APPLICATION OF ADAPTIVE COUNSELING AND THERAPY TO CAREER COUNSELING

The relationship between client readiness to resolve career indecision and preference for counselors exhibiting varying levels of directiveness and supportiveness, as defined in Adaptive Counseling Therapy (ACT; Howard, Nance, and Myers, 1986), was examined. Questionnaires (the Adjective Checklist [ACL; Cough and Heilbrun, 1983], the Brief Symptom Inventory [BSI; Derogatis and Spencer, 1982], the Client Readiness Measure [CRM; Anderson, 1991], the Counselor Preference Measure [CPM; Anderson, 1991], and the Validity Scale [VS; Anderson, 1991]) were administered to 191 college undergraduates (137 females, 54 males; mean age = 19.4) enrolled in a career development course. As prescribed in ACT theory, a negative relationship between client readiness and preference for counselor directiveness, and a curvilinear relationship (an inverted U) between client readiness and Preference for Supportiveness were expected. Application of ACT theory to career counseling was partially supported by correlational analysis and an analysis of variance, each of which yielded a significant, negative relationship (p < .05) between client readiness and counselor directiveness. No relation was found between client readiness and counselor supportiveness.