Differences between Canadian Psychological Association Non-Member and Member Counseling Psychologists

Generalizations about Canadian counseling psychologists have been based on research that samples members of the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA), leading to questions about the extent to which this portrayal of the profession is accurate. In this exploratory study, answers to a 61-item questionnaire representing 86 variables were compared between 78 Canadian counseling psychologists who were members of the CPA and 107 Canadian counseling psychologists who were not members of the CPA. Inferential analyses found that CPA-member and nonmember counseling psychologists differed significantly on 11 of the 86 variables assessed, indicating that the currently available portrayal of Canadian counseling psychologists used by licensure bodies, professional associations, academic programs, instructors, and researchers is not wholly accurate. Reliance on inaccurate information about the profession can hinder the future development of Canadian counseling psychology as its members strive to meet the needs of counseling psychology students, counseling psychology professionals, and the populations they serve.

The Implications of Doctoral Students’ Professional Socialization Experiences in Graduate Training

Using survey data from 278 counseling psychology doctoral students, we explored the concept of professional socialization in graduate training and investigated the degree to which a combination of student training factors accounted for (a) greater professional involvement in the Society of Counseling Psychology, (b) endorsement of counseling psychology values, and (c) affiliation with the Society. Results revealed that training programs fostered students’ professional connection to the field by providing faculty models, emphasizing counseling psychology identity, and encouraging student involvement in the Society. Together, these three professional socialization variables accounted for students’ professional activity, counseling psychology values, and Society membership status above and beyond years of enrollment, degree at admission, and membership status in other professional organizations. Implications regarding the influence of early professional socialization in graduate training within the context of establishing a long-term professional pipeline for the Society are discussed.

Early Career Psychologists

The findings from the Smith et al. (2012) survey of early career psychologists (ECPs) who are members of the Society of Counseling Psychology (SCP) provide a snapshot of the current state of affairs for ECPs in the SCP as well as recommendations about how the SCP can better meet the professional needs of ECPs. Ideally, the implementation of these recommendations will result in more ECPs joining the SCP and finding their membership to be a beneficial part of their professional lives. Capturing the interest and involvement of ECPs into the SCP needs to be an ongoing priority requiring focused attention and effort by SCP leadership. Who are the next generation of counseling psychologists? How are they fundamentally different from prior generations of counseling psychologists? And how have cohort and external environmental changes helped or hindered ECPs’ involvement in professional organizations? Finding the answers to these questions is necessary to guarantee that the Society changes in ways that make it professionally relevant for future generations of counseling psychologists.

Voices of Early Career Psychologists in Division 17, the Society of Counseling Psychology

This article reports on a survey of early career members of the Society of Counseling Psychology (SCP). Seventy early career psychologists completed a survey assessing the usefulness and climate of SCP, barriers to and facilitative factors for involvement in SCP, inclusiveness of SCP regarding cultural diversity and professional interests, degree of involvement in various aspects of SCP, and their areas of satisfaction and dissatisfaction with SCP membership. In general, participants were split on the degree to which they were satisfied with SCP, with participants in faculty positions reporting significantly more positive views of SCP than their practitioner counterparts did. Faculty members viewed SCP as more useful to their careers and reported more positive social interactions within SCP than did non–faculty members. Open-ended responses suggested that satisfaction with SCP was related to availability of mentorship and opportunities for involvement in SCP. Suggestions for engaging new professionals in SCP are offered.

Whatever Happened to Counseling in Counseling Psychology? 1Ψ7

A suspected decline in published counseling-related research in The Counseling Psychologist ( TCP) and the Journal of Counseling Psychology ( JCP) was investigated through content analyses of the two journals from 1979 to 2008. A marked decline in counseling-related research may signify a shift in emphasis away from counseling as the most fundamental area of counseling psychology. Findings revealed a drop in counseling-related articles from 77.7% to 37.2% of all articles. Both journals independently showed a decline, but it was more pronounced for JCP. Analogue studies decreased most sharply, whereas field studies, supervision, career, and prevention research also declined markedly. Potential explanations are offered, including fewer counseling-related articles submitted, a trend toward more stringent methodological criteria, fewer senior role models, changing editorial preferences, expanded publication outlets, and a shift in emphasis or identity within counseling psychology. Recommendations are proposed for the promotion of more counseling-related research.

A Counseling Psychology for the New Millennium

In this article, the author offers some comparisons and contrasts about the 1985 and 2000/2003 counseling psychology survey data sets. The data, which show stability and flux, continuity and change, capture elements of counseling psychology's rich heritage, current tensions of growth, and possibilities of future.

The Ever Evolving Identity of Counseling Psychologists

Understanding our identity as counseling psychologists has been an issue since the inception of our specialty in the 1940s and one that the authors of these two articles (Goodyear et al., 2008 [this issue]; Munley, Pate, & Duncan, 2008 [this issue]) tackle in new and different ways. In this response, this author (a) identifies additional reasons why studying our identity as counseling psychologists is beneficial to the specialty, (b) commends the authors on the methodological improvements they made, (c) comments on the underutilization of the American Psychological Association membership database as a resource for answering questions about change and stability in our identity, and (d) recommends that future studies focus on the approximately 75% of counseling psychologists who are not members of the Society of Counseling Psychology, Division 17 of the American Psychological Association. In an effort to capture more counseling psychologists as members of the Society of Counseling Psychology, attention should focus on students, early career professionals, and practitioners.