Graduate Program

Clinical Psychology

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Semester of Degree Completion

2004

Thesis Director

Anu Sharma

Abstract

The current study attempts to add to the limited body of literature on Asian American and Asian international students in counseling. Presenting issues, severity of problems, treatment outcome, and gender interactions of Asian American and Asian international college students were examined and compared to non-Asian college students. Data for this study were obtained from an existing database from an East Coast university counseling center. The overall sample consisted of 209 males and 297 females, all of whom were seeking treatment for the first time at the counseling center. The primary groups of interest were Asian American students (n = 66) and Asian international students (n = 44). At the time of the first session clients were asked to complete the Personal Information Form (PIF) and the Behavioral Health Questionairre-20 (BHQ-20). At every following session, the BHQ-20 was administered. It was hypothesized that Asian American and Asian international students would present with more academic, career, and somatic problems. They were also expected to report greater severity of problems at the beginning of treatment and less benefit of counseling after treatment. Lastly, it was believed that gender and ethnicity would interact, specifically that Asian males would report the greatest severity of problems and the least amount of benefit from counseling. Results indicated that Asian American and Asian international students did report more concern for academic and career problems, but did not report more somatic problems. With regard to severity of problems Asian American and Asian international clients reported greater severity and were more likely to seek treatment in a crisis/emergency basis. Lastly, at the end of treatment Asian international clients still had the greatest severity. When the difference of final and initial BHQ-20 scores, benefit from counseling ratings, and number of sessions were compared across the three groups no differences were found. Treatment implications and suggestions for future research are also discussed.

Download

Share

COinS