the main and interaction effects of the two independent
0.39*
*
0.44*
*

0.34*
*
—

0.31
*
2

0.

variables on each of the five dependent variables, while

1
8

controlling for the effects of client-perceived counselor physical

attractiveness. The independent variables were client adherence to
—

Asian cultural values and style of counseling (dummy coded: 1

0.

0.0
2
0.0
3
0.0
6
0.1
8
—
0
0

= nondirective, 2 = directive). In addition, there was a variable

representing the interaction between the two independent
variables. The dependent variables were counselor credibility,
S

0.

1.
0.

0.
8
4

7
0

counselor empathic under- standing, session depth, client–

counselor working alliance, and counselor cross-cultural
4.

18.
5.

0.
9
8

9
6

counseling competence. For each regres- sion analysis, client-

perceived counselor physical attractiveness was entered in Step 1,
the two main independent variables were entered in Step 2, and
Counselor empathy

the interaction variable was entered in Step 3.

Working alliance
Counseling style

Physical attract.

In an attempt to avoid multicollinearity, the scores on the main

Counselor exp.
Cross-cultural
Session depth

Previous exp.

and interaction independent variables were centered. The proce-

credibility
Varia

Counselor

immigration.

dure yielded correlation coefficients among the main and interac-

comp.

Gender
level

tion variables, with magnitudes ranging from .00 ( p = .984) to

AVS
Table 1

.56 ( p = .000). To further assess for the presence of

multicollinearity, the variation inflation factor (VIF) statistics
1.
2.
3.

4.
5.
6.
7.

8.
9.
10.

11.

were first examined

 1 LI AND
across the predictor variables. Myers (1990) pointed out that a
VIF value greater than 10 is cause for “at least some concern” (p.
369) for the presence of multicollinearity. The results showed that
the highest VIF statistic was 1.46, suggesting that
multicollinearity was not present.
The results of the hierarchical multiple regression analyses
revealed a significant main effect for counseling style on four of
the five dependent variables (see Table 2). Specifically, clients in
the directive counseling style condition gave higher scores on
counselor empathic understanding (M = 1.26, SD = 0.70),
client– counselor working alliance (M = 5.67, SD = 0.85),
session depth (M = 5.23, SD = 1.00), and counselor cross-
cultural counseling competence (M = 4.84, SD = 0.65) than did
those in the nondi- rective counseling style condition (M = 0.72,
SD = 0.61, d = 0.82; M = 4.85, SD = 0.87, d = 0.95; M =
4.63, SD = 0.91, d =
0.63; and M = 4.40, SD = 0.57, d = 0.72, respectively). There
was no significant difference on counselor credibility between
directive (M = 6.14, SD = 0.76) and nondirective (M = 5.84,
SD = 0.90, d = 0.36) conditions.
On the basis of these results, the hypothesis that Asian
American clients with high adherence to Asian cultural values
would rate the directive counseling session higher than clients
with low Asian values adherence was not supported. Likewise, the
hypothesis that Asian American clients with high adherence to
Asian cultural values would rate the nondirective counseling
session lower than clients with low Asian values adherence was
not supported.
Discussion
The present study used a quasi-intervention analogue design to
evaluate whether Asian American college student clients with
high adherence to Asian cultural values would prefer directive
versus nondirective counseling styles. The results indicated that
clients exposed to career counseling with directive style rated the
coun- selors as more empathic and culturally competent, and the
session as having a stronger working alliance and depth, than did
clients exposed to the nondirective style. However, contrary to the
theo- retical propositions put forth by Kim, Atkinson, and
Umemoto (2001), the present study failed to support the
hypothesis that clients with high Asian values adherence would
give higher ratings for directive over nondirective counseling
styles.
The significant main effects of counseling style on four of the
five dependent variables are consistent with findings from previ-
ous studies on counseling style with Asian American college
students (Atkinson et al., 1978; Atkinson & Matsushita, 1991;
Exum & Lau, 1988). Each of these studies found that a directive
counseling style was evaluated more positively than a
nondirective style. A possible explanation for the significant main
effect may exist with the content of the directive style in
comparison with the content of the nondirective style. The
directive style was highly structured, with the main goal being to
provide concrete guidance on how the clients can resolve their
career uncertainty issues. In contrast, the nondirective counseling
style was focused on facili- tating clients to determine for
themselves the appropriate course of action. It has been suggested
that Asian Americans and other ethnic and racial groups prefer
counselors to provide concrete guidance that lead to some
immediate benefits from counseling (S. Sue & Zane, 1987).
Concrete guidance such as giving advice on the next steps to
take could lead to tangible benefits such as
problem resolution, anxiety relief, amelioration of depression
symptoms, and skills acquisition (D. W. Sue, 1990, 1994; S. Sue
& Zane, 1987). S. Sue and Zane (1987) labeled such benefits as
gifts and encouraged counselors to engage in “gift giving” when
they work with ethnic minority clients. It may be that the guidance
given in the directive style created an experience of clients receiv-
ing concrete benefits, or gifts. To the extent that the present results
are consistent with this gift giving idea, it can be speculated that
the present findings also apply to non-Asian American minority
groups.
Alternatively, the support for directive counseling style that was
observed in the present study may be related to the fact that all
sessions were held within the context of career counseling. It
could be that in career counseling, there may be certain demand
charac- teristics closely related to directive counseling style (e.g.,
need for advice). In other words, directive counseling may be
expected within a career counseling context for individuals with
career uncertainty; for other counseling contexts, perhaps more
explor- atory, or nondirective, counseling is expected. This is not
to say that career counseling is not related to personal counseling,
but that career counseling is more specific, and therefore clients
could be anticipating more directive, solution-based approaches.
The lack of a significant effect of counseling style on counselor
credibility was unexpected, given past research. The four previous
studies of directive and nondirective counseling styles assessed
participant perceptions of only counselor credibility and found
higher ratings on it for directive style over nondirective style.
Hence, it was surprising that this previous finding was not repli-
cated in the present study. Although it is difficult to explain a null
finding because of many possible explanations, it might be spec-
ulated that the counselors in this study were perhaps adept at
portraying the experimental conditions to such a degree that
clients in either condition experienced them as being equally
attractive, trustworthy, and expert. The professional stance of the
counselor may have diluted any differences that might otherwise
be due to the experimental conditions. The opposite could also be
true. They could have been perceived as equally lacking
credibility because of their student status. Hence, there may have
been a lack of variance on how credible counselors were
perceived by clients in either case.
The present study failed to support the hypothesis that Asian
values adherence plays a role in client perceptions of counselor
credibility, counselor cross-cultural counseling competence, coun-
selor empathic understanding, client– counselor working alliance,
or session depth in a single session of career-focused counseling.
This finding is contrary to the findings of previous studies that
included an assessment of Asian values adherence (Kim & Atkin-
son, 2002; Kim et al., 2002). As mentioned earlier, Kim and
Atkinson (2002) found that clients with high Asian values adher-
ence rated Asian American counselors as more credible and em-
pathic than did clients with low Asian values adherence. Kim et
al. (2002) found that clients with high Asian values adherence per-
ceived stronger working alliance and counselor empathic under-
standing than clients with low Asian values adherence. Although
there may be many alternative explanations for a null finding, a
possible explanation is a lack of variability on AVS (Kim et al.,
1999) scores for this sample. In support of this speculation, an
examination of a histogram showed that the AVS mean scores for
two thirds (n = 34) of the participants were between 4.00 and
4.50.
 COUNSELING STYLE AND ASIAN VALUES 165
Table 2
Results of Hierarchical Multiple Regression Analyses on the Four Dependent Variables
Variable β t R2 F ΔR2

