THE EFFECTS OF THERAPIST-CLIENT ETHNIC MATCH IN THE ASSESSMENT OF MENTAL-HEALTH FUNCTIONING

The present study empirically examined the relationship between therap ist-client ethnic match and the therapists' evaluations of overall cli ent functioning based on the Global Assessment Scale. The sample consi sted of thousands of African American, Asian American, Mexican America n, and White American outpatient clients in the Los Angeles County men tal health system. Findings indicated that ethnically matched therapis ts judged clients to have higher mental health functioning than did mi smatched therapists. After controlling for other variables (e.g., age, gender, marital status, and referral source), this effect persisted f or African American and Asian American clients. For both groups, ethni c match significantly predicted ratings of higher client functioning w hen combining all diagnoses. Within diagnostic category, ethnic match significantly predicted ratings of higher client functioning for Afric an American, Asian American, and Mexican American clients to varying d egrees. Implications of these findings are discussed.