Allies for Life? Lessons From White Scholars of Multicultural Psychology

This article reports on a qualitative investigation conducted to assess how White multicultural scholars have responded to critical questions raised in the 1990s about their roles and responsibilities in multicultural psychology. We used the consensual qualitative research method to analyze semistructured interview data from 12 leading White scholars of multicultural psychology. Findings revealed 10 domains with nuanced categories within each. Key themes addressed: (a) antecedents of participants’ interest and commitments to multicultural theory and research, (b) how participants understood Whiteness broadly, and how it influenced their multicultural scholarship specifically, (c) rewards and challenges of conducting multicultural research, and (d) recommendations for future White counseling psychologists. Implications for training and future research are provided.

Leadership in Division 17

Themes of Division 17 presidential addresses from 1984to 2002, published in The Counseling Psychologist , were examined using a grounded theory approach. Sorting and coding of the data yielded six major categories: distinctiveness of counseling psychology, disappointments/missed opportunities, successes, foundations of counseling psychology, outside influences, and future recommendations. Review of the coding provided identification of underlying dimensions. Specifically, the connections that emerged from the qualitative analysis are explained using a grid with “identity” on a temporal x-axis (from who we are to who we want to be) and “actions” on a functional y-axis (from internal to the division to externally focused). The combined messages or stories of the Division 17 presidents may provide insight into the forces that have influenced counseling psychology over the last 2 decades.