Race/ethnicity, color-blind racial attitudes, and multicultural counseling competence: The moderating effects of multicultural counseling training.

TLDR

Increasing trainees’ multicultural counseling competence has been a hot topic, with scholars identifying predictors such as race/ethnicity and color‑blindness and educators offering multicultural training. The study examined whether multicultural training moderates racial/ethnic differences in MCC and alters the relationship between color‑blindness and MCC among 370 psychology trainees. The authors used a sample of 370 psychology trainees to assess how multicultural training moderates racial/ethnic differences and color‑blindness effects on MCC. Results showed that multicultural training moderated racial/ethnic differences in multicultural awareness—raising awareness among White trainees but not among minority trainees—while the interaction between color‑blindness and training affected multicultural knowledge, with stronger effects at higher training levels and for trainees with lower color‑blindness.

Abstract

Increasing trainees' multicultural counseling competence (MCC) has been a hot topic in counseling. Scholars have identified predictors (e.g., race/ethnicity, color-blindness) of MCC, and educators provide multicultural training for trainees. Using a sample of 370 psychology trainees, this study examined whether multicultural training (a) moderated racial/ethnic differences on MCC and (b) changed the relationship between color-blindness and MCC. Results indicated a significant interaction effect of race/ethnicity (i.e., White vs. ethnic minority) and multicultural training on multicultural awareness, but not on multicultural knowledge. Specifically, at lower levels of training, racial/ethnic minority trainees had significantly higher multicultural awareness than their White counterparts; at higher levels of training, no significant difference was found. Described differently, more training significantly enhanced Whites' multicultural awareness, but did not enhance racial/ethnic minority trainees' awareness. Additionally, there was a significant interaction effect of color-blindness and multicultural training on multicultural knowledge, but not on multicultural awareness. The association between color-blindness and multicultural knowledge was stronger at higher levels of multicultural training than at lower levels of training. Alternatively, the effect of training on enhancing knowledge was stronger for those with lower color-blindness than for those with higher color-blindness.