Counselor credibility
Step 1
Attractiveness .14 0.99 .02 0.97
Step 2
Attractiveness .20 1.36
Asian values (A) —.01 —0.05
Counseling style (B) .23 1.60 .07 1.18 .05
Step 3
Attractiveness .21 1.46
Asian values (A) .14 0.83
Counseling style (B) .23 1.64
A×B .27 1.60 .12 1.56 .05

Counselor empathic understanding

Step 1
Attractiveness .12 0.87 .02 0.75
Step 2
Attractiveness .24 1.76
Asian values (A) .00 0.02
Counseling style (B) .45 3.35** .20 4.04* .18
Step 3
Attractiveness .24 1.76
Asian values (A) .04 0.24
Counseling style (B) .45 3.32**
A×B .06 0.41 .20 3.02* .00

Client–counselor working alliance

Step 1
Attractiveness .11 0.79 .01 0.62
Step 2
Attractiveness .23 1.79
Asian values (A) .03 0.26
Counseling style (B) .50 3.81*** .24 5.16** .23
Step 3
Attractiveness .24 1.81
Asian values (A) .09 0.62
Counseling style (B) .50 3.80***
A×B .11 0.74 .25 3.97** .01

Session depth
Step 1
Attractiveness .18 1.31 .03 1.71
Step 2
Attractiveness .26 1.89
Asian values (A) .15 1.14
Counseling style (B) .37 2.78** .19 3.74* .16
Step 3
Attractiveness .26 1.89
Asian values (A) .18 1.10
Counseling style (B) .37 2.75**
A×B .05 0.29 .19 2.77* .00

Counselor cross-cultural counseling competence

Step 1
Attractiveness .25 1.86 .07 3.46
Step 2
Attractiveness .39 3.06**
Asian values (A) —.17 —1.39
Counseling style (B) .45 3.49** .27 6.03** .20
Step 3
Attractiveness .40 3.09**
Asian values (A) —.10 —0.64
Counseling style (B) .45 3.50**
A×B .14 0.94 .29 4.73** .02

