The Relationship of Counselor Characteristics and Counseling Effectiveness

Studies of counselor characteristics have occupied the attention of counselor educators since the field came of age in the 1950's. The assumption that has worked to maintain this interest over the years is that certain personality variables are associated with, or are the cause of, the different degrees of counselor competence that seem to exist. In addition, many persons engaged in the training of counselors have found that some students appear to adapt readily to the counseling role, whereas others seem to be confused, in conflict, and generally illsuited to the educator's expectations. Therefore, a commonly held assumption and personal observation, which seem to support that assumption, have both contributed to sustaining a point of view that reasonably ought to be verified, altered, or abandoned on the merits of the research evidence.