Note. Attractiveness = client-perceived counselor physical attractiveness; Asian values = client adherence to
Asian Cultural Values Scale.
* p < .05. ** p < .01. *** p < .001.
 1 LI AND
Also, 90% (n = 47) of participants reported being either first- or
second-generation Asian Americans; Kim et al. (1999), in a study
of 300 Asian American college students, reported no significant
differences in AVS mean scores between first-, second-, and
third-generation Asian Americans. To the extent that this specu-
lation about the lack of values heterogeneity within the sample is
true, the use of a larger, more diverse sample of Asian Americans
might have produced more variance in Asian values adherence
scores and therefore a significant main effect on Asian values
adherence on the dependent variables.
The findings from the present study have a number of limita-
tions. First, a major limitation is that Lisa C. Li conducted 42% of
the counseling sessions. Second, the generalizability of the find-
ings of this study are limited to an Asian American college student
population, particularly among students with Asian American eth-
nic backgrounds that were represented in relatively large numbers.
Third, only clients that were experiencing career uncertainty were
recruited, and hence the findings are limited to clients with such
issues. Fourth, if clients had in mind that there was more than one
session with the same counselor, the findings might be different.
Thus, the findings of this study are most relevant for one session
of career counseling. Fifth, only European American female coun-
selors were used in this study, and the result might be different if
non-European American or male counselors were used. Sixth, the
counselors used in this study were primarily master’s and doctoral
students, with one being a professional career counselor. Most
career counselors would have completed their degrees and have
had several years of experience. Seventh, although it affords
greater generalizability to real counseling sessions than audiovi-
sual analogue designs, the use of a quasi-intervention analogue
design (Gelso & Fretz, 2001) still has some limitations in truly
replicating a real counseling situation. The counselors were con-
ducting sessions within certain parameters dictated by the
protocol, and thus the sessions were not truly reflective of actual
counseling sessions in which counselors exercise more freedom in
conducting sessions. Finally, although the present sample size was
sufficient to detect large effect sizes, it may not have been
sufficient to detect medium or small effect sizes.
Given the present study’s lack of interaction between client
adherence to Asian cultural values and counseling style, it may be
that the theoretical proposition by Kim, Atkinson, and Umemoto
(2001) needs to be revised. Consistent with past writings (D. W.
Sue, 1990, 1994; S. Sue & Zane, 1987), the present findings
suggest that for some Asian Americans, regardless of Asian
values adherence, a more concrete, directive counseling style is
expected and preferred. However, the recommendation that Kim,
Atkinson, and Umemoto’s (2001) propositions be changed is
offered with caution. It could be that for Asian Americans at a
different age group, socioeconomic status, and generation level,
the propositions still may apply. In any event, more research is
needed.
The present study offers a number of directions for future
research. First, given the significant main effect of higher ratings
for the directive counseling condition, it may be interesting to
examine the effects of counseling style using a wider range of
counseling process variables than has been studied to date. For
example, ratings by judges or counselors themselves of counselor
behaviors such as strategies (e.g., therapist intentions), covert
behaviors (e.g., thought listing), or interpersonal manner might be
conducted (Heppner, Kivlighan, & Wampold, 1999). Second, the
present results indicated an interesting relationship between client
gender (dummy coded: 1 = male, 2 = female) and client-
perceived counselor physical attractiveness. There was a moder-
ately positive relationship between these two variables, suggesting
that female clients perceived their counselors to be more attractive
than male clients. Although we did not observe significant rela-
tionships between attractiveness and session outcome in the
present study, as had been theorized in the literature (e.g., Strong,
1968) and observed in past research (Kim & Atkinson, 2002; Kim
et al., 2002), the present finding invokes an interesting possibility.
That is, it could be speculated that perhaps there is a mediating
effect of attractiveness on the relationship between client gender
and session outcome. It would be interesting to examine this
possibility in future research. Third, future studies should strive to
include participants that represent the many Asian ethnicities in
the United States. Fourth, future studies should include Asian
Amer- icans who are noncollege students across several
generation sta- tuses as well as age groups. Finally, the present
study should be replicated with non-Asian American clients. It is
possible that all clients, regardless of ethnic background, prefer a
counseling strat- egy that offers ideas and strategies for dealing
with issues (i.e., directive style), as opposed to nondirective
approaches that may seem less productive.
The present study also has an implication for practice with
Asian American college student clients. To be perceived as more
empathic and culturally competent and to increase client–
counselor working alliance and session depth, counselors may use
a directive counseling style over a nondirective one when working
with Asian American clients. In particular, the results of this study
specifically apply to a single session of career-focused counseling.
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Received May 8, 2002
Revision received October 28, 2003
Accepted November 4, 2003 ■